Just turn on the TV, surf the net or scroll through a social media feed. We as a people seem as divided as ever. That includes rifts among generations. Okay boomer, hear this millennial out. I, maybe, just maybe, have found something that can unite us all.
Recently, my wife and I got an invite to the birthday party of a teenager whose parents are friends with my wife. He’s a cool kid, with cool siblings and parents, but let’s be real.
People? Games? Food? You bet this social butterfly is interested.
As I stroll toward the kitchen counter full of snacks, I cross paths with Charles and Matt.
Charles, a baby boomer, is enjoying the retired life after a long career as a lawyer.
Matt, a member of Generation Z, studies physics at the local university.
After stocking up on chips and salsa, I break the ice in one of the few ways I know how to.
“Hey Charles, how’s the ’71 Beetle?” I ask.
“It’s going,” Charles says.
I asked Charles to elaborate.
“It’s been a process,” admits Charles. “I tore down the car and am slowly rebuilding it.”
The iconic Bug. It’s a fitting choice for a boomer. Charles goes into details of how he had the engine redone, learned some tricks of the trade from a local VW guru and has slowly pieced it back together. The retired lawyer seems as meticulous in his rebuild as in delivering a courtroom argument.
After hearing the details about Charles’ car, Matt turns the table. He has a 2002 Mazda Protege5 wagon–also an apropos choice for his generation. Matt shows a picture of his beautiful Japanese import. He then goes through the work to show how he got to this point like a physicist going through equations on a proof.
Matt swapped the engine and transmission out of his rusted Protege5 and installed them in a new shell he had bought. He understood where Charles was coming from.
Then, Charles discussed a mistake he made when tightening a nut on a bolt for the transmission. The manual called for 25.0 lb.-ft. of torque. He read that as 250 lb.-ft. of torque. Oops. He says the nut isn’t coming off the bolt anytime soon, but it still spins in place. To fix it, Charles would have to cut the nut and then cut out the corresponding bolt in the frame. Since it’s not a load-bearing bolt, Charles has decided to keep it as is.
Matt felt his pain.
“The welds on the nuts inside the unibody broke off,” Matt shared about his Protege5. “It happened on the main support bolts for both the rear and front subframes. I had to cut access holes into the unibody and weld new nuts for the support bolts. I hated every minute of it.”
The two then laughed.
So, what can unite generations?
Nuts and bolts. Specifically, the type that expand your vocabulary as you struggle with them.
Maybe we need new bumper stickers that say, “Drop bolts not bombs!”
I’m sure hippie boomers can get down with that. I think I can, too. Can you?
Comments
In reply to Colin Wood :
That’s a helpful link! However, if we solve the problem of nuts and bolts, how can we get closer to world peace? 
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