Reply #25: "Hope I die before I get old" [View All]

That was the Who speaking for My Generation way back then.

We felt like it was "our turn" too. Since our Generational War in the 60's, we've gotten older (not quite old yet, but it's around the corner) and we have a little more perpective. Youth is great. So is the perspective and wisdom that time can bring.

It's not a "war" between generations. It's an age-old cycle. True progress requires harnessing the idealism of youth with the lessons people learn over time.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, you don't have the advantage of remembering how things were better in the past in some ways and worse in the past in others. Many of the "old battles" that some of us are fighting (including Edwards) is an effort to restore the better aspects of our collective past. Like an economy that was much more diverse and oriented towards supporting a middle class and allowing greter access to opportunity to some degree of financial security.

In other ways, things are better now. There have been many strides in moving more towards civil equality for sexual, ethnic and other minorities. However, as the last seven years have demonstrated, that progress can be undermined very easily.

In short, it's not a battle between generations. The stakes are more fundamental, and transcend chronological age.