Have a Nice Day!

In the 1970's, "Have a Nice Day" was written on t-shirts, buttons, posters and bumper stickers.  Along with a smiley face, it became a symbol of the positive attitude the young Boomer generation exuded. The Boomer generation did not like to deal with pain or negativity in any way.  Some Boomers took drugs to remove the pain, while others embraced spirituality as the means to live positively and ignore the pain of living on Earth. 

The book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale became a mantra for many Boomers.  With his simplistic approach to life, Peale wrote positive verses such as "when someone hands you a lemon, make lemonade."  For many "Christian" Boomers, the combination of Christianity and positiveness of Peale's message was just what they wanted to hear.

As Boomers took over most institutions, positiveness became the culture.  In education, instead of providing negative discipline, Boomers brought in positive approaches developed by people such as Haim Ginot, B.F. Skinner and Alfie Kohn.  No longer would children be punished for negative activities in school.  Through praise and positive thinking, discipline would be achieved.

In the workplace, employees were expected to remain positive and not focus on the negative.  Boomer managers did not want to hear about problems.  When employees focused on negative aspects or problems, they were dismissed or ignored.

So, here we are in 2010.  Let's see where positiveness has got us. 

• Education - The positive approach to discipline in the schools has created an entitled generation.  The young "millennial" generation believes they can do no wrong and expect positive things to just come to them.  High self esteem can be an excellent trait, however, the positive discipline the kids received will ill prepare them for the realities of life in a down economy.
• Business - With no discussion of negativity in business, the problems that have been evolving for the last thirty years have been ignored.  Companies like General Motors and Ford ignored the warning signs so obvious for anyone paying attention. 
• Government - Governments have ignored the reality of an aging society.  Pension pay outs, Social Security and Medicare are currently in crisis.  Yet, these problems did not just come about yesterday.  Many individuals have been warning the government for years and years about these problems, but the positive thinking Boomers wanted no part of such negative discourse.
• Investment - The stock market and real estate bubble can be attributed to positive thinking.  Ignoring the negative reality that a company cannot have a PE ratio of 1,000 and be a good stock was avoided by the Boomer investors.  The unrealistic increases in real estate prices were looked at with optimism.  While some warned of an impending disaster of faulty mortgages, they were discounted by a generation constantly searching for greener meadows.
• Society - Social institutions were affected as well.  Divorce became the norm for Boomers.  If living with a spouse became hard or negative in some way, Boomers bailed and searched for a more positive relationship.  This alone wouldn't be so bad, but divorce has led America to become more economically weak.  With families living in disparate situations, family incomes have declined, savings rates have been reduced and for poor Boomers, the government has needed to prop up many single family situations. 

There are so many other examples of the damage "positiveness" has done, I will need to leave them for future blogs.  However, I think it is safe to say that the power of positive thinking embraced by the Boomer generation has been far more negative to our country.  I guess that would be ironic...don't you think?