"On The Road" [again]

Jack Kerouac's seminal work, On The Road, turned fifty years old last month--verifying its status as a Baby Boomer in its own right. A current New York Times opinion piece about the book's original review states:

“On the Road” was a frenzied search for affirmation, a book that rejected the ennui, pessimism and cynicism of the Lost Generation. The heroes of the book savored everything, enjoyed everything, took pleasure in everything.

However, looking back and comparing then to now, the present-day reviewer notes:

If Sal Paradise were alive today, he’d be a product of the new rules. He’d be a grad student with an interest in power yoga, on the road to the M.L.A. convention with a documentary about a politically engaged Manitoban dance troop that he hopes will win a MacArthur grant. He’d be driving a Prius, going a conscientious 55, wearing a seat belt and calling Mom from the Comfort Inns.

In one of the book's best known quotes, Kerouac stated:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn.”

So, are we [Baby Boomers] the ones yawning now or has the world truly changed? Or as the reviewer notes, maybe it's now illegal to be cheerful as we were then.