A Pig In A Python?

Baby boomers have been called a lot of things (and many of them are not very nice), but a recent USA Today article referred to us as a pig, or more specifically “a pig in a python.”

So, metaphorically, the last 6 decades have seen our oversize boomer population being digested by the total population, and it hasn’t always been comfortble. In this description, we see that once again, boomers as individuals are blamed for the resulting indigestion of society at large. Did we ask to be born all at once after the war was over? No, we were never consulted. Does anyone ever blame our parents? No, of course not. They’re revered as The Greatest Generation. Am I the only one to suggest they might be called The Horniest Generation?

Cause and effect, people! We didn’t ask to be born, and even if we did, the births could have been spaced out a bit more instead of all packed into 1947 through 1958. Does anyone else find it ironic that we started out as war babies who would later vehemently protest what we considered a futile war?

The biggest knock on boomers appears to be that we were spoiled and pampered, which in turn is why we created so many entitlement programs. Let’s not forget that the entitlement programs were created well before boomers took over the levers of power. And we never suggested that a new level of permissiveness in child-rearing should be the order of the day. Dr. Spock layed that one on society all by himself.

No matter. We never get it right. No matter what we do, as individuals or as a group, we are doomed to be this demographic anomaly (the pig in the python). Let society and demographers do and say what they want -- can’t stop them anyway. But I would like to remind them that a meal is a meal. Maybe a pig doesn’t equate to a happy meal, but boomers have nourished society in a big way, so the complainers can just suck it up.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, which therefore makes him a pre-published author.