I Detest My Baby-Boomer, RW, Rapture-Happy, Militant Parents. [View All]

[BeachBaby]

There - I said it.

If I didn't look so much like my mother and her family, I would be researching where I REALLY came from, because I don't share an ounce of my parents' habits, beliefs, ideals, traits, or passions.

I was born in 1969. The Vietnam War was in full throttle, and my very-young parents were contending with the all-too-often news of their high school classmates being killed over there. Bobby and MLK were murdered months earlier, all hell was breaking loose with Arafat's new position of power, anti-war riots were hitting the streets, the Manson murders, Woodstock, violence, drugs.....

My brother was born in 1970, and nothing had changed. My mother once told me that as she and my father watched the Kent State Massacre coverage on TV, she looked at my dad and said "What are we thinking, bringing babies into the world at a time like this?"

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A little bit of background history: my mother (b. 1949) was raised by two Polish immigrants. Her parents were both Democrats, and her dad was a lifetime military man (WWII Purple Heart, followed by DoD career). They were also devout Catholics. My father (b. 1943) was raised by two German immigrants, both Democrats, and his dad was a blue-collar worker for ARCO. I would describe their religious affiliation as being agnostic. I can say, in all honesty, that both sets of my grandparents lived the epitome of the American Dream - nice houses, cars, money in the bank, never expecting more than what they worked for. I guess I would classify them as successful products of the Greatest Generation.

For reasons unknown, my father was, very early on, fascinated with the military: guns, tanks, strategy, the whole gamut. When he graduated high school in 1962, he informed his parents that he was enlisting in the Army. His parents tried to talk him out of it for about a year, but he finally went ahead with his plans in the summer of 1963. He was in basic training at Ft. Dix on November 22nd, shining his boots, when his sergeant came running into the barracks to inform him and his buddies that Kennedy was assassinated. My father LOVED Kennedy, as did his parents. Kennedy, by their terms, was a true American - a man who was making the world a better place. I've heard it opined more than once that November 22, 1963 was the official end of the innocence - and many thought that we would be going to war with Cuba. My dad's unit was one of them. Obviously, that never happened; but Vietnam did.

He never did get sent to Vietnam, although many of the men in his unit did. He was, instead, stationed in Seoul, S. Korea, for 13 months. After that tour, he was stationed in San Francisco, and then DC. It was 1966, according to my dad, that he was feeling "disillusionment" regarding our government, its corruption, and what its agenda REALLY was. He was driving home to NJ, sitting on the beltway, sifting through the radio stations, when he fell upon Billy Graham. He claims that after listening to Mr.Graham for about 20 minutes, he pulled over on the shoulder of I-95, prayed, and became a born-again Christian.

About a month later, he met my mother - and to make a long story a bit shorter, by 1969 managed to convert her, his parents, and his brothers, to born-again Christianity.

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My parents started attending a fundamental Baptist church in 1971. In other words, I was fed Bible stories from the time I can remember. My toddler years were filled with Sunday School classes involving crafty Noah's Ark artwork using popsicle sticks, and pasting gobs of cotton balls to create colossal-sized posters of the clouds that Jesus ascended into after his crucifixion. We were required to memorize Bible verses every week. The "New Testament" teachings continued until I was about 12 years old.

It's also important to note that I was educated through the Christian school system. By the time I reached Junior High school age, the church and school seemed to shift its educational agenda from New Testament teachings to Old Testament teachings. No longer did I get fed the repetitive nursery-rhyme-style parables of baby Jesus, or even some of the "kid-friendly" stories from the Old Testament, ie., Adam and Eve, baby Moses, or Jonah and the whale. No, no, no - it seemed that once we little lambs became teenagers, it was some twisted rite of passage to move us into the Old Testament, complete with the murdering of babies, full-on war, indiscriminate sex and the price to be paid for said immoral behavior. The "sweetness and light" factor of the Bible was no longer the focus; but instead, the constant indoctrination of "going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". The non-believers are to be considered "misguided" until they've been "informed"; if after hearing "the message", the non-believers don't accept and conform, they are to be seen as "heathen". We are to separate ourselves from them. They are the "devil's workers" whose agenda is to lure us away from Christ. They are the enemy.

I think it's important to bring attention to the fact that my Biblical education was of the literalist variety - every story in the Bible really happened, just the way its described. And it's precisely that level of Biblical indoctrination, and its inconsistencies, that convinced me that from Day One, I was being fed one big, fat, organized LIE.

When I was little, I would get the belt for questioning God's Word; when I was a teenager, I had privileges at home taken away - and if I questioned anything at school, I was sent to the principal's office and handed detentions, or forced to sit down with the youth pastor while he pointed out that "the devil is hard at work" at leading me astray.

It's important that I now mention that I was trained, from 4 years of age, in classical piano composition. By the time I was 15 years old, I was recognized throughout the mid-Atlantic parochial school fine arts world. By age 16, I was competing, and placing in the top three, in fine arts competitions for the entire East Coast. It was right around this time, that scholarship offers started coming in the mail; but because of my "status" being exposed only in the parochial education system, the offers coming in weren't from secular colleges/universities. Instead, these offers were from Bob Jones U.; Liberty U.; Wheaton College; Pensacola Christian College; Cedarville College; Messiah College....on and on. As I turned down each one, my parents, my school, and my church, became more and more irate with me. June 12, 1987 was my graduation day from high school - and with the exception of a couple funerals I attended there since then, I've never gone back. I was officially retired from the school and church as of that date.

I ended up going to a secular college and enrolled in a poli-sci course, joined the student govt and democrat club. I became friends with these people instantly. We sat in each other's houses and watched the Iran/Contra trial, and marveled at how unbelievably corrupt the Republicans were. We were all excited about the upcoming election - it would be our first time voting, and we were voting for Dukakis. My parents told me I was naive in my choice, and then said something about how the voting age should be upped to 21.

Then came Bill. I jumped right on board with his campaign and worked the local HQ - gawd, but I was excited. I saw him as being my generation's Kennedy. I saw a bright future ahead for me, for my future kids, for America. My parents yelled at me for not "educating" myself before I vote. They told me that a vote for Clinton is a vote for weakening America's defenses.

Then it was Al's turn. I was raising babies and didn't volunteer for his campaign - but oddly enough, it was at this point where relations between my parents and me took an extreme turn for the worse. On election night, my mother called me to ask me who I voted for. I was surprised that she didn't already know that, but I said "I voted for Gore - why?" What I got as a reply was "Oh my God", followed by my father in the background saying "What - what did she say?" and my mother answering "She did it - she voted for Gore". And then the statement that changed our relationship forever (by my father, with my mother in full agreement): "Well she and all the babykillers are making sure that America self-destructs."

When Kerry won the primary, I decided to volunteer my time to his campaign. I wasn't necessarily a fan, but knew that Bush had to go - and unless I was part of the solution, I was part of the problem. During the campaign, many issues were brought to the forefront - and one day I decided that I was going to point-blank address my parents on some of the issues. In a nutshell, they were voting for Bush again, because he and his cabinet will make sure there isn't another 9/11; they will keep the terrorists "over there"; Bush is against abortion; Bush is against stem-cell research; Bush is a God-fearing Christian. Oh boy.

So I decided to pick their brains a bit, and asked them about the stem-cell issue. When I explained to them that this research quite likely would be hugely instrumental in curing various diseases, my mother responded by saying that she didn't care - that any way you look at it, it's killing babies, plain and simple. When I tried to correct her, she told me that what I was "brainwashed" with was liberal propaganda. So I used a scenario: I asked her to imagine my son, her grandson, being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. I told her to picture a doctor standing before us, claiming that the use of stem cells could be the answer to this worldwide problem. I told her that at this same time, the general election is coming up. Would she still vote against the research? Her answer: "Yes. I refuse to kill another baby, even for your son." My dad chimed in with "If your son dies from a disease, it's because it was in God's plan. Do you think God would want us killing another baby to save yours?" And I responded "But it's okay to kill the healthy Iraqi babies and children?" The answer I got to that question sent chills down my spine: "They are trained to be terrorists from birth. Better to kill them now, than to have to deal with them later on our soil."

The last conversation I had with them was in November of 2006. They invited me and my kids to have dinner at their house. When I showed up, my dad had this obscenely huge map of the Middle East laid out on the living room floor. I was stunned as he explained his distorted view of our War on Terror - and when he got done his diatribe, I just looked at him and said "Who do you expect to pay for this?" When he didn't answer me, I said "You and your war-mongering generation of lunatics are destroying any chance of my generation, and my children's generation, having any financial freedom. Your mentality will drive this country into another draft. You claim that I'm naive and undereducated, yet you are the one who won't research. You are to blame for the complete mess this country is in. I can forgive anyone for voting for the wrong guy once, but twice? No. Not when my future, and my children's future, hangs in the balance."

I was helping my kids get their coats on when I heard, from my mother: "I won't be on this earth much longer anyway - so it's not my problem".....and from my father: "None of this matters. Jesus will be returning soon. Everything is falling into place as the Bible describes it. THAT is what YOU should be afraid of."

The only contact I currently have with my family is my brother. He called me Thursday to inform me that our parents are officially insane: "You should hear them! They're practically having an orgasm over McCain."

God Bless Amurika.

ON EDIT: I apologize to anyone who read my post and was offended at my statement regarding the "war-mongering" generation. I was not referencing the entire generation to be war-mongerers; but rather, pointing out to my father that the war-mongers of HIS generation were destroying my future. I know many a liberal boomer. Hope this helps explain my statement. Thanks. :)