Baby Boomers

Writing about the film last night is a bit more difficult, I guess because I am one of those Baby Boomers. I do see a lot of the traits reviewed this week within myself. Working long hours, trying to always look for the next mountain to climb (advancement at work). I also find that I do have communication difficulties (not as much as in the past) with the younger workers. There was a Gen-Xer working on my team that was a Creative Coordinator. I struggled with him coming to work on time. I wanted him here at the start of the day (8:00 a.m.) on time and he could never make it. He would say “but I stay late, so what’s the big deal.” I tried to make him understand that demands for our team start coming in as early as 7:00 a.m. with nurses and doctors. He would also take up to two hour lunch breaks, and again, stating “but I stay late.” We actually had an intern working with him (also a Gen-Xer) who followed his lead so I had two problems on my hands for a while. This young man has since left the organization but as I look back I wonder if I could have handled it differently. My fear with this particular individual was that if I gave him an inch, he would take a mile. He had other work issues but being on time was a major one. My supervisor at the time (a Baby Boomer) stepped in and tried to stress the importance of being on time but it never really helped. He was late even on his last day here which at that point he did not care anymore and knew he was out the door. I grew up in a very small town, Wymore, so I was really sheltered from a lot of the world’s experiences during this time. I wasn’t aware of the racial riots. I do remember the high school hiring a black biology teacher. He was actually ran out of town. I would see people not walking on the same side of the street so he was not there even 3 months. I always felt so bad for him and did not understand why. I do remember the Kennedy assassination. I was in the 5th grade and home sick that day. My dad was home and I remember watching it on our very small black and white TV set. I remember watching all of the funeral processions during class. By living in a small town I have often felt cheated of not being an active member of my generation. I was not even aware of Woodstock until long afterwards. Of course, I was too young to go and my traditionalist parents would never have let me out of the house. There was never any talk about drugs, sex yes, but not drugs in Wymore while I was in high school. In regards to sex, Wymore was still very much a traditional community. If a girl got pregnant they were forced to quit school and get married; or they disappeared only to come back months later after a long “rest.” In regards to characteristics of Baby Boomers, again I feel I demonstrate many of those as well as many that are my friends that are within the Baby Boomers. We are extremely hardworking and workaholics. We put in long hours usually the first one in and the last one to leave. I feel that going back to school and earning a Masters degree is another example of being hard working. I know, as do others, that this degree will not further my career here at the hospital but instead is a personal achievement. I do not know how well that was presented in the film but I feel that this characteristic is spot on. As you know there is a small group of us that are moving through the Masters program at Doane together. I know each time grades come out the group of us are comparing to see what the one had received. Talk about competitive. When I was working on my undergraduate degree, my goal was to graduate with a 4.0 average. When I received an A- in a pottery class, I immediately called Janice. She just laughed and said – it is an A-! To this day I get a little upset when I think about ending up with a 3.9 and not a 4.0! I guess that is competitive! As for the music, there were many things in the music arena that carried over, I feel, from the