9.18.2013

Between GenX and GenY - Generational Androgeny and the Truth of Ourselves

There is a commentary floating around over the entitlement of GenY.  Though it may be a convincing argument, and in fact be true for a good portion of "millennials", I still find the argument insulting and in itself, egotistical.  To lump any group together in such a way is really just an obnoxious affront to us all.  I'm not making the claim that we are all "special", but I will make the claim that we are all individuals.  As an individual, I do not prescribe to the drivel of rainbow barfing unicorns and grass full of flowers.  I know my worth, and this is has become a culture where material excess and lack of opportunity have stripped away not only my personal dreams, but my vision of the American dream as well.

Many will lump my age group into GenY territory, when the reality is that I have never associated with them.  I was born in 1980..  which means, I'm not part of GenX either.  Am I a Millennial?  Perhaps..  if only because I am alive at the turn of the millennium.   Where do we fit in?  What subgroup do we belong to?  I'm not punk.  I'm not gangsta.  And I'm definitely not pop.  I'm alternative.  So no, you can't really put me in a group that worships rainbows and unicorns can you.

Then came the retort to "why millennials are unhappy".  It is an angry and defensive rebuttal of the primary article, and I agree with most of it.  We are a mid-generation lost in the storm of the expectations and desires of those around us.  We were told our entire lives that hard work would get us where we needed to go, not that we were entitled to it no matter what we did.  But now that hard work hasn't given us what we were promised.

So now where do we go?  Those of us from in between..  I suggest we forgo both ends  of the spectrum.  We are not part of the original coke snorting team of 1980's yuppies.  Nor are we part of the current brood of self important, materially obsessed youth.  Perhaps we ought to give up on the materiality of our surrounding generations all together.  I mean, seriously...  I wouldn't be caught dead standing in line for the next best iCrap.  It's not that important.  But something has to be...  the existential gap has to be filled somehow.

It is often said that the happiest people on earth are those who flee commercial consumption.. in some ways, I think that existential emptiness has been filled by religion for previous generations. and though I have never associated myself as being part of GenX or GenY, I see that most people around our age have either completely abandoned religion, or are disillusioned with the organization (which is fine) but have not bothered to replace that force with anything of their own construct.  Instead they try and fill the hole with things and status

I am not a religious person.. I don't even know if I would call myself spiritual.... but I am not vapid in that respect. Where religion gave previous generations a ploy with which to fill the existential gap, the younger generations of this society have been trying to fill that hole with material crap rather than an understanding of our place in the greater scheme. I fill that space with the study of astrology.. it gives me understanding and meaning just like religion has done for so many. It doesn't rid me of the want and desire for the material world, but it lets me know that getting everything I think (or society tells me) I want, isn't all that important. what is important is to accept myself for the truth of who i am and be comfortable in knowing that this life is exactly how it is supposed to be....


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