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Baby Boomers, Busted & Echoed (with apologies to David F. Foot)
By: Sheila Hucke
On one of my many surfing trips from link to link, I discovered The Wealthy Boomer magazine online from Toronto. After discovering that I was not wealthy enough, clever enough, financially intellectual enough to fit in, I was told that I was not a real baby boomer. I was born in 1944. But the gang welcomed me anyway as I seemed to amuse them. But it got me doing research on labels & stereotyping? & besides, I like compartmentalizing, asking what's your sign? & like one? who is missing the right vocabulary or the right education will often generalize, make assumptions based on personal experience & observations & reading only.
So I reread David Foot's demography book -Boom, Bust & Echo & did internet research. I met consultants, teachers, writers who were all very nice & helpful but many didn't agree with the ages attached to the labels. The most info I got was provided by consultants Rob Renfrew? & Carolyn Martin from Rainmaker Thinking. I also read Attention! Les Nexus et les Velos d'rquent by Alain L'sque in Jobboom.
Some say that:
Baby Boomers were born from 1946-60 with cuspers on either side. Some say 1947-66. People born between 1943-45 identify with their parents & with boomers. That older generation are 'The Silents' -our folks -born between 1923-1942.
Gen Xers (Nexus) from 1965-77. Some say from 1961-86. Generation Y between 1978-86. 1980-2000 can be Millenials, Nexters, N-Gens, the Echo Boom. Velos from 1978-89.
Many say that my generation acts like boomers but those of us who had kids in our teens could call our own kids boomers.
What I find in common with my parents generation is that 50s mentality, innocence, work hard, morals & principles, work ethic, save your money, do charity work & go to church. Fun was Frank Sinatra in my folks' time & Elvis in my time, then the Beatles.
Why is the label & classification & stereotype important? Because I have no religion nor belong to any ethnic group. Because I was a minority English family in a majority French town but had a vague & few facts about our European background (Russian,French,British, Irish). So we celebrated with Catholics & a turkey at Xmas. So my sister & I checked out all religions in books & as we got older & got to know Montreal, we checked out synagogues, & all kinds of churches. And we dated all nationalities. We still don't believe in a god nor adhere to a religion. We know more now about our European roots but when people ask what we eat we say: P? Chinois, Hungarian cabbage rolls, Weiner Schnitzel, macaroni & cheese, Poutine, Lafleur hot dogs, lasagna, r' Tabouleh, tacos?
What's in a name? But that's another story.
Sheila Hucke
hucshe@sympatico.ca
Sheila is a writer from Canada.
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