Going out with a BOOM!

They came thundering out of the 50's & 60's like an out of control tidal wave.

A post war baby boom so large that it would fracture every social infrastructure it came in contact with for the next 60 years.

In the 50's it swamped pediatric services, burst out of undersized classrooms, created the worlds first teenage generation and fired the protest movement of the 60's. It took control of industry and politics in the 80's and, because of its shear size, now threatens to collapse retirement funds, superannuation schemes and health care services as these Boomers, as they became known, enter retirement years.

This week the New Zealand press association release details of a financial package designed to put more money into palliative care and hospice services. I also notice that my local funeral home has just spent mega thousands enlarging it's chapel and expanding (four fold) its adjoining processing and storage (mortuary) facility.

These are sure signs they, and the health care service providers, expect more business in the days ahead and that the BOOMERS next big social impact will be on an increasing level of departures from planet earth. Going out with a boom?

The wave that began in the late 40's has now crashed onto the beach. Its frothy brown foam has settled on the sand any the roar of the sea dragging its remaining waters back across the stones can be clearly heard.

A sobering sound for people of my generation.