This song from 1969 by Steppenwolf became a kind of anthem for the generation born between 1946 and 1964. This extraordinary demographic comprising nearly 77million of us (almost 29% of the population), came from the explosion of births just after World War II and became known as the Baby Boomer generation. On this 50th anniversary of Easy Rider, and this its theme song, I'm taking a look at how my inclusion in this generation has shaped me and some insights invoked in hindsight.
In case you don't qualify as a Boomer, chances are you Gen Xers, Millennials or Gen Z's inherited some of the unique traits that define the boom generation from your parents or grandparents. So the more you know about us, the better you will understand yourselves and your own generation. The more you learn from both our accomplishments and our mistakes, the better equipped you will be to create a world better than the one you were born into.
We're the largest, richest, best-educated generation of Americans so far and will likely live an average of 10 to 25 years longer than our parents (aarp.org). And we became that way largely without helicopter or snowplow parents. Once we went away to college we were on our own. Haivng no fall-back position pushed us to be bold-- confident that we could do anything we put our minds to.
Even though according to AARP, Boomers will turn 65 at a rate of 10,000 a day over the next 18 years we're not your typical senior citizens. We're more active, more physically fit, working longer and reinventing the way we view aging in our society. Those who reach retirement age now are often physically healthy enough to run marathons, build houses and start new businesses. We're working longer but not staying at our old jobs-- many of us are forging new careers in fields that have always interested us or working for causes that we believe in or both.
The 1960's was the decade that defined the boomers. The music, events, and social changes left a permanent imprint. It was a decade of huge social upheavals that forever changed the collective psyche of America-- the Civil Rights Movement, the Sexual Liberation Movement, the Antiwar Movement (Vietnam War), the Feminist Movement, the assassinations of JFK and MLK.
The 60's was the decade of Elvis early on and later the British Invasion with the Beatles and Rolling Stones. The decade overflowed with a huge range of musical genres/themes including social protest and many other trend-bending original artists coming on the scene. Hippies changed attitudes towards the body/sexuality, the establishment and experimentation with psychedelic drugs.
Ask anyone from this generation and the sentiment will likely be the same; one of extreme pride coupled with an almost elitist ownership of all that was created by the Boomer generation. We hear ourselves telling our kids and grandkids that we were the ones who instigated the changes that have laid the foundation for their spirit of innovation and rejection of the status quo. We had the guts to do it first, whatever it was.
In the arts it was the Postmodern Era. "Anti-authoritarian by nature, postmodernism refused to recognize the authority of any single style or definition of what art should be. It collapsed the distinction between high culture and mass or popular culture, between art and everyday life" (tate.org). This pervasive trend encompassed both visual and performing arts and spawned whole new genres of art such as Pop, Feminist, Conceptual and Performance Art.
In the 1960's everyone was questioning everything. We were wild in the sense of resisting restraint or regulation of any kind. We were born to push the boundaries of what came before in every area of life. We were risk-takers and playing it safe was not the overarching ethic. Granted, many Americans refused to tune in and drop out (Timothy Leary) in the nineteen-sixties. They took no part in the social revolution. Instead, they continued leading normal lives of work, family, and home that had been engendered in the stable and prosperous post war time of the 1950's. But pervasive subversion of just about everything was the legacy that was left.
As throughout history, the arts have both reflected the cultural trends of the time and moved them forward. The 60's changed what popular music was and gave birth to the diversity that we experience with music today. Classical composers like John Cage posed significant questions about what music is-- why not include noise and silence? Choreographers (Judson Dance Theater) experimented with pedestrian movement, stillness and chance operations. Interdisciplinary collaboration gave way to multi-media art. All of it expanded the possibilities for the generations to come.
As with music, Baby Boomers reshaped America’s reading habits. This was the era of Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and C.S. Lewis. Among the novels of the day that are often required reading for teenagers today are William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
Gross annual family income rose by about $25,000 from the late 40's to the mid 70's but since has grown by only about half that amount after adjusting for inflation and has in fact declined overall since 1999. We may not have managed America's money well, but the boomers' demand for more and better gizmos has filled the nation with amazing playthings, from tiny talking computers to gigantic flat-screen TVs with roughly 2,000 channels to watch on them. We're the generation that will die with the most toys. (aarp.org).
What did we learn from all of this dissent and rabble-rousing? Well, we still have wars, albeit smaller ones (so far). There continues to be a shameful racial divide (one step forward...). Sexual freedom led to the AIDS epidemic which caused people to rethink the consequences of free love. Women made incremental progress in gaining equality with men, but the expectation shifted to women as bread-winners, home-makers and mothers. Result? A whole generation of exhausted Super Women-- men had yet to be liberated enough to balance the equation. And we're still paid disproportionately.
We continue pushing the boundaries in creative and entrepreneurial ways. And we may not have been perfect role models, but I'm still proud of being a Baby Boomer. Our political activism is re-emerging and we're ever modeling being risk-takers and ceiling busters. We'll never again be complacent about the social order and more of us are emerging to take our stands politically, socially and environmentally. We've learned to live our lives creatively and unapologetically.
On this Wellness Wednesday as you Mind Your Body, think about the Boomers in your life and how they reflect their generation-- maybe seek-out their perspective. Contemplate your own generation and the legacy you will leave for those to follow. What are your defining qualities and the ways in which you were Born To Be Wild?
Get your motor runnin' Head out on the highway Lookin' for adventure And whatever comes our way Yeah Darlin' go make it happen Take the world in a love embrace Fire all of your guns at once And explode into space
Like a true nature's child We were born, born to be wild We can climb so high I never wanna die
Born to be wild Born to be wild
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Photo by Blake Doeling/ Doeling Visuals
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