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Students saw a gay couple kiss in front of kids, and the students got mad for all the right reasons

Let's "kick the ick" out of our public discourse.

I've spoken often about the "ick" factor — the visceral reaction many have to the sight of something unfamiliar, like two men kissing. When I was growing up, the reaction toward interracial couples was similar, and that disgust over white/non-white intimacy was used to justify laws against interracial marriage.

Many use their irrational discomfort over gay intimacy to justify discrimination. This video, shot in a restaurant in Mississippi, illustrates that all too clearly, underscoring deep social and religious divides over this question. But there is cause, too, for hope — especially among young people. The ick is fading away, as it inevitably will. So watch and ask yourself, "Do I have a bit of the 'ick' in me?"

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How one woman is breaking barriers to amplify women's voices in peace building across Southern Africa

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Vimbai Kapurura is the Executive Director of Women Unlimited, a grassroots women’s rights organization working to promote the rights and leadership of women, girls, and marginalized groups in Eswatini and southern Africa. With support from the Rapid Response Window of the United Nations Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF), she’s advocating to have more female voices in national peace building spaces to ensure women’s rights and demands are included.

“Women are peacebuilders. We are peacemakers. We have a critical role to play in crisis situations and we are very much better placed to play a peacebuilding role in any country.”

In the face of the growing political turmoil in Eswatini, where calls for the establishment of a national dialogue remain seemingly unanswered, Vimbai and her organization are stepping up, raising their voice and bringing forward innovative solutions to promote peace and stability across the country. WPHF is supporting them to amplify women’s voices and mainstream gender perspectives into relevant decision-making mechanisms.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

“We are the cradle of life. We are changemakers, movers, shakers of any area of development. We want to be engaged and involved in any area of the value chain, the complete value chain. We want to be there.”

As part of its project with WPHF, Women Unlimited – with technical support from Cordaid, one of the INGO partners of the RRW – has trained several local women-led civil society organizations in conflict resolution, conflict prevention and mediation processes, as well as carried out educational and awareness raising campaigns on the value of women’s participation in peace processes, targeting both women and men across the country.

“WPHF has really helped us a lot. Not only has the funding allowed us to engage more women in peacebuilding processes, but it’s also supported us to underscore the need for female leadership in these spaces, where we’re often left aside.”

In Eswatini, where women and girls face deep-rooted patriarchy from a very young age, undermining their confidence, autonomy and leadership, Vimbai has become an outspoken advocate for women’s equal representation in decision-making roles at all levels, from community-level and regional committees to national and global peace building spaces.

“If you gather many women toward on common goal, you are guaranteed that that goal is going to be achieved. Let us come together and be the change we want to see. No one will do it for us. But together, we can.”

A tireless leader and activist who’s influenced the lives of many women and girls in Eswatini, Vimbai is a firm believer in women’s capacity, tenacity, and adaptability to lead and drive transformative change in their communities. When she thinks about peace, she dreams about women coming together, taking up space, and walking side by side for a more peaceful and gender-equal world in which harmful stereotypes and cultural practices are left behind.

Follow, engage, and amplify the work of Vimbai's organization!

Modern Families

Millenials share their boomer parents’ 15 quirky (and frustrating) habits they just don't get

"They act jealous of us traveling but refuse to go anywhere."

via Canva/Photos

Boomer parents who don't like to travel, but say they do.

When it comes to intergenerational conflict, you never hear too much about Gen Z having a hard time with Generation X or the silent generation having beef with the baby boomers. However, there seems to be some problem where baby boomers and millennials just can’t get on the same page.

Maybe it’s because millennials were raised during the technological revolution and have to help their boomer parents log into Netflix. There’s also a political divide: Millennials are a reliable liberal voting bloc, whereas boomers are the target demographic for Fox News. Both generations also have differing views on parenting, with boomers favoring an authoritative style over the millennials' gentler approach.

A Redditor asked Xennials, older millennials, and younger Gen Xers born between 1977 and 1983 to share some quirks of their boomer parents, and they created a fun list of habits that can be both endearing and frustrating. The users shared that millennials are frustrated with their parents' abilities to use technology but are touched when they send them a greeting card.



Of course, it is reductive to reduce generations into a series of stereotypes, whether it’s millennials or baby boomers. But, for many, hearing that they aren’t the only person who gets frustrated with their boomer parents can be pretty cathartic and make them feel less alone.

Here are 15 boomer parent quirks that Millenials just don’t understand.

1. They save everything

"They save EVERYTHING (containers, jars, boxes, etc.) just in case they might be able to use it for something later. I feel like this habit was handed down from our grandparents' Great Depression upbringing."

"Absolutely! Shopping bags, empty yogurt containers, boxes that some product came in…..although I love me a 'good box!' I have all my iPhone boxes for no reason."


person using laptop attach to vehicle near green leaf plant during daytime Photo by Brina Blum on Unsplash

2. Scary texts

"Will text something foreboding like 'we need to talk;' then turns out she forgot a recipe."

"My dad will text me 'You need to call me right now' when it’s nothing. And not tell me major life events until well after the fact. Like my aunt had a heart attack and I found out a week later from her son. (And my dad did know.)"



3. Stranger death toll

"My mom is ALWAYS telling me about dead people I’ve never met. I really do not care. I know that sounds awful, but I don’t have it in me to be sad for everyone on the planet when they pass."

“You remember my friend Carol? Her aunt had that above-ground swimming pool in her backyard. We swam in it a couple times one summer when you were about 9. Anyway, Carol’s mom just lost her brother-in-law. They were very close. Thought you’d want to know.”

4. They don't travel

"They act jealous of us traveling but refuse to go anywhere."

"Ooh good one. Mine act jealous of anything we do/buy that they can't solely because they can't get out of their own way and actually make things happen."


man and woman sitting on blue sofa Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

5. They print everything

"My Boomer FIL prints out EVERYTHING from his computer. I understand printing out instructions or recipes to help remember but do you really need a file cabinet full of forwarded emails from friends and sale adverts from 5 years ago? Oh well, at least he keeps it organized. Also, both TVs in the house run 24/7 playing reruns of 'CSI: Who Gives a Sh*t Anymore?'"

"I'm not on Facebook, but my dad is. Last year, he made a celebratory post on my birthday and all his church friends liked and commented on it. He printed up the post and all of the comments, stapled it into a little book, and MAILED me the printed Facebook comments..."



6. 'From, dad' texts

"My dad sends text messages with, 'From, Dad' at the end of them. It cracks me up every time. He also states who he is every time he calls me."

7. Irrational fears

"One quirk my dad had was that he was deathly afraid of the house burning down. Not from the standpoint of the danger of fire but when he was growing up, if your house burnt down, you were basically homeless and destitute. My mom is much more level headed about it. She always told my dad, that is why we have homeowners insurance."


A man in a hard hat inspects an electrical boxman in brown and white plaid dress shirt and yellow hard hat holding black and orange Photo by Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash

8. Expired food

"My mother-in-law doesn't throw out expired food. She has food in her pantry that is several years past their expiration dates. Same with condiments in her fridge. You just can't trust any of the food she has on hand because more than likely than not it's way expired. When we have brought this up, that she needs to throw some stuff out, she insists it's absolutely fine. It's not. "

"My grandmother is the same way. Once, she opened her refrigerator, and there was a jar of pickles with mold floating on the surface of the liquid. I pointed it out, and she said it was still good. She would just scoop the mold out at a later time. She has an incredibly strong stomach and immune system."



9. Smartphone addiction

"You always hear a kids 'these kids always on their damn phones.' But when it comes to phone addiction, boomers are far worse."

"My mom drives five hours to see us, then spends the whole time texting people from her church or looking at Facebook."

"I once sat in their living room for over an hour before they decided to put their phones down and speak to me, only to phub me and pick them right back up."

10. Rigid gender roles

"My dad still clings to the traditional division of 'men's/women's work.' He'll fix a car, do any outside work, clean out a clogged drain. Cooking? If it's any more complicated than making coffee or calling in a pizza, he can't/won't. I don't think he even grills anymore. Laundry? Hell no. Taking care of small children? He'll play with them but that's it."


A man stands over an open hood of a green carman in blue top fixing green car during daytime Photo by Elvis Bekmanis on Unsplash

11. The TV is constantly on

"In-laws leave the TV on for all waking hours. And FIL gets irritated if someone talks over the episode of MASH or Walker, Texas Ranger, that he's already seen 50 times. Like clenching his teeth and stomping the floor."

"TV on 24/7. Constantly flipping between some version of Law and Order, HGTV, and Guy Fieri. Asking me 'did you see that commercial where…' No mom. I don’t have cable. I don’t see commercials. All of the time."



12. They are always right

"My dad...he's has to be right about everything and doesn't know what to do if you beat him to the point on something. He once was giving me a recipe that required cinnamon, cardamon, and clove and told me just to use Pumpkin Pie Spice! It's the greatest thing! 'Dad, I don't need to. I have all those spices on hand (I bake)' But...no! You have to use this. 'No, I don't. I don't need to buy something that I already have" It happens all the time."

"My parents are always right and they are not impressed about anything."

13. Obsessed with the weather

"Yes, my dad should have been a meteorologist. He used to have a weather alert radio that would sound off in the middle of the night and he would watch the weather channel constantly. We all had to quiet down when your local weather forecast on the 8's came on. He gets really excited about severe weather like when we might get thunderstorms or a tornado."


Three people with umbrellas walk in the rainselective color photography of three person holding umbrellas under the rain Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

14. One more thing

"Without fail, every time I'm leaving my mother's house and backing down the driveway, she comes back out of her house and stops me to say something else, even though we'd just spoken."

15. Mail stress

"My mom has an anxiety attack during the entire journey of a package or piece of mail she dispatched to me. No, she doesn’t know how to track. She will not rest until she knows that a package has arrived or a nominal check has been cashed. She calls when she is thinking about sending something, when she sent it, when it’s en route, and when it’s expected to arrive. God forbid it’s late. And if I don’t issue a prompt thank you, she will guilt me."

This story originally appeared in January.
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Dad's heartfelt lunch message shows how simple, everyday acts can change lives

You can make a huge difference by using O Organics.

via Meg Sullivan (used with permission) and Canva/Photos

A volunteer hands out food in a food bank and Meg Sullivan shares her dad's kind gesture.

When we consider people who have had a positive impact on the world, we often think of those who have made grand gestures to improve the lives of others, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Greta Thunberg, or Mahatma Gandhi. Unfortunately, that type of effort is out of reach for the average person.

However, O Organics would like to remind everyone that they can positively impact the world through small, consistent acts of kindness that add up over time. Much like how a small creek can create a valley over the years, we can change lives through small, consistent acts of kindness.

O Organics is dedicated to the well-being of all by nourishing people everywhere with delicious organic foods grown by producers who meet USDA-certified organic farming standards.

Upworthy's Instagram page recently posted a touching example of everyday kindness. Meg Sullivan shared how her father, Tom, peeled oranges for her lunch just about every day from kindergarten through high school. But on the final day of her senior year of high school, he sent his 17-year-old daughter unpeeled oranges with a touching note about how she’d have to start peeling them for herself.



“It’s Time Baby Girl,” he wrote on a wikiHow printout on how to peel an orange with a drawing of himself crying. For the father, this daily ritual was about more than just making lunch; it was about showing that he cared by going the extra mile. “I could have put money on her lunch account,” Tom told Today.com. “But it’s one of those little things I thought was important, that she knows somebody’s taking the time to take care of her.”

The small, daily gesture taught Megan an essential lesson in kindness.

The post reminded people how their fathers’ small acts of kindness meant so much to them. “My dad peeled my oranges until I graduated high school, too. Now, I peel my daughter’s oranges and will for the next 7 plus years,” Katie wrote in the comments. “Love this. My dad peeled mine, too. When I moved out, he gave me an orange peeler gadget,” Mary added.

o organics, albertson's giving backO Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list.via Albertson's

Did you know that every time you go to the supermarket, you can also change the world through small gestures? O Organics not only allows you to feed your family delicious and nutritious organic food, but each purchase also gives back to help people and communities facing food insecurity.

Through contributions from customers like you, O Organics donates up to 28 million meals annually. The company’s contribution is essential when, according to the USDA, 47.4 million Americans live in food-insecure households.

O Organics has a wide array of foods and flavors covering almost everything on your shopping list. “Over the years, we have made organic foods more accessible by expanding O Organics to every aisle across our stores, making it possible for health and budget-conscious families to incorporate organic food into every meal,” Jennifer Saenz, EVP and Chief Merchandising Officer at Albertsons, one of many stores where you can find O Organics products, said in a statement.

O Organics now offers over 1500 items, from dairy products such as eggs and milk to packaged meats and breakfast staples such as cereal bars, granola and oatmeal. You can also enjoy affordable organic produce with O Organics’ fresh salads and fruit.

Everybody wants to make the world a better place. With O Organics, you can feed your family healthy, organic food every time you go to the market while paying it forward by contributing to the company’s efforts to end food insecurity nationwide. That’s a small, daily gesture that can amount to incredible change.

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I convinced my Gen Z kids to watch 'Dead Poets Society' and their angry reactions surprised me

Gen X and Gen Z apparently view "inspiring" very differently.

Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers/YouTube

Robin Williams played inspiring English teacher John Keating in "Dead Poets Society."

As a Gen X parent of Gen Z teens and young adults, I'm used to cringing at things from 80s and 90s movies that haven't aged well. However, a beloved movie from my youth that I didn't expect to be problematic, "Dead Poets Society," sparked some unexpected negative responses in my kids, shining a spotlight on generational differences I didn't even know existed.

I probably watched "Dead Poets Society" a dozen or more times as a teen and young adult, always finding it aesthetically beautiful, tragically sad, and profoundly inspiring. That film was one of the reasons I decided to become an English teacher, inspired as I was by Robin Williams' portrayal of the passionately unconventional English teacher, John Keating.

The way Mr. Keating shared his love of beauty and poetry with a class of high school boys at a stuffy prep school, encouraging them to "seize the day" and "suck all the marrow out of life," hit me right in my idealistic youthful heart. And when those boys stood up on their desks for him at the end of the film, defying the headmaster who held their futures in his hands? What a moving moment of triumph and support.

My Gen Z kids, however, saw the ending differently. They loved the feel of the film, which I expected with its warm, cozy, comforting vibe (at least up until the last 20 minutes or so). They loved Mr. Keating, because how can you not? But when the movie ended, I was taken aback hearing "That was terrible!" and "Why would you traumatize me like that?" before they admitted, "But it was so gooood!"

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The traumatize part I get—that film gets very heavy all of a sudden. But in discussing it further, I uncovered three main generational differences that impacted their "Dead Poets Society" viewing experience and what they took away from it.

1) Gen Z sees inspiring change through a systemic lens, not an individual one

The first thing my 20-year-old said when the credits rolled was, "What? That's terrible! Nothing changed! He got fired and the school is still run by a bunch of stodgy old white men forcing everyone to conform!" My immediate response was, "Yeah, but he changed those boys' individual lives, didn't he? He helped broaden their minds and see the world differently."

I realized that Gen X youth valued individuals going against the old, outdated system and doing their own thing, whereas Gen Z values the dismantling of the system itself. For Gen X, Mr. Keating and the boys taking a stand was inspiring, but the fact that it didn't actually change anything outside of their own individual experiences stuck like a needle in my Gen Z kids' craw.

2) Gen Z isn't accustomed to being blindsided by tragic storylines with no warning

To be fair, I did tell them there was "a sad part" before the movie started. But I'd forgotten how deeply devastating the last part of the movie was, so my daughter's "Why would you do that to me?!" was somewhat warranted. "I thought maybe a dog would die or something!" she said. No one really expected one of the main characters to die by suicide and the beloved teacher protagonist to be blamed for it, but I'd somehow minimized the tragedy of it all in my memory.

But also to be fair, Gen X never got any such warnings—we were just blindsided by tragic plot twists all the time. As kids, we cheered on Atreyu trying to save his horse from the swamp in "The Neverending Story" only to watch him drown. Adults showed us "Watership Down" thinking it would be a cute little animated film about bunnies. We were slapped in the face by the tragic child death in "My Girl," which was marketed as a sweet coming of age movie.

Gen Z was raised in the era of trigger warnings and trauma-informed practices, while Gen X kids watched a teacher die on live TV in our classrooms with zero follow-up on how we were processing it. Those differences became apparent real quick at the end of this movie.

3) Gen Z fixates on boundary-crossing behavior that Gen X overlooked

The other reaction I wasn't expecting was the utter disdain my girls showed for Knox Overstreet, the sweet-but-over-eager character who fell for the football player's cheerleader girlfriend. His boundary-crossing attempts to woo her were always cringe, but for Gen X, cringe behavior in the name of love was generally either overlooked, tolerated, or sometimes even celebrated. (Standing on a girl's lawn in the middle of the night holding a full-volume stereo over your head was peak romance for Gen X, remember.) For Gen Z, the only thing worse than cringe is predatory behavior, which Knox's obsessiveness and pushiness could be seen as. My young Gen X lens saw him and said, "That's a bit much, dude. Take it down a notch or three." My Gen Z daughters' lens said, "That guy's a creepo. She needs to run far the other way."

On one hand, I was proud of them for recognizing red flag behaviors. On the other hand, I saw how little room there is for nuance in their perceptions, which was…interesting.

My Gen Z kids' reactions aren't wrong; they're just different than mine were at their age. We're usually on the same page, so seeing them have a drastically different reaction to something I loved at their age was really something. Now I'm wondering what other favorite movies from my youth I should show them to see if they view those differently as well—hopefully without them feeling traumatized by the experience.

This article originally appeared in January

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The world's greatest mentalist reveals 5-second trick to never forget someone's name

It's fun, weird, and will make people like you way more.

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The longer I'm alive, it seems the more people's names that I have to remember. With two kids in school, sports, and other activities, I find myself trying to keep track of dozens of different friends, teammates, siblings, coaches, teachers, and of course, parents. It makes my brain hurt! Lately I've had half a mind to start a spreadsheet so I can start remembering Who's Who.

In order for that to work, I've got to find a way to stop people's names leaving my head immediately after I'm introduced. I know I'm not the only one who does this. It's like people say their name and it just zips right into one ear and out the other! And for that, I went looking for tips when I stumbled upon a good one from a unique sort of expert.

Derren Brown is one of the most famous mentalists in the world, so he knows a thing or two about people. Mentalists are a special breed of magician that focus on tricks and illusions of the mind.

They do things like hynopsis, mind-reading, and impossible predictions. There's trickery, involved, of course; but mentalists are also masters at reading people and have to employ advanced memory techniques to keep track of information they learn during their shows.

In an interview with Big Think, Brown revealed some of his favorite memory hacks; including his 'party trick' to never forget a person's name.

Giphy

The secret is to create a link between the part of your brain that stores information like names, and the visual part of your brain that is more easily accessed.

"You find a link between the person's name and something about their appearance, what they're wearing, their face, their hair, something," Brown says. "You find a link with something that they're wearing so if they're called Mike and they've got big black hair you think, 'Oh that's like a microphone' so I can imagine like a big microphone walking around or if they've got a stripy T-shirt on you imagine a microphone with those stripes going around it.

"And it's the same process later on in the evening you see them, you look at the stripes and you go, 'Oh that's Mike. Oh yeah that's Mike. The hair, why am I thinking the hair is like a big microphone? Oh yes, of course, they're called Mike.'"

Microphone Mike! Any sort of alliteration based on a physical characteristic will work. Stripey Steve, Tall Tim, Green Gene. The more interesting and unique, the better you'll remember.

There is one catch with the technique: You have to actually listen and pay attention when someone tells you their name!

"So, you do have to listen that's the first thing when they say the name," Brown says. "Normally the very moment where someone is giving you their name you're just caught up in a whole lot of social anxiety anyways you don't even hear it, so you have to listen."

Using someone's name when you talk to them has tons of benefits. It conveys respect, friendliness, and intimacy. When you're on the receiving end and someone you've just met uses your name, it just feels good! It feels like it matters to them that they met you.

"And then at the end [of the party] you get to go around and say goodbye to everybody by name and everyone thinks you're very charming and clever," Brown quips.

Listen to the entire, fascinating interview here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Brown's name-remembering technique is tangential to an ancient philosophy called the "Method of loci".

The method involves attaching things to be remembered (numbers, tasks, facts) to specific places that are easy to visualize in your head. Imagine taking a brain-walk down the street you live on and all the objects or places you might see there. The mailbox, the gnarled tree, the rusty fire hydrant. This memory method asks you to visually associate one thing you want to remember with each item or location. The more strange and visual the image you can create, the better! Brown uses the example of trying to shove a sparkling-clean shirt into his mailbox, reminding him to do his drycleaning.

When you need to recall the item, you just take a little walk in your head down the street.

(Did you know that there's a World Championship of Memory? Most of the best competitors use a version of this technique.)

Giphy

The name hack isn't so dissimilar. You're attaching an intangible, abstract thing (a name) to a specific visual image you can see in your head and even in the real world. But that's just one way of getting better at remembering names! There are all kinds of tips, hacks, and methods you can try.

Some people swear by repeating the name immediately after hearing it. "Hi, my name is Jake." "Hi, Jake, nice to meet you!" (Just don't say someone's name too frequently or you risk coming off a bit slimy.)

Others use a technique similar to Brown's loci idea, but instead of a visual, you lean on things that are already deeply engrained in your memory, like rhymes or free-association. or even celebrities. Mary - had a little lamb. Jake - the Snake. Daisy - flowers. Tom - Cruise.

Another trick (that I've definitely used before) if you do forget someone's name? Introduce them to someone you know! "Hey, this is my wife, Sarah." The person was almost always introduce themselves using their own name, and then you get a second chance at remembering it.

A lot of the best advice really comes down to being intentional about remembering when you're introduced to a new person. Whatever mental gymnastics you choose to do with the name, the mere fact that you're thinking about it with such focus immediately after is a big part of why these 'tricks' help names stick.

It feels really good when someone cares enough to remember your name, so it's definitely worth putting in a little effort of trying to instill that feeling in others.

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Mom tries to keep it together when her 3-year-old daughter demands she help her find a husband

"I want a husband!"

Photo credit: Canva

3-year-old demands her mom help to find her a husband

Kids listen to everything parents say, even when their parents aren't talking to them. You don't have to be a parent to witness or experience this adorable and sometimes hilarious parroting. A toddler repeating a swear word in their tiny baby voice will almost always fill a room with laughter and a little embarrassment for the parent.

It's how kids learn about the world around them because parents are their first teachers even when they're not attempting to be. But there are some things that you don't quite expect kids to pick up on until a little later in life so it may catch you a little off guard. Tasha Mahachi, a mom of a 3-year-old little girl, Sanaa, found herself slightly confused when her daughter exclaimed that she needed a husband. No, she wasn't saying the mom needs a husband, she already has one.

Sanaa declared that she wanted her own husband after overhearing Mahachi refer to the little girl's dad as her husband while speaking to someone else. Explaining why a 3-year-old can't have a husband to an emotional small child desperate for a husband–a pink husband to be specific.

flying pink man GIFGiphy

Mahachi shared the adorable interaction on her social media page where it racked up over 246K views. In the video, Sanaa is seen stamping her foot, clearly a bit annoyed on repeating the question. Her frustration grows after her mom breaks the news that the little girl doesn't have a husband.

"I want a husband," Sanaa whines while stomping her feet before Mahachi asks what kind of husband the preschooler wants. That's when she reveals the difficult order, "pink." Yes, Sanaa wants a pink husband. It's really not too much to ask when you think about it...when you're three. But the problem really comes into play once Sanaa stops having a small tantrum long enough for Mahachi to inform her that if she wants a husband she will have to go find one outside.

Sol Solana GIF by Bill the BearGiphy

"I not going outside," she says while pleading her case, "it's dark."

Not going outside would be a bit of a barrier to finding a husband and you can see the little wheels turning in Sanaa's head as she works out how she will collect a pink husband. So, she does what any three year old would do who wants to go outside, she asks her mom to come with her. Again she's thwarted when Mahachi breaks the news that moms and dads don't go outside to help find husbands. The pair have reached an impasse. Viewers couldn't get enough of the amusing interaction and some could relate to the girl's dilemma.


@tashamahachi She heard me calling her dad my husband and suddenly she’s desperate to get herself one too😂 #toddlersbelike #toddlerconversations #sanaaandmummy ♬ original sound - Tasha

"Ma’am go on Amazon and order her a pink husband right neowww," someone jokes.

"We can all relate. To wanting a husband, to not wanting to go outside to find him, to being scared, oh baby we get it," another laughs.

"This is what a convo between me and God sound like praying for a husband meanwhile I’m scared to meet new people, I don’t go out and i always take my best friend everywhere," one person confesses.

Looking Rachel Lindsay GIF by The BacheloretteGiphy

"I’ve never related more to a toddler. Cuz sis I’m also scared & do not want to go outside & also want a husband RN [right now]," another commenter chimes in.

"It's okay kiddo. I don't want to leave the house to find one by myself either. It's scary," someone else proclaims.

Well, Sanaa, it seems like you're not alone. Plenty of people want a husband to find them without ever having to leave the house to interact with others. Maybe ordering a pink husband online doesn't sound so silly after all.

This article originally appeared in January

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Gen Xers are admitting the 17 things that baby boomers got right

Got to give credit where credit is due.

via Shvets Production/Pexels

A baby boomer lifting weights.

It’s a tale as old as humanity itself; as the older generations age, the younger ones will criticize them for the world they left them. These days, baby boomers (1946 to 1964) are taking the most heat from the generations who came after, Gen X (1965 to 1980), millennials (1981 to 1996), and Gen Z (1997 to 2012). A big reason boomers take a lot of heat is that some believe they changed their values from the hippie days of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s to become the self-absorbed “Me” generation.

Baby boomers are also often criticized for hoarding wealth while younger generations struggled and for being in power during years of environmental neglect. Boomers are also known for having a “bootstraps” mentality where they more likely to tell young people to “suck it up” instead of seeing systemic inequalities that make it harder for young people to achieve the same success as those who came before.


However, the boomers didn’t do everything wrong. Younger people should give them credit for how they advanced society, especially in the world of women’s rights. They should also acknowledge their incredible contributions to music, whether it’s the rock revolution of the late ‘60s. Pop artists such as Prince and Michael Jackson and great filmmakers who rose to prominence in the '70s, such as Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.

To give credit where credit is due, a Redditor posted on the Gen X page asking fellow members of his generation to admit the things boomers were right about. “It’s become fashionable to blame Boomers for all ills in the world and to demonize them. As Gen-X, Gen Z will even give us the ‘Okay, Boomer’ tripe,” they wrote. “But from a Gen X perspective, what do you see as them being right about?”

Here are 17 things that Gen Xers say boomers were right about.

1. Boomer women changed the workplace

"Boomer women paved a huge path for younger generations in the workplace. It wasn’t until the early 70’s that women could get credit cards or even bank accounts without their husband’s permission. It’s actually really sad that we have forgotten how hard it was for previous generations of women."

"Tag onto this, mortgage and housing laws! No woman could get a mortgage without her father, brother, or husband co-signing no matter HOW MUCH money she made. Same for redlining and fair lending laws."

2. Music

"Those boomers came up with some pretty f***ing fantastic music."


3. Casual clothing

"I appreciate that they introduced comfortable, casual clothing as an everyday thing. Earlier generations had mostly very structured clothing, but the young boomers burned their bras."

"It’s crazy to look at old photos and see even impoverished people (by western standards) wearing thick scratchy wool suits whenever they’re out in public. I’m so grateful for my Adidas athleisure clothes!"

"My uncle mentioned that one year in the late '60s everyone just stopped wearing a tie to their college classes."

4. Modern technology

"The boomers brought us the computers, software and cellular phones we’re all using to bitch about them. Pretty rich."


5. They were good teachers

"Controversial take...teaching. My boomer teachers in high school were fantastic. Public schooling was totally different back then (1970s thru 80s), but they "liberalized" public education from the Eisenhower era. I'm glad I had hippie teachers."

"I think with this it’s important to remember that that there were fewer jobs that women were able to enter with ease, even back in the 80’s, so we had the cream of the crop in terms of teachers then, IMO."

6. They ended rampant sexual harassment

"As I mentioned in a previous discussion, it would largely have been Boomers (more the later Generation Jones side rather than the earlier ones) who pushed to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace. This occurred mostly through law, but also through social norms."

7. They were more collective

"Overall, they are still a more of a collective culture. More sense of community, whether church, neighborhood association, meetup groups, etc. I feel like we've swung too far in the other direction. Every following generation seems more lonely- people are more aloof and not loyal to any particular group. People don't know their neighbors."

"There was this understanding that you talked to your neighbors, even if you didn't really like them. And sometimes you might change your mind. Toleration, even with people you're not fond of."

8. The hippies

"I will always love the peace, not war, flower child. Let’s all take psychedelics and love each other thing. Too bad it didn’t last. It might have been a disaster, but considering where we are now?"


9. They raised (some of) Gen X

"Us."

"Yes, but in a twisted way: they got us right by neglecting us to the point of ferality, and that’s why we are who we are now. Wouldn’t trade it but can’t necessarily give them props for it."

"But which generation is more likely to survive an apocalypse? And the world seems to be headed that way, so our feral upbringing might come in handy."

"My mom told me to go outside and play. All the bike riding, running around and swimming has made us healthier than the younger generations."

10. They're more sociable

"Being able to have nice conversations at the workplace. Now I work with GenZ and Millennials and nobody can carry a conversation."

"I have noticed that too. Not all of them, but a lot. It's so sad, and a little dangerous when you aren't paying attention to what is going on around you."


11. Hard workers

"Boomers had tremendous work ethic, and lay the foundation of many institutions we still rely on today. These may need to evolve and be upgraded over time, but it shouldn't take away their achievement what they were able to advance. Many boomers worked through absolutely shitty labor conditions with half the protections we have today, and did it to feed their families."

"They understood you needed to work/work hard to get the things you wanted in life, earning your place in the workplace...instead of showing up on day 1 being entitled to be at the top of the salary scale."

12. They shook things up

"In all honesty, and I think it depends on how you're brought up whether you see this as a positive or negative, but they were instrumental in the cosmic level change in American culture. Whether we are talking about something simple like "acceptable hairatyles" and clothing to more heavy topics like attitudes towards sex and sexuality and equal rights. The reality is that they shook up the standards of the time. And for the most part, I think it has had positive impacts. When we look at what people complain about now through the lens of the '40s and '50s, one can't deny that many of those topics would never see the light of day and could lead to dangerous outcomes for those bringing them up. And I'm not talking about the heavy hitters (for that time) like gay marriage (or gay anything, really) or interracial relationships, but the trivial stuff like women wearing pants, saying words like 'pe is' and 'vagina' out loud, or wearing dark socks with tennis shoes and/or shorts on."


13. Lowered the voting age

"They lowered the voting age to 18. They were being sent to war, and they weren’t old enough to vote for the f***ers who were sending them."

14. Expanded America's palate

"I feel boomers are where food started to get more diverse in the USA. I collect old cookbooks and it's interesting to see the changes in menus."


15. They used their numbers to their advantage

"Baby boomers used their vast numbers in the US to influence policy. While the decision makers were older, BB’s in their twenties were out there taking collective action to bring attention to important social and environmental causes. They taught us not to feel helpless and to act on your principles. (At least some of them did. A bunch of them were yuppies too! Because in the end, there is variety in people and in their values.)"

"Civil rights greatly advanced. Things aren’t perfect yet but the amount of progress the Boomers brought to the status quo at the time should not be forgotten."

16. Ended the draft

"They successfully ended the draft. However, I'd say Nixon and the gang figured out that actually works better for the War Machine. See, an all-volunteer Army has recruitment issues all the time, but before when Johnny was drafted and killed in a 'senseless war,' the whole neighborhood got very upset and vocal. Today, when Johnny (Gen X) volunteers, it's just a job. When Johnny gets killed by an IED in Iraq, it's a shame and everyone's sad, but the neighborhood can brush off the grief and say, 'Well, he did volunteer...'"

17. They had good sound systems

"The commitment some boomers had to home stereo systems and record collections. I learned just how good music could sound from boomer relatives who spent a small fortune on speakers, components, LPs, reel to reel, etc. It inspired me and I’ve always taken home stereo seriously, buying the best that I could afford while saving money by not buying things like digital surround sound systems and nice TVs. I’d rather spend the money on records and better speakers!"

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