Having been born in 1964, I have never felt part of any particular "generation." Technically I am lumped in with the Baby Boomers, but I feel as much attachment to that generation as I do to Gen Z. Boomers, in my mind, were the generation that either fought or protested the Vietnam War, which ended when I was 11 years old. Gen X, on the other hand, technically began in 1965, but culturally, it is the generation that grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. They are in the Morning in America generation and the Clinton years. The Soviet Union fell, but trust in government was already on the wane. "The era of big government is over."
What always struck me about Generation X was that they grew up in an environment that promoted self-reliance. They were the "latchkey" kids who grew up before helicopter parents, participation trophies, and for whom political idealism seemed idiosyncratic. The Boomers were proud of their self-professed idealism; Gen X rolled their eyes, rightly so.
~ SNIP ~
I was a latchkey kid, but I am in no way as psychologically impressive as I think of Generation X kids. I was as "free range" as you could imagine--no doubt my parents would, quite literally, be arrested today for leaving us kids alone for days once my older brother turned 13.
I can't say why, but Generation X kids learned to be much more resilient than I ever did. Perhaps that is simply because of my personality, but I have admired Generation X character traits for decades. While many Boomers complained bitterly about how politically incurious kids from that generation were, I recognized that their cynicism about society made them much more grounded than generations that came before or after them.
They weren't fragile like Generation Z tends to be and not as politically bombastic as Boomers were in their youth. They just put their heads down and worked hard to secure their own futures.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/11/19/gen-x-elected-donald-trump-n3797114As a person smack dab in the middle of GenX, this logic is pretty spot on. Even more at the above linky thing.
