THE BATTLE OF THE GENS

If you’ve been on social media at all in the last few months, you’re likely aware that a battle of the Gens has currently been raging. Gen Z has decided to pick a fight with Gen X, and Gen X ain’t having it!

But does any of this really come as a shock?

Generation X is comprised of those born between 1965 to 1980.

Generation Z is made up of those born between 1997 to 2012.

Notice anything?

Gen X spawned Gen Z.

We raised our children with no filters. We encouraged them to speak their minds at all times because, like every generation that preceded ours, we aspired to be better parents to our children than our parents were to us. And since we weren’t allowed to have opinions as children, we wanted our children to have input in everything from what we had for dinner to what color we painted the house.

And now it’s coming back to bite us in the arse. 🤪🙃

But seriously speaking, generational battles are nothing new.

The majority of us Gen Xers are the children of boomers, and we also raged against the machine once we came of age, distancing ourselves as far as possible from the bandana-wearing, flower-wielding hippies who raised us. 😬🤡

The only difference is, we didn’t have social media to turn our fight for autonomy into a three-ring circus, so we fought all of our battles in the shadows.

Be honest now:
How many of you used the argument “But Jane’s parents lets her do it!” after your parents forbade you from doing something, whether if was true or not?
And how many of you lied about going over to Jane’s house so you could run off and do something you knew would get you neck-deep into trouble with the fun-killers?

I won’t lie to y’all: I’m guilty of both. 😁😎

Mercifully for many of us, there were no camera phones and no social media back then, which means there’s no evidence of anything. 😁😈

Were you at that party?
Who me??? Hell naw!!!

And yes, us Gen Xers may be a tad ‘feral’ as the young ‘uns put it, but that’s because we didn’t have tablets and playstations growing up, so we had to make our own fun – and we often had to do it outside because while our folks were desperately trying to be better parents than theirs and as such refused to make us sit quietly in a corner and ‘be seen and not heard’ the way they had been forced to, they were at the same time either too busy or simply didn’t have the energy to deal with exuberant children screeching like deranged banshees all day.

So, if we’re ‘feral’, Gen Z can place the blame for it squarely on the shoulders of those dear sweet people they call ‘grandparents’! 🤫🫣

But we’re not exactly innocent victims of a Gen Z drive-by either.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, we were the ones who fired the first shots in this generational battle when we turned into our parents and started waxing poetic about ‘the good ol’ days’ when we would ride our bikes around the neighborhood and play outside in the rain. And if we’re truly being honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that we secretly rolled our eyes and shook our heads in dismay behind their backs when our parents did it to us, in much the same way that Gen Z is currently tired of hearing us ramble on about how great our childhoods were by comparison. The only difference is that we imbued these cheeky lil devils with enough chutzpah to say it to our faces. 🤦‍♀️😝

But fear not, my fellow Gen Xers, because we shall have the last laugh (even if it’s from the great beyond 🤪) as one day the children of Gen Z will also roll their eyes in annoyance over their parents’ nostalgia! It’s called the circle of life for a reason, and in time to come they shall morph into us in much the same way we’re slowly turning into our parents.

But all kidding aside, to end today’s post, I’m going to share a few motivational quotes on the importance of accepting and appreciating our differences, whether they be generational, racial, cultural, religious, etc.:

“It is not our differences that divide us.
It is our inability to recognize, accept,
and celebrate those differences.”
~ Audre Lorde

“Strength lies in differences,
not similarities.”
~ Stephen Covey

“When we understand and appreciate
the differences between us,
we can leverage them to improve our conversations,
deepen our learning, and spur creative thinking.”
~ Lisa Fain

“The key to community is the acceptance –
in fact, the celebration – of our individual
and cultural differences.”
~ M. Scott Peck

“Despite all of the things that differentiate us –
race, language, religion, gender, wealth, and so on –
we are all equal concerning our fundamental humanity.”
~ Dalai Lama