This morning I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts while walking my dog. “Distractibles” stars youtuber Markiplier and his friends Bob and Wade. My kids introduced me to these guys. They’re freaking hilarious. Except today Markiplier, a Millenial born the year after I graduated high school, glibly stated that Boomers were the generation before Millenials.
Nope.
Listen up, younglings. Gen X is a thing. We are here. We listen to podcasts, read books, consume goods and services, and many of us are not retired yet, so we’re still contributing to the workforce. We might even be your supervisor or boss.
I’m not saying we’re all that great. In fact, we are somewhat responsible (not completely, but we’ve done our share) for the state the world is in right now. Do not call us Boomers. For some of us, Boomers were our parents. For others, the children of the Silent Generation, Boomers were youthful aunts and uncles. Or the young parents of our friends.
Gen X was the generation AFTER Boomers. We’re the generation that learned, early on, to keep our heads down and stay out of trouble. When we were growing up, paddling was still a thing. Sometimes we were even instructed to go out and cut our own switches so we could be “switched” on the backs of bare legs.
This was not child abuse. In fact, our parents were, at least sometimes when we were lucky, good parents. They worked hard to provide. We were the first generation that really mostly had two working parents. And after-school programs and child care weren’t really a thing. We took the bus to school after eating a bowl of cereal, and quite often we came home to empty homes. We had chores. We did our homework without anyone telling us to or standing nearby to re-explain what our teachers had already told us.
And then we watched afternoon television and sometimes fended for ourselves for dinner if mom was working late. We ate bologna and cheese without wondering if the pre-processed foods would damage us. Organic wasn’t a word then. Whole foods? Sure! I ate a whole hot dog.
Gen X has an inbred respect for Authority, which goes hand-in-hand with keeping our heads down and what I see as a sort of impotent anguish and anger about the state of the world. Combine that with a silent disapproval we inherited from our Silent Generation parents regarding mental healthcare and you can see a bit of a pattern.
I object to being forgotten and lumped in with our parents’ generations. We’re still here and we’re still actively working on making the world a better place, even if it isn’t always in a super showy way.
People who are (or were) Gen Xers:
- Kurt Cobain.
- Will Smith
- Elon Musk
- Tupac Shakur
- Julian Assange
- Tiger Woods
- Justin Trudeau
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Eminem
- Kanye West
People who are NOT Gen Xers because they actually ARE Boomers:
- Donald Trump
- Barack Obama
- King Charles III
- Bill Gates
- Vladimir Putin
- Howard Stern
- Johnny Depp
- Elton John
- Bill Clinton
- Michael Jordan
Not included in this list because he’s actually from the latter part of the Silent Generation: Joe Biden.
Don’t worry, though, Markiplier. Gen X also pretty much does not “cancel” celebrities that piss us off. You might find us watching “Caddyshack” for instance, even though we now know Chevy Chase (born in 1943 and therefore officially a member of the Silent Generation) is an a$$hole.
(Also, I loved Magic Carpet.)
Note: This post was written from the POV of a Gen X’er who was the child of two white, middle class Silent Generation parents.
Photo and text copyright 2024 Michelle Garren-Flye
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 