Earlier this week, the newsies over at CBS came up with an infographic for a story on generations. It highlighted Baby Boomers, Millennials, and everyone in between . . . EXCEPT one: Generation X. Check it out:
Is that ironic or what? They leave out the GenXers, and the X literally stands for “an unknown variable or to a desire not to be defined.” As a proud GenXer myself (1977 baby! Darth Vader, Saturday Night Fever, and me. All born that hallowed year), I can tell you that I am not even one bit surprised that we were left out. I mean . . . we’re basically just really used to it by now. We’re the first latch key kid generation, after all, left to our own devices more than any generation that came before.
And you know what? We don’t even CAAARE! Just ask the great GenXers of Twitter! They’re totally here for not having to be here for this! See?
As a member of Gen X, I am 100% cool with being left out of this mess. https://t.co/AOcwLOjZ66
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 21, 2019
SAME, Patton Oswalt, SAME! I mean, I’ll be honest, though one of the most famous songs of our generation is “Don’t You Forget About Me” from the movie The Breakfast Club (don’t even tell me if you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to knoooow. Zip it.), we don’t really care if you forget about us. Honest.
Don’t you forget about me!
Sincerely yours,
Gen X#GenX #GenerationX #DisappearingAct pic.twitter.com/lK86WlZUoN— jamie bee ? (@jamieboylan) January 20, 2019
You know why? We literally DO NOT HAVE TIME to worry about what people think about us. We’re raising our own kids, taking care of our elderly parents or grandparents, running family life with both parents working, and throwing in some church activities and volunteerism for good measure. We ain’t GOT THE TIME. Like my fellow GenXer Angel says:
Gen X was apparently out of the building during roll call, probably too busy taking care of an elderly parent while sending an Uber to an unemployed millennial child and arguing with a post-millenial about why the WiFi is so slow. #GenX https://t.co/qTvPCQZPg2
— Angel, MS, CRNP (@UrbnHealthNP) January 20, 2019
We have a millllion totally legit excuses for missing roll call on this one. And also? We are FUNNIER than all of you!
— SynthBio (@SynthBio) January 20, 2019
Not only that, we have a bit of a superiority complex because, well, we remember how to use a rotary phone, we persevered through dial-up internet and it made us STRONGER, and we invented blogs, podcasts, and streaming services!! Which is maybe why:
One of my favorite tweets ever, and I don't remember who said it, was "Just remember, for every Boomer that hates a Millenial, there's a generation in between that hates you both." Truer words have never been uttered on Twitter.
— Tony (@tneuman4) January 21, 2019
GenXers are the best. From MTV to TGIF, Beastie Boys to boy bands, we HAD IT ALL growing up. And we don’t care whether history knows it or not . . . because we do!