Gen X: What is it with us?

[UNCjigga]

I was born in 1979. Myself and others like me are the tail end of Generation X. The Generation without a name. The great waste. Slackers. What is our goal in life? What drives us? Money is Evil. God is Dead. We are nihilists: the Boomers fought for nothing.

Think back to when you were a kid. Oftentimes you'd get asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The classic responses are policeman, firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian etc. My response? "I dunah". Fast-forward to high school. Hello? Am I supposed to be picking up on this life purpose vibe yet? What am I doing here? Stay in school they said. Get into a good college. A university. Four years later, have I stayed the same? Did I change or did the world around me change? I seem to be right back where I left off, though, even more confused than before.

Why do I exist? Eat. Sleep. Read. Listen to the radio. Watch TV. Rinse and repeat. Float through life. Subconsciously. Always living for the moment. Sure I seized today, but what about tomorrow? Is this the pre-Apocalyptic society? Not planning for the future because somehow, we just know there won't be one? Are we lemmings getting closer to that cliff edge, oblivious to what's ahead of us?

Why is life so boring?

 

[pulse8]

Your life is only as boring as you make it.

 

[bleeb]

Some of the stuff you said really hits home for me as well. I'm a pessimistic (spelling?) and so sometimes I feel like there will be no tomorrow in the metaphoric sense of the word.

 

bah. My generation has to make up for the slack in yours. Thanks alot.

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
bah. My generation has to make up for the slack in yours. Thanks alot.

That's what we used to think in middle school.

"My generation is gonna be stuck with cleaning up the environment you hippies said you'd take care of. We're going to have to end racism, sexism, hatred, and bigotry because you just didn't finish the job you started 40 years ago. What was the point of that peace movement if we're still a world at war? Thanks a lot."

Then one day we just said, "fvck it"

 

[johnjohn320]

I don't think that's your generation so much as it is just you.




no offense. I just know plenty of people your age who have accomplished quite a bit and aren't apathetic about everything.

 

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA

Originally posted by: FallenHero
bah. My generation has to make up for the slack in yours. Thanks alot.

That's what we used to think in middle school.

"My generation is gonna be stuck with cleaning up the environment you hippies said you'd take care of. We're going to have to end racism, sexism, hatred, and bigotry because you just didn't finish the job you started 40 years ago. What was the point of that peace movement if we're still a world at war? Thanks a lot."

Then one day we just said, "fvck it"

was when you guys said "fvck it" in the 80's? Because I swear to god, no one cared about sh!t back then

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
I was born in 1979. Myself and others like me are the tail end of Generation X. The Generation without a name. The great waste. Slackers. What is our goal in life? What drives us? Money is Evil. God is Dead. We are nihilists: the Boomers fought for nothing.

Think back to when you were a kid. Oftentimes you'd get asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The classic responses are policeman, firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian etc. My response? "I dunah". Fast-forward to high school. Hello? Am I supposed to be picking up on this life purpose vibe yet? What am I doing here? Stay in school they said. Get into a good college. A university. Four years later, have I stayed the same? Did I change or did the world around me change? I seem to be right back where I left off, though, even more confused than before.

Why do I exist? Eat. Sleep. Read. Listen to the radio. Watch TV. Rinse and repeat. Float through life. Subconsciously. Always living for the moment. Sure I seized today, but what about tomorrow? Is this the pre-Apocalyptic society? Not planning for the future because somehow, we just know there won't be one? Are we lemmings getting closer to that cliff edge, oblivious to what's ahead of us?

Why is life so boring?

Probably because our modern society has done its damnedest to suck the meaning out of life and replace it with crass consumerism. People used to get meaning from their families, their jobs, their religion, whatever. Now the average (keyword is average) family doesn't spend time together. The average job lasts 18 months (if you're lucky), religion has lost whatever prominence it once had for most people who think about more than their particular holy book and few other things have much meaning any more.
Previous generations had "great" (and I use the term loosely) wars to fight or great causes to strive for. Now? We have wars, but they're fought in the name of "freedom and security" when the people we went to "liberate" would just as soon kill us all and see us as conquerors rather than liberators. The wars are fought in the name of "peace", which I think is the biggest oxymoron of all time. We have great causes, but almost always they're either A) completely uninteresting to the modern generations because they aren't on mtv, or B) have some sort of evil purpose behind them.
Our generation was taught to "seize the day" while all around us the media taught us to "float through life". We grew up at the decline of the "we can do it" society and at the start of the "it's not my fault gimme medication I'm psychotic" society. All we do is get up, get dressed, earn money so we can go buy sh!t we don't need all so we can think we have enough. And when we get enough, it's not enough. It's never enough. We always have to go buy more sh!t that we don't really need so we can get to that mystical "enough" place, which is never enough. Unfortunately, I don't think that's ever going to change. I think that to fix it, you need to do your damndest to find meaning in something besides your car, your computer (like many here do) or your tv. I think you need to find meaning in a relationship with another person, with your pets or with a religion (if possible) because without it, you're going to stay all sad and depressed and undriven.

(keep in mind I'm running on about 2 hours sleep right now...)

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I don't think that's your generation so much as it is just you.




no offense. I just know plenty of people your age who have accomplished quite a bit and aren't apathetic about everything.

Not everyone in the Sixties was a hippie, either. And the Fifties hid the beatniks amongst the Leave it to Beaver Nuclear Families. I'm not speaking for everyone in my generation...just a certain group. And *I'm* not completely apathetic either, nor am I not *accomplished*. I had great grades through high school, a few hiccups in college but I came out alright. I'm a hard worker. I'm just not sure if I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Maybe I didn't explain it well...I'll let my friend Google say a few words on Generation X

Most Gen-Xers aren't "slackers". Most are decent, pragmatic, creative, strongly independent, self-reliant, and hard-working. We have a surprisingly good work ethic - including a strong sense of company loyalty, as long as it's reciprocal - and we want to get ahead, even though we aren't as concerned with the trappings of "success" as earlier generations were. However, we're very concerned with financial and emotional security. We're hopeful that the future will be good to us, but we're also shockingly realistic and honest about the struggles we're going to face in a rapidly changing world of diminishing resources, an elderly society, and a culture dominated by, and designed for, "Baby Boomers".

 

Think back to when you were a kid. Oftentimes you'd get asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The classic responses are policeman, firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian etc. My response? "I dunah". Fast-forward to high school. Hello? Am I supposed to be picking up on this life purpose vibe yet? What am I doing here? Stay in school they said. Get into a good college. A university. Four years later, have I stayed the same? Did I change or did the world around me change? I seem to be right back where I left off, though, even more confused than before.

OMG a generation who finally realized that America turned into a trademark. Wow, oh wait, our lives ARNT all about money and things and having and stuff?
OMFG ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
I was born in 1979. Myself and others like me are the tail end of Generation X. The Generation without a name. The great waste. Slackers. What is our goal in life? What drives us? Money is Evil. God is Dead. We are nihilists: the Boomers fought for nothing.

Think back to when you were a kid. Oftentimes you'd get asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The classic responses are policeman, firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian etc. My response? "I dunah". Fast-forward to high school. Hello? Am I supposed to be picking up on this life purpose vibe yet? What am I doing here? Stay in school they said. Get into a good college. A university. Four years later, have I stayed the same? Did I change or did the world around me change? I seem to be right back where I left off, though, even more confused than before.

Why do I exist? Eat. Sleep. Read. Listen to the radio. Watch TV. Rinse and repeat. Float through life. Subconsciously. Always living for the moment. Sure I seized today, but what about tomorrow? Is this the pre-Apocalyptic society? Not planning for the future because somehow, we just know there won't be one? Are we lemmings getting closer to that cliff edge, oblivious to what's ahead of us?

Why is life so boring?

I hear you man. Amen.

 

[Lager]

I suffered a concussion to my head when I was five and my brain cannot comphrend math anymore, at least that's my theory.

 

[KokomoGST]

Hey, at least we're not Gen Y... they're even more messed up than we are.

Think about it that way and you'll feel much better about yourself!

 

[clamum]

What generation are people born in 1983 considered?

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: SammySon

Think back to when you were a kid. Oftentimes you'd get asked, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" The classic responses are policeman, firefighter, astronaut, veterinarian etc. My response? "I dunah". Fast-forward to high school. Hello? Am I supposed to be picking up on this life purpose vibe yet? What am I doing here? Stay in school they said. Get into a good college. A university. Four years later, have I stayed the same? Did I change or did the world around me change? I seem to be right back where I left off, though, even more confused than before.

OMG a generation who finally realized that America turned into a trademark. Wow, oh wait, our lives ARNT all about money and things and having and stuff?
OMFG ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!

"The business of America is business."

 

[Chaotic42]

I was born in 1982.

Our generation is the weak underbelly of America. If we don't get our balls back and start effecting change, we'll mess the whole country up. We're lazy, unmotivated, not as smart as we think we are, and we have no backbones.

Not everyone of course, but quite a few.

 

[bigalt]

it's tough being in our boat. for me, i know that i'm better than pretty much everyone else but i'm not sure at what. but i'm pretty sure that whatever it is, that's my calling. in the meantime, i'm pretty content to ignore the futility of life and entertain myself with whatever it is that makes me happy at any given time.

a book i read recently, 'a heartbreaking work of staggering genius,' albeit not a good book, captures the gen x feeling pretty well. of course, why do you need to read about someone when you're living it.

 

[gotsmack]

I looked up gen Y on google and got a page that said Gen Y are the people that were born after 78.

So are people born in 1980 gen X or Y?

I like to think of myself as unlabeled and born between generations.

 

[bigalt]

I like to think of myself as unlabeled and born between generations.

nobody escapes labels

 

[Sid59]

weird .. i was borin in 1979 and i don't consider anything myself anything close to gen x. They were talking about gen x when i was like 15 or 16. Something i didn't need to associate with. when i think of gen x .. i think of High Fidelity for some off reason.

 

[WamBamThnkUMam]

After years of training in the remote mountains of Tibet, I have learned to fart on command.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

yeah I was born in '78 and dont think of myself as Gen. X...

Gen. X i think more of people born around '73...

and i def. know a lot of people around '78-'79 years that are doing a lot with their lives, not being boring, and doing what they always wanted to do...

that being said, i think we do it the best while still being bored and we are the best at being bored even though there is so much to do...i know i am pretty good at that

 

[Eli]

What's the generation that was born around ~'85 called?

<-- Was born in '81, girlfriend was born in '84.

 

[linuxboy]

Why is life so boring?

It is not boring. Life is a sacred gift, given to our own choosing and discretion, so that in our shaping of it, we may understand the inseparability of pain and joy that make the cycles of human experience.

I have a fond experience about Gen X or Y or NeXt or whatever people label themselves and each other. I sat in class, figuring out a physics problem, when I overheard a debate between two 14-year-olds concerning the lifting potential of a man's penis. Granted, that this was public school, but it surprised me, as my life, at the time consisted of work and responsibility.

I don't know what is with people to not find hope and redemption in the everyday, to sink to a wallowing nihilism, distrustful of the promises of adults, to make no effort and not even possess ideals that are realizeable, let alone ones that propel human imaginations to attempt the impossible. At the same time, the groups of these people who find no spiritual home in the crumbling of Christianity and the apparent espousal of plurality and sameness, create a large enough mass to thwart continuation and create a huge social problem, unless each and every strives to improve that small part of the world wherein he or she abides.


It's a crazy world. We're all nuts.

In the meantime, have a banana.


Cheers !

 

[stormbv]

Damn slackers with their flannel shirts and Pearl Jam albums!