Back in the 1960's and '70's, how often did we hear that expression, "Do your own thing!" There was even a popular song with those lyrics in it. As we explore the values that the baby boomer generation believed in, it would be difficult to find one more dear than this one. A more formal way of expressing it would be with the phrase "personal freedom."
We were (and are) a generation for whom personal freedom was everything. Many of us were seen as rebels because we refused to go along with the values and ethics of our parents' generation. It became a sort of us-versus-them mentality in which everyone over thirty was not to be trusted. They were "The Establishment," and we all knew we couldn't trust the establishment. The establishment wanted us to fit in a box they built for us. They wanted us to believe as they did, to see the world as they did, to express our individuality in the same ways they did, and to live in the same kind of lifestyles they carried over from their parents.
For us, that wouldn't do. I do not pretend to know all the causes for this shift. Perhaps there are those who do. My observation is that as a generation we became extremely disillusioned with an American society that would allow the atrocities of the Vietnam War and the ethical and moral failures of Watergate plus the injustices that came to light during the Civil Rights Movement not to mention the assassinations of some of our beloved leaders to want to be any part of it.
At any rate there arose a phenomenon which came to be called The Generation Gap, and as time went by, it grew wider and wider. Many of us cut ourselves off from and rejected the past. We decided to chart our own course, not only as a generation. That was when the fierce individualism began, and we started to say, "Do your own thing." Taken to an extreme this meant that each person could do whatever they wanted to, and no one should judge them for doing it. If you felt like doing drugs, who cares? If you felt like going to a commune and having a lifestyle free from the traditional taboos of social morality, so what? If you felt like dodging the draft and going to Canada, that's cool. If you "find Jesus," and get lost in the Jesus Movement, that's find too, but leave the rest of us alone. We are all doing our own thing.
The Old Testament Book of Judges puts it this way. "... every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6, KJV)
With people thinking and living in such a individualistic manner, another saying arose. "If it feels good, do it!" When you take this to its logical extreme, it leads to a kind of anarchy, and that is a scary place to get to. I personally believe that we came fairly close to that extreme at some point. Some of us got stuck there and some still are there, but for the majority of us, other forces started drawing us back.
We got older. We started having families and careers of our own. Instead of saying, "Don't trust the Establishment!", we became the Establishment. However, even during our middle-age years we, we still had a lot of the strong individualism that became such a characteristic of our generation.
Ours was a generation of innovation. Whether it is in the music we listen to, the stories and books we read or the businesses we went into, we changed it all and made it our own. Think with me about how many entrepreneurs came from our generation. To name only two, there were Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
As we start to retire, why does this have to change? In any stage of life we should remember that in order to succeed, you still have to chart your own course, listen to your own drummer, and Do Your Own Thing!
Now a final note to all you boomers out there. You changed the world before, and you can do it again. It's never too late to start. You have the power to shape your own future and affect change for the better. At the bottom of this page is a link to my private website reserved for the use of people like you who want to explore ways to gain a better future for themselves and their families. If you follow this link, you will see a video I did which will explain in more depth some additional things I have learned. It will also introduce you to some people that helped to mold my thinking about my own future.
Here is the link. http://timmorrisonline.com/
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