The Ramblings of a Gen Xer

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Latchkey Kids of Middle History

So here we are in another worldwide crisis. We, the proud members of the Forgotten Generation,  look at our surrounding, our environment and decidedly cope. We are the generation that has been through our own world crisis of a day when the towers fell and the world stood shocked, terrified of a new end and a new beginning.

But we made it. How?

Because, as always, without parents to comfort us, burned out teachers who didn't instructed us or a world that didn't give a rat's ass about us, we were force to take in the chaos and figure out what to do about it. Go mad? Take drugs? Or make it into something creative. Most of us chose the latter. It's what Gen X does best. Cope. I wrote this as a reflective piece before the this health crisis. Let it rise as a coping mechanism of this forgotten generation found sandwiched between two dumpster fire generations. 

Enjoy.

Fuck this and fuck that 

A latchkey generation told the future was golden, paved by the luminary Cultural Revolutionaries, the promise of a New Brave American, to us, the orphans of mid-life century crisis parents. As we sat there alone on Fourth of July Christmas Day ready to open that shimmering box of wrapped hope, anticipation building, we finally tore into the bows of promise, ripping through the ribbons of renewal, the wrapping papers of yesterday and got to that sealed box.

We carefully opened it as not to to slice our fingers on the edges, pulled back the tissue and what did we see?

An empty plain white box.

“Mom?” We shouted. “Dad”. We futilely whispered. “What’s with the fucking empty box?” We said to anyone who was listening.

The empty plain white box became the world around us.

We saw the Children of the Revolution vote for Trickle Down Economics. We saw rivers on fire and nobody cared. We read stories, took in films about dystopia then watched a world become it. We witnessed a plume of a radioactive cloud cover Eastern Europe. We’ve endured two embarrassing impeachments. We saw the lemming followers of the Jonestowns, the Wacos rise and fall time and time again.

We saw a Promise for All become All for the One Percent. 

And this made us very pissed.

Heyyyy, we fucked this all up for you! 

But nobody listened to a rabble rousing bunch of skateboarders, punks and anarchists playing Dead Kennedys full volume. “Get a job”. They shouted at us. “Can’t. You Boomers got them until retirement.” We retorted. And so the Boomers just apathetically shrugged us off as irresponsible and unimportant driving off in their luxury imports to the bright sunset of 21st Century retirement.

So, we got jobs as waiters, retail clerks, telemarketers until brave ones decided to create something of their own. Some opened their own restaurants, retail stores, technology driven industries; these businesses became backbones of community economic renaissance while others went on to create a world of online supply and demand.

Some just faded away broken by this failed "Promise".

With Love from the Author 

But those latchkeys kids of Gen X who made it out alive, we’re still pissed. We just happen to be a tad more restraint about it now. Don’t get us wrong, we will not hesitate smacking someone who calls us Boomer and is on constant stand-by with a lighter and gas can. Yeah, we’re pissed off, have to, because that’s what fuels our reactors.

The latchkey kids aren’t alright, never will be, but we’ve carved out a helluva generation for ourselves that can deal with whatever shitshow is thrown at us. 

No comments:

Post a Comment