Ageism Whiplash

I’m on the older end of Generation X and loved the band of the same name when I was a teen. My work life has been all about computers. My generation X entered the work force with DOS and Lotus 123. Our work and lives have been about changing and upgrading. Think about it in our first few years there were men on the moon. And we’ve birthed digital kids.

Frankly, I wasn’t surprised when just last week a Baby Boomer told me that I was so young, still implying inexperience. Why wasn’t I surprised? Notoriously, Baby Boomers have been disrespecting Generation X their whole lives, why would it change at retirement? Why not argue? To argue with stupid is a waste of breath.

What I didn’t realize was that they transferred their disrespecting attitudes to their children. Son of Boom delights in discounting Generation X’s experience because they get mommy & daddy boom’s approval.  Son of Boom actually said to me today that people of ‘your age’ are set in their ways, implying Gen-X doesn’t change. As wrong as their parents were, son of boom are so wrong, it’s just sad.

Generation X has been at the forefront of change. We heard the music of the 60s and 70s and believed that we could live the change. That’s what we’ve done: microwave ovens, punk (pre-steam), VCRs, cell phones and all the way around to discover our grandparents had it going on with milk in glass bottles and helpful customer service.

So disrespect us at your own peril. For Generation X, life is change. We’ve been highly competitive as we create and invent our lives it’s what we do, it’s who we are.