“Now Is the Time on Sprockets When We Whine!”

In the 1980s, our culture became filled with an incessant whining from our favorite narcissistic navel-gazing generation, the Baby Boomers. (Oh, I’m not saying that all boomers are narcissistic navel-gazers, any more than all Xers are snarky eye-rollers.) But as the boomers hit midlife, there were suddenly news articles and books and columns and movies and television shows filled with handwringing angst from people who thought they were going to “change the world” back in the 1960s but had transmogrified into yuppie culture. “Have we sold out?” they cried. “What happened to our values? Our ideals?”

Well, those who argue that lifestage is more important than birth year in determining personal attitudes and behavior can take comfort in the fact that apparently this form of mental miasma is a byproduct of the aging process — because as us Xers hit mid-life, it seems now it is our turn to whine!

It’s a good thing that this conversation reminded me of the self-importance of boomers back in the day, because as I prepare to turn 40 next month you might have been in danger of receiving another slightly sappy (and ultimately pointless) post on the relentless march of time.

But you won’t have to worry about it, because now it’s clear – I need to get over myself! I’m going to turn 40, but what the hell, it beats the alternative, I’ve got great friends and family, a rewarding (in every sense of the term) career, a fantastic position where I have a lot of fun, and when I do turn 40, I’ll be doing it in Paris. Life is sweet!