A plea to my fellow Baby Boomers: Last Chance; Last Dance.

I was driving through my small town on a cool October day, past the elementary school I attended, the high school I attended in the early 60’s and past ghostly places that no longer exist except in memory. I’m 65 now – an aging Baby Boomer. The world is different. Time has passed.

At this stage of life, now in history, we Baby Boomers have seen it all. We’ve had the big promotions, bought (and sold) the summer home, had the BMW (and the motorcycle we also had to sell). Drank the finest wine and ate the best steaks. We’re running out of runway for wage earning. Too many Millennials want our jobs. Whatever savings we’ve put away must last for a decade or two. And we learned long ago, we do not need G-d[1].

We have had the good life, and it ultimately took us away from the Christian religion. “What draws people away from traditional, institutional religion is largely the success of the consumer culture --- the stronger form of magic --- found in the ever-new glow of consumer products”.[2]

The party is over. Once we were immortal. Now it’s time to pay. Everything we thought would fill the bill only put a temporary hold on mortality. Our knees need replacing. Our hearts need pacemakers. Like all the younger generations before and after us, we once thought we were immortal. We are not.

Mortality is the great reminder, the great leveler of humanity. The Biblical concept of threescore and seven or by strength fourscore is coming true for us. We are going to die.

We are reminded in the Biblical Psalms:

10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span[a] is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.[3]

Boomers may be cynical or hopeful depending upon the day. Yet we still want to grab one more sunset before the end. Wherever we are, we are facing the grim truth of finality. Mortality is reality. And no amount of positive thinking is going to make death disappear.

As I’ve watched my father-in-law fade toward his death, I know it won’t be long for all of us. Are we ready?

Many of us now know the joy of grandkids – the greatest joy of our lives, but even they are a stark reminder of our age. At the end of it all is the end of it all. We Boomers are speeding toward the inevitable – death. We cannot stop it, but the question remains: “Are we prepared for the other side?”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”. - Steve Jobs.

Maybe he was wrong.

[1] [A note to the reader: When the word G-d is used, it is because that’s the way the Hebrews state His name, without a vowel, to demonstrate respect – and so shall I.]

[2] Taylor, p. 490, cited in James K.A. Smith, p. 89.

[3] Psalm 90:10 English Standard Version (ESV)