Letter: Baby Boomers not greatest generation

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 | 7:08 a.m.

I was amused by Robert L. Candiotti's June 17 letter regarding the 1967 "Summer of Love." As someone who is of the Baby Boom generation - and who has plenty of siblings and relatives of the even earlier boom generation - I have witnessed firsthand the level of greed and self-centeredness this generation has brought about.

Baby Boomers (myself included) have a real tendency to assume they are somehow the greatest generation to have ever emerged. They are not. Doing drugs, listening to rock music and keeping ourselves alive just as long as possible while espousing peace to everyone is hardly a contribution to the planet. At best, it's just another device to continue to take, take, take.

If you want the greatest generation ever, look to the parents of the Boomers. They made genuine sacrifices. If you want the next greatest generation, look to the children of the Boomers (the ones we conveniently "X-ed" out); they are the ones who will have to sacrifice because we, the mighty Boomers, have managed to squander and take as much as we can to their detriment. We need to get over ourselves. Now.

Timothy James, Las Vegas