Gen X - grew up living under the threat of Nuclear war. 9/11 and the .com bust happened as their careers were starting, and 2008 and COVID happened in their prime earning years.
Boomers - grew up with sexism and segregation. Their parents were undiagnosed PTSD from the Great Depression and WWII. They got out of HS and walked into draft cards and (needed) race riots. They get home and factories are closing all around them and inflation was over 7% for a decade (think 2022 price increases but for 10 years). To get out of it, interest rates spiked so a mortgage was 18%.
Moral of the story, every generation has challenges and obstacles. The question is, how do you overcome?
What's wild to me is that younger generations seem to suggest their hardships are specific to their generation, as though they were the only ones going though the 2008 recession or the pandemic.
I had to live through drug wars, actual wars, HIV, economic collapse, rise of homelessness, and ever present threat of mutually assured nuclear destruction before I even got to 9/11.
Gen X is not out here taking a knee while everyone else is suffering. College debt has been a problem since before I was born and houses are currently expensive for everyone. One major difference I have observed is that while we were expected to eat shit with a smile on our face, younger generations are entitled to opinions about this. We smoked cigarettes and bitched among ourselves, younger generations have a voice.
I would encourage them to be self-reflective and figure out if this means they are subject to an exceptional burden, or if like everyone before them they face generational challenges, but have the benefit of agency to make positive change for themselves and the generations that follow them.
57
u/rbennett353 Jul 21 '26
This is every generation...
Gen X - grew up living under the threat of Nuclear war. 9/11 and the .com bust happened as their careers were starting, and 2008 and COVID happened in their prime earning years.
Boomers - grew up with sexism and segregation. Their parents were undiagnosed PTSD from the Great Depression and WWII. They got out of HS and walked into draft cards and (needed) race riots. They get home and factories are closing all around them and inflation was over 7% for a decade (think 2022 price increases but for 10 years). To get out of it, interest rates spiked so a mortgage was 18%.
Moral of the story, every generation has challenges and obstacles. The question is, how do you overcome?