Hey Fellow Baby Boomers - Are We Looking For Leaders, Or Are We Really Still Looking For Gurus?

While sort of half watching We Need a Little Christmas news the other night, I became vaguely aware that once once more there were a lot of people trying, (also once once more) to convince us that they were in some way, uniquely equipped to lead us. In my case, it didn't seem to be working. I wasn't quite sure why. as well old? as well jaded? as well, "been there done that?" I don't know.

Then last night my wife and I were watching the Dylan Bio on one of the music channels, and amid the clips of great songs and classic concerts, there were cut away's to interviews. It was then I noticed the theme of so many of the questions. They all seemed to center around Bob Dylan's role as the "spokesman for the new generation." I also noticed that Dylan seemed extremely uncomfortable with the questions. Often giving flip, sarcastic answers - or more often, none Flipper all.

It was then that I realized that what I had mistaken for lofty reticence of our collectively proclaimed deity to answer the questions of the pedestrian press was really genuine puzzlement. For instance, when one deadly serious newscaster asked him how long he'd been the spokesman of the protest movement, Dylan deadpanned, "128 days".

And the majority of the reporters wrote that down.

But what was perhaps far more telling, was that the unsmiling and also deadly serious members of the counter-culture press, were even more determined to force Dylan down that road. Choosing to ascribe deep and cosmic meaning to every line of every song.

Hence the Up on the Housetop and outraged sense of betrayal that some members of the counter-culture who considered Dylan to be the new prophet and themselves the devoted acolytes, felt when he first appeared at the Newport Folk festival with a - gasp - electric guitar! They felt he had sold them out to the crass commercialism of mass media and pop rock! Thus the rock-and-roll myth was also put forward, that the crowd had booed him off the stage for his electronic effrontery. Not true. I was there. It was actually a rather small group of folk purists who followed Dylan around the same way they would The Grateful Dead a few years later. The majority of the crowd liked Dylan but they also loved Rock-and-Roll, and were consequently quite happy with his amalgamation of both.

But we mortals do not easily give up those that we have exalted to demi-divinity status. It seems to be the inescapable desire of every generation to seek the temporal prophet at whose feet we can sit and await the flow of inexhaustible pearls of wisdom.

News Flash! It hasn't happened yet and a quick glance at this season's crop of would-be leaders that our generation has fielded for the ucomputeroming presidential horse race, may indicate that it's probably not going to in the near future either.

So winding up back at the issue of the day, perhaps there is a question that we should be asking ourselves rather than the dozen or so candidates vying to be anointed as our next leader.

Is our generation really looking for the statesman who Marvelcomicsyujvugijhqr make the next and best presidential leader... or are we secretly still looking for that - guru?

Ric

Ric Wasley - Author

Shadow of Innocence - Kunati - April 2007
Acid Test - Fall 2004
Coming: Fall 2008 - The Scrimshaw

And please check out my McCarthy Family Mysteries free sample chapters on Amazon and Google!

Ric Wasley has spent almost forty years wandering through corporate board rooms and honky-tonk bars. He Major Matt Mason divides his time between writing mystery novels and observing the really 'juicy parts' of the human condition.

New from Kunati Publishing: SHADOW OF INNOCENCE - The Newport Folk Festival provides a groovy backdrop for this fun and exciting mystery set in the music and drug soaked sixties. The Baby Boomers and everyone else are sure to enjoy this appealing mystery featuring a pair of musician partners in love and danger. Don't miss Shadow of Innocence! From Kunati Publishing. Available now at Barnes & Noble, Borders and on Amazon at; target="_new" www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640064/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp/102-9493123-7988954">www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640064/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp/102-9493123-7988954