By: Gina Dewar
I like to see the new generations on TIKTOKS talk about Generation X, (we are the ones who were born from 1965 to 1980).
They criticize us for what we are, just as our name says it, X (incognito).
They say we didn’t do anything, that we didn’t fight for anything, that we are the ones who have destroyed the world.
We did not learn from the ‘boomers’ (1946-1964) and we do not have the open-mindedness of the ‘millennials’ (1981-1996) or the opinion of the ‘Gen Z’ (1997-2012).
I have talked about that with many of my Gen X.
We are the generation that was educated by fear.
They told us what to do and what not to do.
They did not explain why we should or should NOT do something.
They only told us that if we did something we shouldn’t, something bad was going to happen to us.
We had no way of checking if something was true or not. Our only source of information was what others told us, and maybe the evening news when watching TV past our bedtime.
We were a very obedient generation overall. Perhaps the last generation who knew how to respect their elders and parents.
If they told us something, we believed it, it scared us, and we didn’t do it anymore (or at all).
It was easier to obey than to go against household rules and suffer the consequences (spanking, punishment, and the feeling of being a bad ‘son or daughter’).
These are some of the common FEARS that I had when growing up that kids nowadays just laugh about it:
- If we wandered away from my mom’s side in a store, they would kidnap us.
- The white vans that passed by our neighborhoods were kidnappers who took children to remove their organs.
- If you sat in a public toilet without putting paper in the seat, you would get pregnant.
- Eating watermelon with milk is poison.
- Eating and going swimming without waiting half an hour could cause you to drown you because of cramps.
- Walking barefoot when there was a thunderstorm was dangerous because you could be struck by lightning.
- Crossing the border (Mexico-U.S.A) was always a reason to panic because the first thing your parents would tell you was ‘Shh, shut up because the ‘migra’ will get angry’
- If you disobeyed your mom, the devil would appear to you at midnight.
- Behind the shower curtain a murderer was waiting to kill you
- When you sleep, spiders get into your mouth if you don’t close it.
- If a man who was too handsome appeared to you, you should always look carefully if he had a crow’s foot and a cow’s foot, because he was the devil.
- If you lift weights when you are very young you don’t grow and stay short.
- If you go into the ocean with a cut, sharks attack you.
- If someone swept your feet, you didn’t get married.
- If you stared at your shadow, it would come to life.
- Toy Story was real to us.
- The Smurfs (stuffed toys) murdered children in their sleep.
- If we swallowed the seeds of any fruit, a plant would grow in our bellies.
- Under the bed there were monsters that would grab your ankles
- The old man who collected used stuff in a sack took the children that misbehaved.
- Etc.
We are the last generation who had the best of the BOOMERS era and the best of the new generations. We are an important link.
We are the children raised by Boomers, we almost grew up alone because there were no GPS, no cell phones, much less Uber and apps. Our parents were never around.
We achieved everything as a team and that is why we are the most united generation there is.
We had to team up so that the UFOs would not come and take us or so that they would know where to look for us if the TV swallowed us, or if the bed moved us possessed by an exorcism, our friends knew what to do.
Maybe that’s why we are so proud to be GEN X. We are survivors of everything. It was a whole generation team effort. United we survived.
What did you fear when growing up?
