'Boomers' had it so good

Re. James Carter's letter 'Boomers' to blame (Castanet, May 17)

I am one of those despicable Boomers who had everything easy —low housing costs, everything easy and are to blame for all today’s evils. We had it so easy. We are the ones who didn’t contribute to today’s problems.

We are the ones whose ego set us apart from reality. We were so bad, we made it so hard for today’s generation. We were also the ones who didn’t contribute to Canada’s wealth and didn’t contribute anything to make Canada a good place to live.

My contribution to Canada was minimal. I guess my excessive demands for health care and my extreme demand for a quality of life should be rewarded by denying me basic service because us Boomers never contributed anything but ego about our white privilege.

I guess my ego is so strong I could never expect a result for transferring to a small town which didn’t have a tub or running water. Standing in the wind trying to fill my can from the community well in 40 kilometre per hour winds so my family could have drinking water. I really enjoyed not being able to shower or bath until I went back to my parents home twice a year. Yes, that was so great.

I was employed by a bank that transferred us at its leisure. We had our relocation paid for but had no input to where our next location was. My rent doubled from the small community to a city—my final location—but my salary didn’t match the increase. It cost me 25% more, but who cared. We boomers were so fortunate.

We were able to buy homes cheap. We remember that after former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, we renewed our mortgages at 18%. Great times. My payments went up 50% but we were so lucky, weren't we?

Boomers are, for some reason, today’s punching bag. Don’t worry, soon we will be dead and the "left" will find some others to vilify.

Robert Hepting, Kelowna