Why This Boomer Loves Generation Xers
Linda P. Morton
Yesterday, I was searching the Internet and found an article titled "Why I hate Boomers." Today, I followed up with a search for "I hate Boomers." I found an entire page, including a forum thread and a blog.
My reply to this hatred of Boomers is "I love Generation Xers." I love them for many reasons, but cover only seven broad ones in this article.
I haven't always loved Generation Xers. In fact, the first time I taught them at The University of Oklahoma, I didn't like them much. They were totally different from any students I'd taught in past. They accepted nothing that I taught at face value and often challenged me.
I became driven to understand them because that was the only way that I could effectively teach them. Thus, I first love Generation Xers because they compelled me to begin researching generations, and that began a line of research that has since become a passion.
At that time, I found adjectives like "cynics, whiners, drifters, and malcontents" that mostly Boomer writers used to describe Generation X. But as I worked with Generation Xers, I began to think of them more as they were later described - "ambitious, savvy, independent, pragmatic, and self-sufficient".
This is the second reason that I love Generation Xers. They are more than any set of adjectives, and they are individual enough as not to be easily described.
The third reason that I love Generation Xers is for the same reason that I found them so difficult many years ago. They have strong convictions and are independent thinkers. They don't believe what a person says just because that person holds an authority position. This serves them well as they enter authority positions.
The fourth reason that I love Generation Xers is that they treat their children and careers differently than I did. As one of the oldest of Boomer women, I helped to blaze the trail into male-dominated fields and sacrificed time with my Generation X daughter in the process. So I love Generation Xers because they refuse to make that same sacrifice.
Fifth, I love Generation Xers because in spite of not sacrificing time with their families and children, they are still achieving success in their careers and businesses. In fact, they are achieving more and living higher lifestyles than anyone predicted when they were adolescents.
The sixth reason that I love Generation Xers is because they are patriotic and spiritual in an independent manner. These and many other Generation X characteristics have earned them respect as adults, and yes, even from Boomers.
And seventh, I love Generation Xers because they are just the people that their Boomer parents reared them to be. They didn't portray the characteristics that we taught them exactly the way we imaged, but they do live those characteristics everyday, and this world is stronger and better because of them.
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