Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones had their nineteenth nervous breakdown in 1966. I’m having mine now. Over the years, boomers have witnessed several recessions, interest rates in the high double-digits and rampant inflation when we were buying our first homes in the seventies. In aughts we are witnessing one of the greatest testosterone-loaded pissing matches between the autocratic leaders of major countries that the world has seen since WW2. “Stay off my property while I try to steal yours.”

Did the world ever seem as bleak as it is now? Our parents suffered through The Great Depression of the thirties and World War II in the forties. Boomers were trained to shelter under our desks in elementary school in the fifties to avoid being fried to a crisp during the Cold War nuclear threats. Then, just as we were coming of age in the sixties, America entered the Vietnam War. While Vietnam did not affect Canadians to the degree it did America’s youth, we watched the horror, the demonstrations, and the carnage every evening on the news.

No generation in the history of the world has managed to live their entire lives without disasters and catastrophes in some form or another. There is always trouble somewhere in the world in a never-ending cycle of ignoring lessons learned from history and earlier mistakes.

There’s a new kid on the block now and a new term for our vocabulary—economic warfare. Our friendly neighbours to the south are treating us like enemies and joining forces with the very same oppressive regimes we fought against all those years ago. Have they forgotten our benevolence to Americans stranded in Newfoundland after 911, or how the Canadian embassy in Tehran sheltered and saved American diplomats in 1979? That’s how we treat our friends, and dare I say, our enemies too when they genuinely need help. The political swing to the far right is undoing all the gains we worked for in terms of helping our fellow human beings, particularly minorities and women, as we try to make the entire world a better place.

I am certainly not an economist but any moron can see that the punitive tariffs being imposed on Canadian goods going into the United States will seriously hurt American business and consumers. Those price increases will be paid by average American consumers, not Canadians.

What are we going to do about it?

Baby boomers reacted to the challenges of our generation in the sixties and seventies by taking to the streets and protesting, by voting for the centre or left of centre, and by introducing enlightenment. Martin Luther King emerged to further the cause of civil rights and boomers got behind him. Draft dodgers, who included some of America’s finest youth, moved to Canada. Their contribution was a serious loss to the United States, and most went on to strengthen and build Canada into an even better country. It was a choice, the result of hard-earned freedoms that are now under threat.

We brought on the sexual revolution. We banished old-fashioned Puritan ideals and made the pill widely available to mitigate the downside of unwanted pregnancies. Women finally had choices and exercised those choices. We created new music, and thanks to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Barry McGuire and others, we sang to protest war and to promote peace and love. We changed the face of the workplace, fashion, social norms, and technology.

Quite simply, our generation took action and generated change.

As we face the challenges of 2025 and going forward, I find myself wondering how Gen X, Y and Z will cope and respond. Will they rebel? Will they demand justice for law-breakers and self-serving politicians? Or, is the justice system already too corrupt and powerless? Will the younger generations continue to be totally preoccupied with their smartphones and ignore the oncoming destruction of democracy.

Where are the protest songs like John Lennon’s “Imagine”, or movies that bring home the horror of war, like Apocolypse Now or Good Morning, Vietnam, and television shows like M*A*S*H.  Wars, disregard for the law, drug problems, ignoring environmental issues, and promoting a me-first mentality while ignoring those who need help are not progressive or humane courses of action.

I worry that younger generations lack the wherewithal to effect change. Are they too consumed by instant gratification and personal gain that they will ignore the larger issues? They are disadvantaged by not being raised by The Greatest Generation (the parents of boomers) who instilled a value system that encouraged freedom of choice and community participation for the betterment of all.

How can multi-billionaires and politicians understand the needs of the underprivileged when they have never been hungry, cold, unable to afford a place to live or to provide health care and nutritious meals for their families?

None of us can truly understand the challenges of others until we have a child who is trans, until we are unable as a single parent to feed our children while working two or three low-paying jobs, lose our home and family in bombings, or lose our fundamental rights to freedom and self-expression because we were duped.

I’m too old and creaky to march in protest and too impotent to put myself in the line of fire from forces that threaten our way of life. Beyond posting this blog, I’m counting on younger generations, X, Y, and Z to get this sorted out before it’s too late. At least my drug dealer (Canada’s blessed universal healthcare system, despite its faults) pays for my supply of old lady Prozac to keep me somewhat sane, and my life savings should cover the cost of the wine needed to anesthetize me against the insanity of the current “wars of the world”—at least until they goose-step across the Arctic tundra from Russia or march up from our southern border and force me toe their party line, against my will.

Lordy, lordy. My fourth quarter was supposed to be my best—the time of life when I could rock in my porch chair and read my books in peaceful contemplation, with my dog in my lap, a cup of good strong Yorkshire Gold tea, and a chocolate biscuit at my side. I am glad I’m old and I’m glad I’m Canadian, but my nerves can’t take much more of this political shit-show. It’s killing me before my time. All we need is love. Unfortunately, despite John Lennon’s best intentions, it’s going to take more than imagining to make it happen.