A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a movie theater watching the Oscar-nominated film “Belfast.” It was absolutely fantastic and I had a good time watching it. I saw it with a good-sized crowd, but no one talked or had their cell phone out the entire time. After the film was over, I looked around and I realized that I was the youngest person in the room by about 20 years. I talked to a few audience members, who were probably in their 50s, and we had a spectacular conversation about the film and its merits. 

When I went home, I looked at my vinyl collection. It’s got a lot of classics like Bob Dylan, Queen, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Sam Cooke and Bruce Springsteen. I looked at my Blu-Rays and I have a lot of old films like “Casablanca,” “Singin’ In The Rain” and “Taxi Driver.” Whenever I say, after seeing motorized scooters, “doesn’t anyone take a walk anymore?” my friends retort, “OK boomer.”  I guess I’ve always been kind of an old soul and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a Baby Boomer in a Generation Z body. 

Sometimes I prefer to hang out with older people than my fellow peers. Old people got it figured out. And yes, I don’t say senior citizens. They’re old and that’s a fact. I’m young and I’m going to be old someday. Stop trying to hide the obvious. 

What I enjoy about old people is that they’re often very content with themselves with nothing to prove to anyone. They’re very chill and I respect that. 

Meanwhile, my youthful brethren can be a pack of mouth-breathing morons. These are just a few annoying traits that I’ve noticed in my generation. First, they have no sense of perspective. Young people think that films from the 1990s are old. News flash, if Paul Rudd and Matthew McConaughey look the same as they did three decades ago, that’s not old. For me, if a film is more than 50 years old, it’s old. 

They also think that Green Day counts as classic rock. Look, I love the band and “American Idiot” is one of the greatest albums ever made, but it came out in 2005. My generation has a hard time telling you who was President before Barack Obama. This is the mentality of Generation Z: “If I wasn’t alive for it, it must not be important.”

We’re also incredibly narcissistic. I’m so sick of attention-desperate people flaunting themselves on social media for our judgment. Then our judgment comes along and makes them feel bad so they post again, perpetuating a sick cycle. We just need to take a step back from social media and do what boomers do: occasionally rant on Facebook while posting memes featuring beloved cartoon characters. 

Also, we’re partially to blame for the whole cryptocurrency and NFT craze. This nonsensical fad has not only been bad for the environment because of the ridiculous amount of energy it consumes. You don’t see too many Boomers wasting that kind of energy. Heck, many of them go to bed when the sun is still out. If anything, they’re saving energy for us to waste. 

Now, I’m not one of those people who long to go back in time. In many ways, things have gotten better over the decades. But we can still learn a lot from past generations, especially the Boomers. 

Think about what’s going on right now. We had a corrupt president who tried to censor the media and obscure justice for four years on a level that would make Nixon blush. There’s massive inflation, gas is expensive, Russia is a massive threat, we’re protesting for civil rights and states like Texas and Florida are passing harmful laws against the LGBTQ+ community. It’s like the 1970s are back. 

While younger generations are terrified, Boomers are thinking to themselves, “well this is familiar.” If we want to adapt to these current circumstances, maybe we shouldn’t act like we’re so high and mighty over Baby Boomers. And as for me, I will continue to be an old soul because I know it’s better than being a young schmuck.