And it continues. I'm going to accelerate the process. There are a lot of important subjects I want to address so I will try to get the generation sections over as quick as possible. I realize that there are subsets and smaller generations inbetween the main ones. I am just covering the main ones here.
Now here we have something for the people. The infamous "Generation X". The final call. Societies chameleon. The Kids of the Revolution if there ever was such a thing. The so called slackers, defeatists, disillusioned, moody, highly observant, and technically the last "real generation." And when I write 'real' I'm not referring to attitudes or anything like that (though I could). I'm referring to cohesiveness as far as what a Generation is supposed to be. You can take someone born at the beginning of the Gen X births and someone born at the apex and compare their overall outlooks and they would be similar. Now you take someone born around the begininng of the current Generations birth period and someone born sometime later and their attitudes and experiences won't be similar on a broad scale. The way things are now a few years can totally change what experiences and outlooks a person will have. You could state that Generations in the traditional sense are a thing of the past. Thats what I meant when I wrote that.
Now I have to mention that "Gen X" as they are referred to are my most respected Generation. Yes they are #1 in my book. Their like spiritual surrogate parents for me. And as perceptive as they are, their the first ones to tell you that their no role model. I value and respect a lot of what they think, say, believe, and how they carry themselves. And since I have the utmost respect for them I can and will write any and everything I want about them. Essentially if I want to point out stuff I don't like, faults, or anything like that I'll do it. It's as simple as that. But it's hard to do that with Gen X if you truly understand them. So this will be a mostly positive critique. Now lets continue shall we.
Alright. Where to start? Uh lets see. Well Gen X were born into some strange circumstances. Society was in a massive upheavel. The simple way of doing things was seen as not fit for the future of society. People began to focus on societies problems at large and with each other and themselves. This massive human responsibility put into action caused many people to focus on themselves much more instead of simply letting "the man" tell them how they should live their lives. Dreams of autonomy persisted and the thought that people could really change the world seemed to be a great possibility. People were beginning to" do their own thing." And all of this resulted in the lowest birth rates of the 20th Century. We had a generation coming, but what would they think of this massive ball of confusion?
Now I know that the age of the parents of the Gen Xers vary much more than your average generation. There were just as many younger parents as there were older parents and "average" age parents. From what I gathered though alot of them felt that the parents on a overall stance did not understand them. I always found this intriguing since many Gen X parents had certain ideals that they were clinging to when they had kids. A lot of Gen Xers felt that their parents were trying to get them to see things in that idealist light, and while it was a nice blueprint, was not very realistic. And if their parents didn't lean toward idealism they were more of the narrow view conservative type and couldn't see things past getting a job and "working hard." Regardless of what kind of parent they had, a lot of the Gen Xers parents seemed to want their kids to think a lot like they did. One thing I have to give credit to a lot of the Gen X parents and just that period in general is that there seemed to be a unconscious "my kid is not just mine" kind of thing (which is correct). Like the old school days where your parents friends or someone in the community was just as much responsible for you as your parents were. This all goes back to community. They were doing a lot of things right in those days, but there were just so many things going on at once. Things should have been done a little bit slower and with more foresight. I'm straying here. Back on subject.
So yeah, even with all the stuff happening , Gen Xers grew up during times that you could call the last of their kind. Where a kid growing up was still a kid. Just simpler times man. Where things could get harsh, but usually not too extreme. And certainly not extreme on a regular basis like when I was growing up. Out of all the Generations, Gen X seems to have the strongest link to their youth. But unlike the Boomers its' not used as a crutch or some annoying complex. It's much more natural and tempered. I notice this a lot. So as Gen X got older they began to realize that those ideals that surrounded them in their early days were just that "ideals". Nice on paper, but hard to actually implement. They kept a realist point of view, but were open to other stuff. I said to myself a while ago that Gen X were multi-cultural by default. Even if they stay conservative their Generation is essentially a multi-cultural generation. And I'm not talking about the forced multi-culturalism of today, but just a more natural way of being. At the same time Gen X grew up and experienced all the travesties of a disabled society without the subtlety and underpinnings of today. It was much more blatant and in your face. From all angles. There was always that awareness there. I've experienced the same kind of stuff, something I noticed alot of the current generation seems to have missed out on. But like I said it's much more subtle and undertoned today.
I mean growing up for them was a different experience than it is currently because parents and society did not sugar coat the basic aspects of life like they do now. Certain things were a certain way and no matter what you have been told, they weren't going to change that easily. The only thing was is that Gen X saw that a lot of things could be changed, but the older generations said otherwise. They adapted to the unfeeling nature of the world and acted accordingly. The results were damaging across the board. Every man/woman for themselves became the unofficial rule. Take a look at the decade before last. I mean it was like everybody was against everybody. And in a lot of ways it wasn't "like", thats how it was. Think how much bullshit went on during that period. So much of it was senseless and showcased a societal structure in disarray.
Gen X are so real because they completely play by societies rules. Some would comment that yeah their totally playing by societies rules, but their doing it out of neccessity. Yeah thats true and thats what makes them that much stronger. They may do it their own way, but they stay grounded in their progression. And thats the key to real success. To me their whole thing is "I'm out here by myself. I got to do what I have to, to survive. Even if I have people with me, I'm still by myself. There is no one else." Their like the only Generation that can (I would write deserve to) be on that selfish shit. Theres just not that many of them lol. Everybody else does it, but they don't have a right to like Gen X does. I see so many people on that selfish shit, but implement little to no introspection. And thats what gets me angry. I used to see Gen X as very angry people. And I'm sure a lot of them are. As a matter of fact I know a lot of them are. But their real outlook on things seems to be more of a dissatisfaction. A problem with the way things are, and living in a world that they don't neccassarily respect. And thats where all the commentary comes from. And they got plenty of it.
Don't get it twisted, its' still a Gen X world all day. I know that. I don't know when a changing of the guard will take place. I do know that that moment is nearing. The only thing is my generation isn't doing much new. We're all over the place (I'll give us that) , but there isn't too much that hasn't been done before. If there was one thing that I could get across to my generation is that the world that Gen X inherited was a debacle. The reality they inherited was/is wrong. They didn't have a choice but to play by the rules. It's still wrong and we are keeping it going. I don't have all the answers, just some observations. I just want a real perceptive person to take what I give and run with it. (In the right way of course) Well I'm finished writing. I salute them and still hold them in high esteem. Their easily one of the more complex generations, but they worked it out alright.
And Only The Strong Survive Life Isn't Fair
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