This One’s For Us: One Boomer’s Perspective
Our boomer generation has lived through a lot. Wars, assassinations, demonstrations, and drugs. The 2008 presidential election doesn’t change that. But if one thing’s for sure, it’s that the election does bring an end to the string of boomers in the White House. And for one writer, Mayzee Klaus, it brings much, much more. We aren’t publishing Mayzee’s piece to be partisan because her relief isn’t shared by every boomer. But she certainly speaks for many when she says, This one’s for us.
Finally, I can exhale. I can settle down. I can relax.
Obama did it. He pulled it off. And I have no doubt he did it for me.
Of course, it wasn’t only for me. He did it for Rich and Marie too, who after graduating from Swarthmore College spent the next ten years of their lives organizing workers on the factory lines. He did it for my very first boyfriend Ricky, a member of SDS, who taught me about political activism as he instructed me on the horrors of the Vietnam War. He did it for my cousin Gail, a Freedom Rider at the age of 19, riding into the segregated South to register voters.
He did it for Dona who took in the homeless and counseled women ravaged by rape. He did it for Lisa on the front lines in the Valley of Virginia, working as fast as she can to protect the beauty of that magical land between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies. He did it for Nancy, who taught self-love at the cost of earning a good living. He did it for Lorenzo’s father who passed away last week at 92, and who had despaired at what had happened to his beloved country. He did it for Wendy telling her students that war is not the answer, in spite of warnings from the school administration. He did it for Paul and Lisa, to thank them for their mellow musical protest on the streets of buttoned-down Moorestown, New Jersey. And, he did it for my dear friend Mary, who couldn’t even bring herself to hope.
There was the old black man I met outside the 7-Eleven who wore an Obama button on his cap and told me that it was the first time in his life that he had given money to a political campaign. “Wasn’t much,” he said, “but glad I could do it before I died.”
There was Rashid and there was Frank, an Indian and a Barbadian, two new Americans, transit workers living in Queens, New York, who came down on a bus with hundreds of others to help get out the vote in Pennsylvania. They spent their hallowed day off going door to door in suburban Philadelphia, door hangers in hand. Obama did it for them.
And, of course, it goes without saying that he did it for Andrew Goodman, one of the three white civil rights workers killed in Mississippi in 1964, and for John Brown and for Rosa Parks and for Dr. King himself but he also did it for Father Michael Doyle in Camden, and for Alice Paul, Cindy Sheehan, Cesar Chavez… and countless others.
He did it for all of us children of long ago who have always known there was a better way. We could see it, feel it, taste it. He did it for those of us who had forgotten it was possible.
Filed Under: Baby Boomer Culture • Baby Boomers • Featured Story • Mayzee Klaus
Thought-provoking post and blog. Relevant to your comments is the fact that many experts have argued that Obama is a member of Generation Jones…the heretofore lost generation between the Boomers and Xers, now 42-54 years old.
You may have noticed, like I have, that there’s been quite a bit of buzz about GenJones in the context of this election; I saw several discussions on national TV about Obama being a Joneser, as well as about GenJones voters being a key swing vote.
You may find this link interesting, my friends and I have been linking people to this page because we think it matters: it has a bunch of print excerpts and videos of big time publications (e.g. The New York Times, Newsweek, etc.) and pundits (e.g. David Brooks, Clarence Page, etc.) all talking about Obama’s identity as part of Generation Jones: http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html
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As another boomer all I can say is I hope and yes pray, that she is right. I know it was historical and I am sure it will move our country another step in the right direction toward securing justice and racial equality for all that we so desperately need. That said, I also am convinced that the United States plays a special role in the world, not only because it can, and not that it is better than others, but because it is a nation comprised of all the peoples of the world and that does make us unique. This is not a time for isolationism but rather engaging the world in order to make it and our nation more secure and prosperous.
I hope he did it for all of us and not just himself.
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