This is encouraging, Rainey...thank you. Several years ago, more actually, I made the comment after hearing and reading and listening to the complaints about Boomers, "Well, we'll be out of here one day, but someone is going to remember and miss us." I loved your essay; there is much to be said for the admission to truth....Thank you.
I think how old your parents were when you were born is as important as when you were born. My father came of age before 1945 and my mother was a child during the Blitz in England. Though my sister and I are technically Generation X (and my older brothers Boomers), we have a lot of Boomer qualities.
Douglas Coupland, who coined the term “Generation X,” originally said that if you were between the ages of 18 and 30 in the year 1990, you counted. Meaning anybody born after 1960 is GenX. Those goal posts have since been moved—people talk about GenX being smaller, but we are also allotted fewer years than both the Boomers and the Millennials! Ultimately of course, these distinctions are silly, just another example of our need to categorize people. It’s worthwhile, though not easy, to resist thinking along these lines.
Great read, Rainey.
Thanks!
Good one Rainey! I hadn't thought about how people regard boomers, and I'm glad you don't hate us anymore.
This is encouraging, Rainey...thank you. Several years ago, more actually, I made the comment after hearing and reading and listening to the complaints about Boomers, "Well, we'll be out of here one day, but someone is going to remember and miss us." I loved your essay; there is much to be said for the admission to truth....Thank you.
I think how old your parents were when you were born is as important as when you were born. My father came of age before 1945 and my mother was a child during the Blitz in England. Though my sister and I are technically Generation X (and my older brothers Boomers), we have a lot of Boomer qualities.
Interesting...
Douglas Coupland, who coined the term “Generation X,” originally said that if you were between the ages of 18 and 30 in the year 1990, you counted. Meaning anybody born after 1960 is GenX. Those goal posts have since been moved—people talk about GenX being smaller, but we are also allotted fewer years than both the Boomers and the Millennials! Ultimately of course, these distinctions are silly, just another example of our need to categorize people. It’s worthwhile, though not easy, to resist thinking along these lines.
Thank you for a beautiful piece of writing, that has given me (a Boomer, I admit it) a bit of comfort on a cold evening of a distressing week.