NFL
By: Greg Rector
We are labeled from the moment of birth to the grave. The first two labels of course are determined by your sex, then by race. The labels don’t stop there. You are born into either a poor, middle, upper-middle, or upper-class family. Then even though we are all just simply individuals there’s a label that you are given based upon the year you are born in. Other labels will follow you as well, liberal, conservative, left or right-wing, Republican, Democrat, or Independent. The labeling is endless. The real problem with all those “Labels” it becomes far too easy to make generalizations based on any given label. The generational labels are the ones I find create so many needless divides. Let’s go through some of those labels.
The Generations
The Greatest Generation 1901-1924
The Silent Generation 1925 -1945
The Baby Boom Generation 1946-1964
Generation X 1965-1979
Millennials 1980- 1994
Generation Z 1995-2012
Gen Alpha 2013-2025
Notice how there is no uniformity among the generations? Some span 20 years, others are 18,14,13, and finally, the Alpha’s just a 12-year span. I don’t know who came up with all this stuff, nor do I care. These labels are given over time as generalized attributes based on many factors. The “Greatest Generation” is often given credit for living through the Great Depression and for saving the world from fascism by winning World War Two, wait a second didn’t a whole lot of this so-called greatest generation also lose World War Two? You know the Axis Power nations leaders had just as many folks born at the beginning of the Greatest Generation as those on the winning side, didn’t they? Those born earlier in the “Silent Generation” also saw a great many deaths during the war as they were of age to fight in the war. Whereas some born in the final six years of that generation 1939 to 1945 weren’t even old enough to have memories of the war unless they were born in those nations where the fighting was taking place. A five or six-year-old in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945 surely had those memories, the same cannot be said for a five or six-year-old in Ames, Iowa. See the problem with making generalized or blanket statements about a generation? Both of my parents were in that smaller sub-sect of the Silent Generation known as war babies, although my father was born in July of 1939 and the war didn’t start until September of course. Myself, I am a “baby boomer” by a grand total of 26 days I fall into that generation. Nineteen and 31 months later my two siblings were Generation Xers.
The Baby Boom “Hate”
This seems to be the generation that folks from the generations previous and those who followed have some level of hate for. How much do I have in common with someone born in 1946? I wasn’t alive for the beginning of the “Cold War” (Thank the greatest and silent generation for that one), Being a 1964 baby I wasn’t like the 1946-1953 baby boomers who along with the younger silent generation fought and died in Vietnam or marched in the civil rights campaigns and anti-war protests. For those of us at the tail-end of the generation when we finally came of age in the 1980s we were already embroiled in the very conservative world of Presidents Reagan and President Bush 41. Sorry to bust the myth of Gen Xers, Millenials, Gen Zers and Alphas, but I never did vote Republican, I am a died-in-the-wool Democrat. I despise conservatism which by definition means reluctant to change. Anyone who knows me and the many friends I have in the same age range, almost all of us are liberals, oh but were also not “progressive” enough for y’all right? See more labels, they never stop. The myth that baby boomers are responsible for all the world’s ills came to its sickest level at the beginning of the global pandemic, especially in the worst realm for spreading hatred you know it, you love it, the internet. Just for historical purposes, the two guys credited for the earliest form of the internet one was a member of the greatest generation, and the second guy was from the silent generation. Oh but I forgot it’s all Al Gore’s (1948 Boomer) fault. No, he didn’t invent the internet he was, however “the first political leader to recognize the importance of the internet and to promote and support its development.” Getting back to the pandemic and seeing it called a “Boomer Disease” was just disgusting.
Dear Gen X and Others
You say we don’t understand you, we’re out of touch, we don’t understand what it’s like for you, and the rest of these blanket statements. Sorry kids, but my silent generation parents didn’t get heavy metal or disco, they didn’t immediately adapt to every change that was taking place in their lifetime just as with many of the baby boom generations who don’t understand the internet, EDM, Hip-Hop, etc. We all simply do the best we can. Oh and that whole “you guys were given everything garbage” put that where the sun doesn’t shine. Mortgages were in the double digits when I was first able to buy a house, the economy had gone through a brutal period of time starting in the 70s when President Nixon was in office. I wasn’t given a damn thing. If you bothered to look it up the folks who had the greatest spending power were indeed those alive in the 1950s, so yeah it all fell apart because the early boomers had the ability to spend money, which led to the decline for all of you currently. Oh and for my fellow boomers, the millennials, and Gen Z’ers haven’t been given anything either. They simply grew up in a very different world from us. Technology has seen that happen. Just as for us our world of saw color television, satellite communication growth, Walkmans, boom boxes, and all of those now archaic platforms we fell in love with. Not every Millennial or Gen Xer is a lazy slovenly video game addict, Here is one huge difference that I still have trouble with. The ease of access to information now compared to when I grew up. Oh and for crying out loud could you please learn to have an actual conversation? Grunts and groans don’t count. Maybe by being able to communicate with an open mind and verbalizing rather than texting, y’all might find far more common ground with one of us labeled “the enemy” I don’t spend my time blaming the ills of the world on those who came before me. Oh, Millenials those are your kids I’m talking about. Your turn in the barrel, yes y’all are up next for being responsible for all the world’s ills. Oh, and Gen Z this is gonna hit you too. To the Alpha’s blast away, have fun grandma and grandpa tried but they just never did listen. Please though be nicer and don’t label a pandemic as a generational killer. That one was really awful okay?
We are all just here for a limited amount of time. Wouldn’t it be easier to drop the preconceived notions? I spent 15 years in Marine Corps and over that time trained and worked with mostly Gen X but towards the end of my time Millenials as well. I’ve worked since with mostly Millenials and now Gen Zers. I don’t care who you are are when you were born. I don’t treat any of you differently based on the year you were born. Y’all are just INDIVIDUAL human beings and many are very hard-working, while others are just truly lazy dumbasses. That’s why labels are such a bad thing and I have always felt that way. My individuality has no bearing on being born in 1964, just as none of yours has for being born in the 70s through today. Who I am is based on just being an individual. I am not a monolith just as you aren’t. Can we all just realize that and go forth accordingly?
