Please, God, Not Again

From The New York Times, advertising column last Wednesday:

The growing prominence of the ’60s is partly a result of the election of Barack Obama, whose paeans to hope and youthful followers bring to mind the idealism associated with the ’60s.

The decade “evokes a time when young people were seeking to change society,” said Tim Ellis, vice president for marketing at Volkswagen of America in Herndon, Va., and “trying to break free from a stale, tired way of life.”

“I see a lot of similarities with what’s going on with today’s youth,” he added.

Yeah, right.

I am a child of the 60's. We were lauded and applauded as the generation that was going to change everything.

Politicians pandered to us. News magazines splashed us all over their covers. We cared. We were involved. We were different.

• We cared about peace.

• We cared about the environment.

• We cared about our fellow man.

And look at what a fucking mess we made.

We turned out to be the most self-absorbed, spoiled, and narcissistic generation the planet has ever seen.

Here's what I learned:

• It's easy to support peace. It's hard to oppose evil.

• It's easy to worship the environment. It's hard to walk to work.

• It's easy to love mankind. It's hard to like people.