Dad, I learned today that I'm not actually a Baby Boomer as I've always thought. I am a part of Generation Jones. Did you know you had children that spanned two generations? It's the name coined by social historian and commentator, Jonathan Pontell for children born between 1954 and 1965. It seems we were affected by all the social changes of the sixties but mostly as observers and not participants. We were just too young to fill those boots! Yes, I listened to the music of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin but that's only because your oldest son had their records, the same son who was drafted along with his friends and cousins, while my classmates and I just watched the end of the Viet Nam War on the TV news. When you and Mom were worrying about the Cuban Missile Crisis, I was the child underfoot secretly worrying with you. I do remember a serious discussion among kids under that big pine tree by our house about what would we do if communists took over and demanded that we deny Jesus. Would it be okay to deny Jesus if we did it with our fingers crossed behind our backs? I wondered if I would be strong enough to die valiantly defending my Lord.
It's hard to march in a revolution while still wearing footie pajamas. Instead we marched off to our Sunday School classes to the hymn, "Onward, Christian Soldiers."
Dad, your Baby Boomers and their pesky siblings, Generation Jones, are still hanging in there. You loved us all, your ragamuffin legacy. We'll be seeing you.
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