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"...They possess only a hazy sense of their own identity but a monumental preoccupation with all the problems the preceding generation will leave for them to fix...This is the... generation... who fall between the famous baby boomers and the boomlet of children the baby boomers are producing...born during a period when the U.S. birthrate decreased to half the level of its postwar peak, in the wake of the great baby boom, they are sometimes called the baby busters. By whatever name, so far they are an unsung generation, hardly recognized as a social force or even noticed much at all..." Gross, D.M., and S. Scott, Proceeding with caution, Time Magazine, July 16, 1990
"GenXers are doing the quiet work of keeping America from sucking." Jeff Gordinier, X Saves the World, 2008
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As the only Generation X person at a recent meeting, I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find myself listening to yet another older person sharing an uncomplimentary perspective about Gen X, lamenting our generation’s apparent unwillingness to contribute money to good works like his generation did. Somehow, it never seems to occur to people who make such comments that the economic conditions in which my generation came of age have resulted in a generation with less wealth than the one that preceded it. We have higher costs of living combined with sky-rocketing education and healthcare costs, and incomes that barely keep pace with inflation. We had to buy our houses later with less wealth, higher leverage, and less income security. All of this means that we have far less discretionary spending money, and yet, in my experience, my generation gives much of our time and money to good works.
Ironically, there I sat offering pro bono consulting to this group instead of meeting with one of my paying clients—and this really nice, well-intending gentleman didn’t get it. When I mentioned this alternative perspective on my generation, he quickly referenced an article he had read that inspired his comment—no doubt another article written about my generation by an “expert” on my generation, usually a Boomer with a less-than-charitable perspective.
Later in the day, I found myself hosting a Pity Party for myself, pitying my poor timing to have entered the world as part of what must be the most disparaged and misunderstood generation in America. I mean, seriously, what is it with X-ers? Most of the time, we are simply ignored, but when occasionally noticed, it seems we are most often denigrated. Now, I’m sure that placing any faith in a generation with a lackluster name of “X”—thus labeled and depicted most often by Boomers, as a generation of apathetic, whining, entitled slackers—might seem like a losing proposition. After all, according to legend, we are the generation who raised ourselves—the vigilantly self-reliant “latch-key kids,” able to make it on our own despite unfavorable odds, yet prone to cynicism and unwilling to sacrifice our overall well-being for the corporate America that downsized our parents, and then, offered us temp jobs and pink-slips rather than career tracks and pensions.
Forced to play by ourselves, we changed the rules of the game. When we joined the workforce, our characteristic independence justified further alienation instead of celebration. Our failure to defer to tradition with loyal enthusiasm was mistaken for brazen disregard. Our willingness to question positional authority was mistaken as having problems with authority. Our desire to balance our professional and personal lives was viewed as a lack of career ambition. The message that we received upon entering the workforce was that we were a generation of entitled slackers unwilling to work hard and pay our dues.
What we know is that we have always worked harder than most to get far less than we deserve. We are the first generation as adults to earn less than our parents while working more. We have less or no job security, less or no social security, and less or no health insurance—and yes, sometimes we complain about this, as some will no doubt, interpret this writing now. At least we have legitimate complaints worthy of some attention.
Growing old to face diminishing returns on stock and sex options seem like luxury problems to us. Nonstop advertising featuring wealthy Boomers bemoaning their brokerage fees or reveling in the latest, greatest age-defying “fifty-is-the-new-forty” products and “now-we-can-have-sex-again-whenever-we-want” drugs exasperate us. We were born late to the party and the generation who knew we were coming had their cake and ate ours too. Then, when we observed that they ate more than their fair share, they labeled us entitled, cried “Let them make cake!” and offered us a recipe for success featuring ingredients that were only available sometime in the eighties. Is having the decency to grow old gracefully and keep your sex problems to yourselves really too much to ask?
If this sounds like sour grapes, don’t worry—most of us have gotten over our initial disappointment at the future we inherited and long ago channeled our energy into creating a better world for ourselves and future generations. Contrary to popular opinion, we’re not cynical about the world. We care. We just don’t expect others to care for us. That’s not cynical. That’s just the way it has always been for us, and most of the time we’re too busy working to bother trying to correct ignorant opinions about us, especially when doing so simply plays into this notion that we’re a bunch of whiners. Far from whining, we X-ers are usually content to work quietly behind the scenes and let others who seem to need the constant attention bask in the limelight. After all, there have to be listeners for others to be heard. We simply require two things: don’t take credit for our work, and if you’re going to talk about us, say something nice for a change.
