OK, Boomtown could care less

dollars in debt, we could see little hope of catching up, let alone securing space in an everballooning housing market.

And then there was the existential threat that loomed over us all. Inheriting the impending climate catastrophe that we did not create.

With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to say baby boomers grew up in an era of optimism. Born post-war to parents who had suffered immeasurably, boomers benefited from a stable job market and free education. But each generation has their existential fears, and theirs was apocalyptic nuclear warfare.

But on the streets of Blenheim, affectionately known to locals as Boomtown for reasons that aren’t exactly clear, it’s hard to find anyone particularly fussed by the intergenerational divide. At least, not on the surface.

Baby boomer Christine Washington said she had grown up ‘‘more freely’’ than millennials, but any difference was irrelevant, really. ‘‘It was hard to get a house back then. It’s harder now . . . But if you look back at what we went through, it’s the same really,’’ Washington said.

Barista Michael Boyd, 26, did not entirely echo the anger of his fellow ‘‘woke’’ millennial cafe workers around the world.

‘‘I wouldn’t necessarily know if it’s harder, but we have it different.’’ Millennials had more opportunities through technology, were more open to change and made better environmental choices, Boyd said.

Francis Hassan, an optometrist from the forgotten ‘‘sandwich’’ generation Y, took a diplomatic middle-child view.

‘‘I think the baby boomers are well off, but I don’t think that’s really their fault. The younger generation are quick to put the finger at what they don’t have, but not necessarily quick to look in the mirror and look at what they do have. You make your own luck .’’

They’re all correct, in a way. Each generation has challenges, and must make the best they can of the hands they’re dealt.

I’d spent much of my millennial years feeling the ‘‘collective exhaustion’’ of my generation, most of them while studying in a politically aware and financially unliveable part of Sydney. But I understand Marlborough’s indifference: it’s harder for me to feel hopeless in fulltime work, surrounded by sauvignon blanc, and one step further removed from Trump.

I think millennials have a tough road ahead. But as several Marlburians said, we have a population of young people that are the most educated and socially aware in history, and we’re resilient to change.

And many of us benefited enormously from the prosperity and generosity of boomer parents. While I may not own property, education was accessible and I had the fortune to see parts of the world my parents and grandparents could not. And they visit me and take me to lunch from time to time.

‘‘Collective exhaustion’’ is easy, logical and to be honest, it’s quite fun. But only collective optimism – across all generations – can save us.