We got skipped. And it bothers me. IMO, the Millennials (no offense, I know many wonderful Millennials and they and their hope are vital to our growth as a society) continued what Generation X started. They have that hope because of the changes we stood for in our own rowdy way. Gen X were considered slackers because we didn't like the rules. We were disruptive and insubordinate. We had to sit back sometimes and figure out how to create lives we liked rather than following antiquated behavioral patterns just because it had always been done that way. But disruptive and insubordinate is how change gets made, how revolution happens. Who bashed the "ME" decade and started up the green revolution started in the sixties again, the one that had been abandoned by hippies turned yuppies in the 80s? I participated in sit-ins at my high school. My friends cared deeply about the state of politics and were the ones who tried to get a 3rd party system going by voting for Ralph Nader back in 2000 to break down the status quo. Movies that broke with tradition, like Kevin Smith's slacker series came out of Gen X. So did Adult Swim on the cartoon network - the epitome of irony and innovation, though probably considered stupid by boomers. Look at Seth McFarland and the Family Guy. Political and cultural satire at its best.
We grew up with technology. I wrote my own programs in Basic on my Dad's Commodore Vic 20. We had a home computer from the time I was 6. I played Atari and the original Nintendo. We didn't get the Internet till 1994, but I was only 18/19 then and college was a whole new ball of wax. I know, I'm whining, but it's not always so much fun being labeled a generation of slackers. Makes you want to continue your perceived behavior, flipping the bird at anyone who looks at you sideways. Which is probably why the characterization stuck.Yes, some of us gave up, but some of us only looked like we were giving up because we were young and stupid and the media had no idea what plans we were really hatching in our living rooms and throwing around while we sipped (or chugged) pensively from the mugs we brought to our keg parties to avoid generating waste from plastic cups. We thought something was wrong with the way things were, where we had no control over our lives and had to put on a suit and grow up as soon as we left college. We often did outlandish things to try to change that. It worked.
We have a major green living impetus going on in all facets of life right now. Businesses are going green like there's no tomorrow. (My friends and I were starting recycling programs at our first jobs out of college.) There's flex time and telecommuting, job sharing, and more entrepreneurs than you can shake a stick at. Technology enabled businesses to create greater flexibility, and we can't take credit for all technology, but many of us were developing it and still are. My generation's making a good portion of the apps for the iPhone and Android right now.
We certainly pushed for different work conditions. I held only part-time jobs (with the exception of three months) from 1998 to 2005. I telecommuted for a while, and went back to grad school to get my Master's in English just because I wanted to, not because I was preparing for the job market.
Also, the consumer has power like never before. Social networking has given customers a voice and now they dictate what they want instead of the companies pushing it at us. Who started all those forums? Again, I'm not suggesting that Gen X singlehandedly made all these things happen, but much of the push and innovation and change came from us.
Look at the indie crafts movement. Yes, there are millions of millenials involved, and it wouldn't be what it is without their participation. But many of the communities created by "not your grandma's crafts," and "No tea cozies without irony," the latter being the Craftster.org forum mantra, came from Gen Xers now in their thirties, who wanted to reclaim handmade and creativity and stop the mass production of everything. It was taking a stand against the mainstream and it's caught on like wildfire because it touches on something all of us are feeling - that mass manufacturing and production of waste is not doing anything for us on the human level. Getting back to creating, sharing ideas, collaborating, and making lives we love with people in a community are the most important values we can embrace. Indie record labels and zines - same concept. Make it your own, your own way. Power to the people. And more and more people start their own businesses each day, wanting to create their own varied careers instead of following the pension into retirement.
The workforce has changed. The way we all live has changed. The technology we live by, including social technology and other tools of Web 2.0, is being pushed into business dealings by Gen-Xers in decision-making positions - got confirmation on that yesterday in a Webinar held by Forrester, one of the top research analyst firms.
I love the Millennials and the Boomers. I know Generation X can't take credit for all of the wonderful advances our civilization has made over the last two decades. Everybody is participating in these changes. And you can't really fully divide it. Revolutionary boomers started much of this change. Millennials are making their own changes and revolutionizing even more. It all comes together in one big evolutionary flow.
But I'm tired of being ignored. My generation made some amazing strides, and it was our very dissatisfaction and lack of respect for the rules that did it. And I just wanted to point that out and get a little respect for the X generation for once, who are not simply slackers without hope. We have hope. We could never have gotten this far without it.
Thank you for "listening." I'm stepping down from my soapbox now.
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