I'd always bashed GenX ever since college, when the term was first coined. As an older "X-er" (born after JFK but before Apollo 11), I never could relate to GenX as a whole. I couldn't relate to my classmates, didn't like most of the music or movies in the '80s, didn't share most of their attitudes --- didn't have video games either, but played pinball and pool. And I hated grunge when it came out. It was always easier to relate to the guys who came of age in the 70s, and I think a lot of it had to do with my upbringing. Dad worked, Mom stayed at home. My parents were also a good bit older than those of my peers, and my grandparents were positively ancient in comparison. (My granddad was born east of the Dismal Swamp at the end of the 19th century, listening to his elders talk of two crazy guys from Ohio trying to make a flying machine.)
That said, I think GenX has some qualities that are needed this day and age. Their cynicism has morphed into cautious distrust --- a much needed quality with the likes of Fauci being given such an unlimited platform. (He should have been 'gonged' long ago. Boomers will get the reference.) While Pink Floyd was a popular band at the beginning, it was the X-ers who eventually made them huge because the lyrics resonated with them. Whereas Millennials seem to accept whatever the authorities say, whether it's the news media, or some professor on a college campus, or so-called scientists --- and whereas Boomers seem to live for today and chase the dollar whatever the consequences --- X-ers seem mostly practical, with an often clearer view of things. They're old enough to remember life before computers and remember an America that was a lot friendlier and saner than it is now. Many are able to correctly call out propaganda for what it is. And many have labored patiently and competently in the shadows, ignored at the workplace while watching a late X-er or Millennial get the job promotion. All the while, getting things done.
If things ever improve here on earth in the near-term, it will likely be because of X-er leadership and vision. When we think of the Second World War, we usually think of the 'Greatest Generation', those men who stormed the beaches and flew the B-17s. But it was the 'Lost Generation' who actually provided the leadership. A lot of comparisons have been made between the Lost Generation and GenX...
