This boomer has identified, all on her special own, where true
happiness lies, in
pursuing the self,
“Adelle wasn't familiar with
the term weaponised incompetence before reading our recently published story,
but she knew the behaviour intimately.
"I found the difference
in effort and care levels beyond annoying," says the 63-year-old from
Adelaide, who asked we don't use her real name.
As Adelle watched her
children leave home and enter adult life, she feared the same responsibilities
of caring while her husband sat on the sidelines awaited her again.
"Developed, capable
women with good enough employment and super do not need to stay around to
endure burden and the cycle again with grandchildren," she says.
So, after more than three
decades of marriage, Adelle "walked out like Shirley Valentine",
cycled around Europe, and returned home to live in a caravan.
These are her words…
…'Marriage felt repressive'
Throughout my pregnancies my
husband never attended any of my ante- or postnatal visits.
It never occurred to me to
ask him, and he certainly never offered.
Throughout having my three
children, I was adamant about hanging on to my own income and staying employed…
…I told him I was unhappy
about that, and desperately unhappy in general.
So I booked a ticket to
Madrid with a friend and that was it. I biked around Europe with a tent and had
a wonderful time.”[1]
Isn’t it remarkable how so many in this generation just come to the exact same "independent" conclusion that focusing on themselves, and their pursuits, their career, their happiness, their desires, is the key to true and lasting joy. So many of them just independently come to the exact same narcissistic conclusions: I need to focus on myself more, bye bye marriage, bye bye family, bye bye responsibilities, I am off to discover everything my own way, or fund a new husband or new wife, or new adventure.
This story is so common and so often told, that it has
become incredibly ridiculous, but there are countless boomers who still want to
tell you that they have made this journey of discovery for themselves. Like it
is some fresh revelation and they are just unique, when in reality they are
just rehashing the same old tired tropes that were taught to their generation
in the media, music and radio they listened to as kids. They are simply rehashing their
own version of the original 1975 Stepford Wives movie, based on a book of the
same name, or some other cultural messaging story that was drilled into them in
their youth.
It's not like this was the first generation to discover selfishness of course, selfishness has always existed, and was even considered a virtue in many ways in the ancient pagan societies in some contexts. But it does appear that this was the first generation in over a millennia to make selfishness a virtue on the road to self-discovery and self-love. Something changed with the boomer generation, and many of them are stuck in the mindset of the ideologies of their youth, and still pursue them to this day.
Paul told us there would be a change coming to how people
acted in the last days, “1 But understand this, that in the last days there
will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of
money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy,…” (1 Tim. 3:1-2). Of course, he intended this to apply to the end of
days. But I think it applies to some lesser degree also to the declining stages of civilisations
in history. These lesser, but still cataclysmic, falls of civilisation point to the final collapse of civilisation
in the last days, so of course there will be similarities.
For the younger people reading this, be wary where you
see this completely self-focused perspective from the older generations, or
really anyone. We are all prone to selfishness, and we all need this sin slain
by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but there are many out there that
see selfishness as a virtue, and not just among the boomer generation. The
younger MGTOW’s in the manosphere are another example of this phenomenon. They
make a real effort to create a virtue out of teaching men to love themselves in selfish ways.
There are other examples too.
This kind of selfishness is poison, run from it like
Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. It will plague you your whole life if you don’t,
it will drive you to end up alone, with your cats, or your dog when you reach
your twilight years, when cycling around Europe is no longer an option, and you
just wished you had someone else in your life you could share those final
moments with. Reject the way of the boomer, for it is the way of the end of
civilisation.
List of References
Spot on. Sadly, I see that type of mindless narcissism all too often. I'm a boomer by age but have none of their habits. I exist to support my family and church.
ReplyDeleteI cringe every time I read articles like this. How shallow. We 'discovered' ourselves when we became parents as well as an understanding of our parents. Our children and grandchildren are a blessing and the legacy we leave behind. That silly girl has learned nothing from her life. How tragic!
ReplyDelete