The Generational Cusp

Label me a cynic if you will, I don’t care. Perhaps I don’t care what you call me because I’m a member of Generation X– the slacker, unfocused generation, and we don’t care about anything- do we? Actually I’m not even a true X, I’m on the cusp between Generation X, and the Baby Boomer generation. Once again, I’m Jan Brady- the middle child with the injured id and ego, always fighting for an identity. 

I believe the baby boomers gave prominence to this generational segregation, and have emphasized the differences and short comings of subsequent generations. Must we always label and compartmentalize everything, boomers? How is this grouping helpful to society? 

Would it be politic for a prospective boss look at a job applicants year of birth and decide to hire or not to hire, based on the generational demographic they fall into, despite: references, education, communication skills, experience, critical thinking skills, etc? This would be akin to hiring based on the Chinese birth year animal chart. It’s stupid, so why do we do it? (No offense intended to the creators of the Chinese birth year animal chart.)

The baby boom, we all know began when WW11 ended. All the men, from that, “The Greatest Generation” (Tom Brokaw’s book) came home from war, and made up for lost time. Then nine months later, millions of storks desended onto the earth… and that’s how baby boomers were made. How this continued through the early 1960’s is beyond me. (Vitamins?) That’s a lot of making up for lost time.

Being born on the cusp, I believe, gives me the option of picking teams. Do I want to be a part of a group of slackers, or do I want to be a baby boomer- the biggest group, and as such, the loudest group, who made generation labeling what it is today? By all accounts, following the baby boomers would be a hard act for any generation to follow. 

Boomers did accomplish a lot: suburban build up, consumerism, women’s lib, free love, bell bottom hip huggers, they put a man on the moon,  and put an apron on another man- making him the wife. As per the boom part of their title, they far out number subsequent generations. There are so many of them, that of course they’d be more productive than any other generation. There must have been a few slacker-baby boomers, or is that what my mixed generation makes me?

Let’s move on, because this post has lost its focus, and this slacker has to get back to work…
Generation Y, born between the 80’s and 90’s is the technology generation. Don’t ask me anything about Y. To them I can only say thanks for my phone. We can talk about the geek squad at another time.

My children are Generation Z. This, as even most of us slackers know, is the last letter of the alphabet, which to me,  implies that this generation will completely destroy the planet, because nothing comes after Z. If you could see my children’s bedrooms, you would be afraid that the apocalypse is indeed upon us.  I must beg generation Z to seize the day, and clean your rooms. There is a lot riding on this.

** I stand corrected, and have attempted to fix some obvious misrepresented facts which were pointed out to me. Obviously I have chosen sides by making this blunder, and have exposed myself as a member of the slacker X-Generation. 😉

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The Daily Post, June 29, 2015, Daily Prompt: Generation XYZ~ Think about the generation immediately younger or older than you. What do you understand least about them — and what can you learn from them? <a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/generation-xyz/”>Generation XYZ</a><a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/generation-xyz/”>Generation XYZ</a>