It, like most things in life, is generational.

I look at the world we live in, and sometimes I think our problem is generational mentalities. Now, you may have been born in the decades immediately following World War II, and if you were, I'm probably about to offend you.
Baby boomers are the most destructive generation in human history.
For the most part, these weren't conscious negative decisions, and in all honesty, it was the generation of the baby boomers' grandparents who set them up for this awe inspiring achievement. I don't look at the intent of the majority of baby boomers with much contempt, but at some point, I do think they could've made a choice. There are, after all, a huge number of people of that generation who are quite aware of the problems they've created. That number is still such an insignificant proportion of the total that it makes little difference.
How can a generation be so significant? How could anyone we know make such a negative impact in the grand scheme of all of human history? Questions like that attest to the problem. Questions like that are asked by the baby boomers themselves. It's a way of shifting blame- of placating one's conscience. People who say that we are insignificant in the run of mankind also, in the same breath, will tell you that modern times are the most enlightened and accomplished. They'll say that we have advanced more in the last one hundred years than humankind has in the last two thousand, but then they tell you that we're too insignificant to affect anything such as the environment. So, which is it?
I started down this path of thought when I tried to imagine what my grandchildren might be doing when they're my age. What will be their issues? It occurred to me that they will still be trying to fix the problems of the baby boomers, but to my grandchildren, the baby boomers will be an abstract historical group of people. There won't be the face of mom, dad, grandpa, or grandma, to associate with the generation. It will only be a group of people that created a huge number of problems that they are still trying to solve. It was at this point that the baby boomers became something different in my mind. How do I explain that my parents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and friends took a bad situation and made it worse?
I look at our world, and I'm forced to see it as a generational struggle. I see one generation taking advantage of the world, and another, taught to be apathetic, watching everything get worse and worse- year by year. What happens when the former steps down? What happens when retirement, ill health, and death leaves the reins of our people in the limp hands of my generation? Will it be business as usual or will we have the courage to step up and live our lives for us?

The Road from the Airport

I just watched an interview with CNN's Sanjay Gupta and documentary film producer Michael Moore. My own opinions of Michael Moore aside (and I'll ask you to do the same), he made a side point while trying to illustrate a grander point which was that, "[Franklin Delano Roosevelt] defeated the Nazis, and the Japanese, and Mussolini in less time than it's taken us to secure the road from the airport to downtown Bagdad."
I became lost on this and missed the rest of what he was saying. This is a staggering point. Think of everything your parents or grandparents (or great-grandparents for Generation Y) told you about World War II. Think of every documentary, book, television show, and movie you've ever seen taking place during World War II. Think of all of these things, and now put that into the context of this statement. The Allied Powers took Normandy, pushed the Nazis out of France, and overtook and occupied Germany and people still can't walk around Bagdad without being gunned down or blown up. We defeated one of the greatest navies the world has ever known and occupied Japan and we can't secure a few highways for transportation.
How is this possible? I know the lip-service, sound-bite, "News at 11" reasons for it, but to be honest, my intuition is saying something just isn't right about this. What is going on over there? Should I even be looking to Iraq with a question mark over my head, or should my attention be elsewhere? If it's implausible that a country of our wealth, determination, and military standing is unable to quell the situation in Iraq (the argument of whether or not we should be there aside), then what are we doing there?
I think I have my answers, but what do you think?
What makes sense to you?
And once you have your answers, reexamine them.
Are you being honest with yourself?
When are you going to put an end to this?