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The birth of the first of the baby boomers in 1946 marked the start of a lifelong quest for success. Newsweek’s Jerry Adler looks at how their meaning of success has evolved over the years:
Whoever dies with the most toys, wins.
It might not have been the most profound statement of the meaning of existence, but it fit on a bumper sticker, the medium in which the intellectual history of the baby boomers is mostly written. It neatly expressed the midlife surrender of idealism (see Make love, not war) to which every generation of revolutionaries succumbs, and also the competitive spirit that overtook the boomers as they dropped out of their communes and lost interest in Eastern religions. If you wanted to know where you stood in life, you didn’t need to look into your soul, just your closet.
Whether you are a baby boomer or not, how has your definition of success changed over the years and how do you define it now?
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So many trees… so little time.
If my chainsaw had a silencer, my neighbor’s trees would be in danger. Turn ‘em all! Bwa-Ha-ha ha!
When I was young I wanted to be a writer, and success was going to be lots of people reading my books and liking them.
As a teenager I planned to become a missionary/Bible translator. I don’t remember thinking much in terms of success, but I guess it would have been learning a previously unwritten language and translating the Bible into it, and being known as a loving and godly woman. (Knowing myself, the first part seemed much more likely than the second.)
Once I became convinced that missions had been my idea and not God’s, I wanted to be a teacher at a Christian school. Success was going to be being known as a teacher who made learning exciting and inspired students to do their best, who connected the subject matter to life and faith and was considered a good role model and someone students liked to hang around with and talk to after school was over. I also wanted to be known for living very simply, content with just basic necessities, but always willing to share what I had.
After being a complete and utter failure at all my goals regarding teaching (though I did own only basic necessities because I couldn’t afford anything more), I had no real goals - which may be part of why I made some pretty bad decisions in my personal life.
One good decision (a few years later) was to marry Jon, and as a wife and mother my definition of success is that my sons will grow up to be the people God made them to be, that they will be healthy, whole people (I am thinking primarily not of physical health and wholeness, though naturally I hope for that also). For myself, my goal is to live a healthy life (physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, spiritually), characterized by love, joy, hope, serenity, generosity, and laughter, and that I will use my gifts of creativity, problem-solving, and knowledge to enrich others’ lives. (This is from a mission statement I wrote for myself about 8 years ago.)
And I still hope to write a book someday that people will think is pretty good.
Weebles Wobble But They Don’t Fall Down!
Kudos, Pauline. I cannot imagine you writing a book I would not greatly appreciate!
I’m too old to be a boomer. My kids are boomers!
Anyway, when I was young, I wanted to be really cool and live in the city and be a writer and respected intellectual. Later, after I got over myself, I just wanted to have kids and be a good mom. (I was married, but not a believer.) I did have kids, but was not as good at “momming” as I had hoped. I ended up divorced. Then I experienced a period in which God was chasing me around. Literally. I wore myself out trying to outrun him. After a couple of years of that, I gave up. I met Christ and trusted him. With his help, and the help of other believers, I was able to be a better mom. Since then my primary goal (although I have some others) has been to get to know God as thoroughly as possible and to please him in my life as much as possible. After 30 years, I’m still working very hard on the “getting to know” part, but he has graciously allowed me a number of ways to serve him, too.
As I understand it, I am among the very youngest of the boomers.
My definition of success has not changed much.
I always wanted to be a good husband and father. I never had illusions that I would be “great” in those roles, but I hoped that I would be at least moderately effective. I want my wife and children to know for sure that I love them and that they can count on me. I want to be a blessing, rather than a curse, to them.
I always wanted to be among the best in my profession and, like Pauline, to be recgonized for my good work.
I never cared about becoming wealthy (except for the occasional daydream), but I wanted to be financailly independent and to be able to support my family.
More important than anything, I have always wanted to please God with my life. I hope that I can hear the words “Well done!” when I stand before Him in heaven.
I am with Kyle A in hoping to hear the words.
Meantime, no great aspirations though as a young believer I was fairly certain I would be sitting at the right hand of God, helping to keep things in order. Seeing as how I knew Him best and all. Now I will be pleased with a hut off to the side and those words, “Well done”.
Raised by non-religious people, I was infused with the notion that success meant money, material goods, academic success and travel opportunities.
Today at 51, I have all those things–most of which I inherited because my parents died relatively young.
For a long time, success to me has looked like this: peace of mind, a God who forgives so I don’t have to live in guilt, the richness of friendships and a family who loves me.
But I’m thankful for my parents, because their definition has allowed me to give away so very much–and that is a lot of fun.
Successes on earth are funny things and they mean different things to different folks. They come great and small and whether you are successful can depend many times on how high you set the bar. Failing to reach a goal where the bar is set very high can be a disincentive so moving the bar ever higher as lowerr goals are met is the way to go.
Usually, success is based on sacrifice and the willingness to do and then actually doing it. Pretty easy really if you ahve the character attributes required adn lack fear, pride and ego.
I ran across the high school student paper that I was interviewed in as a senior. I was surprised at how little my definition of success changed.
I wanted a moderate degree of material success and comfort (less than many of my classmates), and to have carved out a niche of expertise to practice. I seem to have hit that fairly well too.
Looking back, I’d say my definition has changed somewhat, but not as radically as I suppose I should think it would—had I given it much thought. Good fatherhood, loving husband, and all that, were just something I expected would happen as it was expected of me as a family tradition. There were only a few examples of otherwise and they were roundly shunned.
Material desire is where the greatest change has occurred and as my faith has grown, along with the challenges of life and age, I’ve discovered that God will indeed provide when I get my proud self out of His way and allow Him to guide my life as He intends. Along with His guidance come His blessings which materialistically are more than adequate and which I’ve learned to accept though they are less than some, including myself at one point, would demand, but are far richer on a whole different level than anyone deserves. Blessings of family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ (who are actually strangers on a physical level) make life far richer than any amount of wealth as the world measures wealth. In my youth, these things were lightly considered, but now are the essence of life.
This idea was a challenge. I never thought about defining success. I grew up so poor, and with such a well diserved inferiority complex (I really was inferior.), that any progress was success to that point. (My mom was proud of me when I made corporal.) So, I never had a lot of abmition, but a lot of drive. (Like the football coach early in the season who said, “I only want to win the next game”.) I reached for the next goal. It turned into a certain amount of worldly success. Actually, I’m thankful beyond expression because I’m not smart enough to have this education, nor good looking enough to get such a sweet and pretty wife that I did, nor wise enough to advance in my career so much.
My spiritual goals have only been to please my Lord. I don’t think I was very successful. It once occurred to me (Acutally, I think the Lord told me.) that God isn’t concerned about the impression I make on that class.
I’m Gen X, the original slackers, we have no goals and hence no definition of success. As the old punk song went “birth school work death”. I’ve never defined success.
“Weebles Wobble But They Don’t Fall Down!”
Roger - I had to laugh at that, as my husband has called me a Weeble due to my uncertain balance.