My Generation

The slackers won:

GenX is the last generation raised without smart technology. We were wild and untethered to the approval of strangers on the internet. GenX doesn’t care what you think about us. We learned that skill on the playgrounds of the ’70s and ’80s. If you weren’t there, you can’t appreciate how dangerous that actually was. When we weren’t dodging rusted metal edges of slides, we were suffering the verbal assaults of the schoolyard bullies that often escalated to physical fights. The adults in charge did not care to intervene. We were regularly told, “Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” Movies made for kids back then were full of expletives and violence. We might not have used that language in front of adults, but around the neighborhood, there wasn’t a kid who didn’t know every four-letter word out there. Some of us memorized the raunchiest parts of Eddie Murphy’s “RAW,” and I bet there are a few of you reading this right now who can rattle off George Carlin’s 7 dirty words. Words are just words. And we believe in defending all those words, whether we use them or not. We revere free speech, and Generation X has become a fierce defender of all the words we’re not supposed to say. We don’t believe in the power of words to harm anyone. We don’t think participation trophies are worth anything, either. Winning and losing were very clearly defined on those playgrounds. There were winners and losers, nerds and popular kids, and it was up to us to battle it out and survive.

Generation X, the last common sense generation...