I saw this quote this morning and it resonated with me. For those of you under 35 Johnny Carson was a masterful comedian and social commentator who had a late night talk show that preceded Leno and Letterman. When I was in college we would watch Johnny Carson’s monologue every night. This quote was so typical of his one liners. I have been thinking a lot lately of the difference between my generation, the so called boomer’s, and the generations that have followed. I am going to post more on this in the context of coaching and teaching. There is a big difference that I can’t quite put my finger on yet. The clinic I attended this past weekend and some interactions that I had in England have made think about this. Meanwhile enjoy the quote.
If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.- Johnny Carson
Todd Langer
Here’s my over generalized perspective.
The boomer’s have the benefit of real life experience and a strong sense of progressively building via fundamentals. Perhaps, this “building block” mindset comes from the time period in which you grew up. Unfortunately, quite a few of your peers are also busy protecting “what works” and not actively seeking to expand their knowledge base.
The generation X gang had easy access to more information and became a precocious bunch to day the least. However, it seems quite a few experts learned to run before walking. It also seems my generational bracket is more consumed with dictating how the body works and less so with understanding its inherent wisdom. It’s almost like people want to plug in a formula and expect the body to respond in a linear fashion or in other words treat the body like a computer.
Just my 2 cents.