I'm about 8 years too young to have experienced Easy Rider, Kent State, sit-ins, and Vietnam, but all of my bosses, a few of my cousins, two of my brothers in-law, and most of my church leaders have been from that era. I've only been able to get along with two of them.
My inability to get along with males of that era goes clear back to my childhood: my cousins were always nasty to me when I wanted to play Lionel trains with them.
The clashes usually arise from me telling them something that they already know or telling them something that they know that they should know but don't or my expressing any kind of opinion. They just can't blow it off. They also have a tendancy to want to micromanage me or to give me fatherly lectures.
I've seen these same guys give other guys my age the same business. Guys slightly younger than me don't seem to have a problem at all.
So what is the problem? Did these guys inhale too much agent orange, or do I do it to myself by automatically casting myself into a father/son relationship when I encounter one of these guys?
Posted by LadyDove (Member # 3000) on :
Maybe try greeting them with, "Semper Fi"?
Seriously though, my dad and my uncles were all in Vietnam. They hated the fact that they were going, they hated being there and they hated the guys that got to skate on the duty.
Many of the guys who were just slightly too young for the draft were the ones spitting on them and judging them when they came home.
Being female, I tend to get the fatherly act from all men this age and older. So the Vietnam age guys are not unique in this in my experience. But since I was never even close to being a candidate for the war effort, my experience may be different than yours.