Egad, that "cynical" tag comes down the mountain like a ton of lead with this post. ...In a lot of ways, it's really emblematic about the failure of the Baby Boomers, those children of the "Greatest Generation" born into homes of uprightness and proven ability to save the world for democracy. As children, they saw the optimism erode before their very eyes, as optimism disintegrated and the Iron Curtain divided the world into camps of mutually-assured destruction. In a sense, the Vietnam War was perfectly timed, stealing away the young adulthood of multitudes whose worst fears were ripe to be confirmed.

The civil rights era, and the rise of sex/drugs/rock&roll, must have been one hell of a party, but it came with one hell of a hangover. Frankly, I'm grateful to be born of the "out-of-phase" generation, perhaps a saner, sober-er minority. I can only hope that the children of the Boomers are able to avoid the same malaise as their parents...