Re: “Seniors should live within their means,” letter, Sept. 3.
Much complaining comes from seniors about the self-centred youth who apparently do not know the meaning of hard work and expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter.
In reality, there is no cohort more selfish and self-righteous than my own, i.e. the boomers.
We came of age in the 1960s when we had the luxury of throwing aside the thrifty values of our Depression-survivor parents. We dropped out, worked minimally whenever and wherever we felt like it and pretty much were free to “find ourselves.”
Many of are now benefiting from the estates of the aforementioned elders, who spent their lives acquiring savings bonds and investments as a hedge against the deprivations of the 1930s and the war years. Cruises and winter vacations are now the norm. Living frugally is a hardship to be bitterly resented.
Those who are not so fortunate should remember the story of the grasshopper and the ants. No matter how we struggle now, we need to be thankful that we grew up when we did and had the luxury of high employment, cheap travel, relative security and nearly unavoidable upward mobility. If things aren’t so rosy now, maybe it is just our turn to suck it up a bit.
Ruth Lindsay
Victoria