Sixty Weeks to 60: Generation Gap

(33 Weeks)

“OK Boomer” stings to those of a certain age.  Those who 50 or 60 years ago were at the height of making their generation’s place in the world. They were the anti-establishment, anti-Vietnam, pro-Women’s Lib, Humphrey and McGovern supporting, long-haired hippy freaks, who supported Roe v. Wade, who my parents held in contempt.  

My parents were older than most of my friends’ parents.  Born in 1921 and ’27, they adopted me when Dad was 46 and Mom was 40. They lived through and were significantly impacted by the Great Depression. They remembered where they were when news broke about the attack on Pearl Harbor. My dad served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. My mom often shared stories about supporting the war effort from home, Victory Gardens for example. Theirs was called the Greatest Generation. 

My father’s family didn’t own a car until my dad was 17. Their Bronx apartment didn’t have a phone or a television. They gathered around a radio for news and entertainment. 

Between them and Baby Boomers, was the Silent Generation (1928-1945). A smaller group due to the consequences of the depression and war. They were the Korean War soldiers. While probably not being given enough credit, they were also much of the leadership of the civil rights movement, 1960s counter-culture and rock and roll. Currently they are the majority of our “Senior Citizens”. Typically Gen X’s parents. 

To be clear, I am, by definition, Gen X (1965-1980), not a Boomer.  Boomers are considered those born between 1946 and 1964. I was born in the first half of 1965.  Although, because of the perspective created by my relationship to my parents, I tend to lean a little more Boomer. Most of my adult friendships have been with people older than me. 

We grew up with at least one – but more often two – cars in the driveway. The first family car I remember didn’t have air-conditioning and only an AM radio. I don’t remember a time without television (although I recall the day we got our first color television). I drank out of the garden hose, flopped around in a car without seatbelts, rode my bike without a helmet, listened to 8-tracks & vinyl records (33s).  

All our phones were landlines. I have memories of calling my parents from payphones at school or the mall and waiting and waiting for them to pick me up without fully knowing when they’d get there. I typed college papers on a typewriter.  In my early years working at the newspaper, “cut and paste” involved actual scissors and glue. 

I remember my first experiences with the internet (dial-up – even at work!). The first imagine I saw on the internet on our newly purchased Gateway PC on April 19, 1995, was of the bombed-out Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. How slowly the photo loaded, adding to the horror as the image was exposed.  Back then we still sent faxes at work more than emails. 

My daughter was born in 2000. Solid Gen Z (1996-2012). She doesn’t know a life without the internet (“Mom, what was the internet like when you were a kid?” – non-existent) or cell phones (“Well, how old were you when you got your first cell phone?” – 35!).   She doesn’t know a life without active shooter drills (Columbine occurred a year before she was born) and has no memory of 9-11 which they learned about in school as “Historical Event”.

In between us are Millennials (1981-1995).  This is the “everybody gets a trophy” generation, but also the group who were likely in a classroom on September 11, 2001. Encountering them in the workforce in their early-20s made them my least-favorite generation. They seemed to have no reverence for organizational leadership, told us we needed to earn their respect, and most had a poor work ethic by the standards of which I grew up. 

With all that said, I am not beyond learning from those younger than me. Millennials, now mostly in their 30s, have grown into responsible mature adults, contributing in admirable ways to their companies and communities. And Gen Z? They just rock!  Now I might be bias as a mom, but this cohort, has been more active politically, contributing to racial justice and sustainably, and fighting climate change and gun violence, not seen since…well, Baby Boomers!

I am very grateful for the different ideas and experience everyone brings to our society.  Writing young people off as unimportant or inexperience would be just as unfortunate as writing us off as problematic Boomers. Every generation has contributed to the next. Say what you want about the older generations not being tech savvy, the work that led to the internet dates back to the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers were responsible for the most fundamental part of the technology advancements of the last 50 years. 

Bashing the younger generation is nothing new (even Socrates was known to have complained about “the kids these days”).  Fighting the establishment isn’t anything new either as Boomers should understand. Maybe it’s in that conflict we see that we are all more alike than we care to admit.

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Did you really think this wasn’t going to include a fundraiser? It’s me. Of course it is! Over the course of these 60 weeks, I am hoping to raise $6000 for the children of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls (that’s just $100 a week!). To learn more about Mercy Home and my why, please visit my fundraising page. Thank you.