Reply #131: My parents are born-again and they sound

[murielm99]

much like your parents. Oddly enough, they were the same way about music. We all received a good music education. One of my brothers was a performing classical musician.

My father is a combat veteran. My parents, however, are "Greatest Generation." I am a boomer, born in 1948.

You will not see me disrespecting an entire generation because of what my parents have done to screw up their children's lives. My parents have done a great deal of harm to all three of us. I would describe many of their actions as abusive.

I have stayed in touch with my parents. I try not to discuss some things with them. Usually, when we end up in an argument it is because they insist on bringing up certain topics, no matter how many times I repeat that we should avoid such discussions.

I see my parents two or three times a year. I have made certain that my children grew up knowing their grandchildren, but with limited exposure. They are all in their twenties, and understand how different my parents are compared to the rest of the family. That includes aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives who are contemporaries of my parents.

Recently, my dad was hospitalized with pneumonia. He is 82, and it was very serious. They did an EEG, and discovered blood in his brain. Apparently he had a stroke during this time, too, and is in the beginning stages of dementia. One day he was fine, and the next he was quite ill and no longer lucid. No matter how much I have hated his actions in the past, no matter how much I have blamed him for the things he did to harm us with his religious-based style of child-rearing, I am saddened and concerned about his condition, and whatever future he has left.

Your parents have not done anything to you that mine have not done to me, my brothers, my brother's children, and anyone else they had the capability of harming. They have left real and lasting scars. They did these things not because of their generation, but because of their toxic interpretation of religion.

I have not missed the point of your post at all. I was raised in a similar fashion. But as long as you have the words "Baby-Boomer" in your post, I have little sympathy for you. You are missing the point of your parents behavior. It has nothing to do with their generation and everything to do with their religious viewpoint. FWIW, I have encountered more religious nuttery from people of YOUR generation than I have among greatest generation or boomers combined.