This boomer is OK with pursuing the right thing – Sarasota Herald-Tribune

OK boomer, you got me.

Though I decry the scorn that often accompanies this meme, I do not deny the generation gap. As an early boomer, Im not up on popular culture. I rarely recognize the names that appear in the news items on the entertainment page and I have a hard time navigating the various TV remote controls. (Just get me HGTV, for heavens sake!)

Then there is another difference Ive noticed as the years have gone by. When I was in my 20s, I was very sure of most things how I felt about people, how I looked at politics, how I thought children should be raised. Then I grew up. I realized that all those absolutes I counted as guideposts for my life were not so absolute. There were variables, shades of gray that could make decisions and choices just a bit harder.

That could be unsettling at times. I remember the first hiring decision I was called upon to make. I scoured resumes, interviewed way too many people and made a chart (that was when we did that by hand) so that I could compare qualifications. That helped, but did not leave me with a clear choice, and I did not want to make a mistake.

It was my luck to have received some sound advice: Go with your gut. That hire, incidentally, went on to distinguish himself in various media positions.

Through the past five decades, there have been many more times when the decisions have been tough, but when its crunch time I like to think I can tell right from wrong, regardless of the consequences, and act accordingly.

As I watch my daughters raising their own children, I am heartened to see how committed they are to instilling in their offspring the basic rules of life, of honesty, of following through on commitments and of treating all people with respect. The children are still learning, and sometimes they stumble, but thankfully there are loving adults on hand to remind them that there is a difference between right and wrong.

In light of the actions of leaders on the national and local level, it could be easy to become cynical, to decide that looking out for oneself and to heck with the rest is the best plan. But as we learned as children, two wrongs do not make a right.

With good reason, all the worlds major religions subscribe to some form of the Golden Rule. Christians look to the biblical admonition from Matthew 7:12, So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The Jewish leader Hillel in the first century, B.C., is credited as saying, That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation.

And the Prophet Muhammad said, None of you has faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

So how does all that relate to the divisive climate so prevalent today? It seems to be rooted in a fear of what might befall us if we are honest with ourselves and others. If it is revealed that behavior was clearly wrong, that actions taken were based on self-preservation and not the common good, what will be the result?

In some cases, the consequences could mean the loss of a job, the end of a career, the derailing of plans long in the works, even the alienation of family and friends.

Still, the only appropriate answer is to do the right thing in the beginning. Most of us know what is right and what is not. The hard part comes in not allowing ourselves to be taken in by greed and the chance for self-aggrandizement. Those can be powerful incentives.

When life is good, when things seem to be going our way, it can be easy to look the other way when we see wrong in the world. And yet that choice contributes to the breakdown of society.

Maybe younger generations are looking to us, the boomers, and saying we have not done our part in this regard and maybe, just maybe, they are right.

Still, that does not absolve anyone, regardless of age, of the responsibilities to make a difference, to stand up for what is right and good even when the choice can be difficult. Mixed messages coming from all sides these days creates yet another challenge.

But that cannot be an excuse for doing nothing. All the generations coming after us deserve only our best.

Kathy Silverberg is former publisher of the Herald-Tribunes southern editions. She can be reached at kathy.silverberg@comcast.net or followed on Twitter @kdsilver.

Read the rest here:

This boomer is OK with pursuing the right thing - Sarasota Herald-Tribune