GenX Steph Turns 40: Advice for the Aging GenX'er

First of all I never, NEVER thought I would be writing this at age 40. That I would be looking backwards and still trying to make sense of it all.

"So what?" you ask. "Why should I bother to read any of the content on this page?"

Actually, I really don't care what you do. Did I turn you off already, or are you inclined to read more?

This is where I'm coming from, I sit here straddling the beast known as 2012 with one foot anchored in an unremarkable past and the other foot dangling loosely into the future without any stirrup to be found.

Now back in the day, we would have rode that beast barebacked and at full speed. We believed that we were carving out an important niche in our sub-culture that had been dubbed "Generation X."

The LAST thing I want is to appear forlorn and whining, because that is not the goal of these articles. I realize that it is not unusual for any person in their 40s, from whatever generation they hail, to take pause and wonder.

My goal is this: Where did we go wrong and where did we go right?

I did some basic research on the internet looking for the definition of "Generation X." What information did the Google or Wikipedia monsters have to relay to us? What struck me first was the definition, "ill defined future."

It made no sense, but yet it made complete sense to me.

Why it makes sense to me now is that 22 years later the economy is worse than it has ever been. That we have been engaged in continuous and unrelenting warfare. That we have been infected with uncontrollable hyper-consumerism. That we have succumbed to every bourgeoisie evil we claimed to have denounced. Frankly we are worse off now than we were then and we have nobody to blame but ourselves for it.

Back then we could look at "The Man" and point our nicotine-stained fingers at them and blame, whine and be pissed off about the perceived lack of opportunities around us. But, what about now?

We are "them" and we have nothing to show for it. Do I dare accept the definition of "ill defined future?" That because we couldn't identify distinct goals for ourselves then, that we have to be globally accountable for the mess we're in now?

How come we didn't see it coming? How come we didn't work hard enough to really fight the inevitable?

Because we are lazy.

We embraced the term "slacker-generation," and we have worn it proud. Our public schools are a mess. Our lack of social concern and awareness put George W. Bush in office for eight-long and destructive years and only now did somebody wake up and yell, "OCCUPY!"

What "occupy" means to me is "accountability." We are finally starting to realize just what our lack of motivation and involvement has produced—that we are up to our chins in sh*t and there are still too many of us saying, "don't make waves."

So what all this is really about, is looking back at my 20-year-old finger pointing at "them" and turning it so that it is pointing back at "me."

Stephanie R. Woehrmann (GenX Steph) has been a struggling independent contractor since 2008 after being laid off from her newspaper job that she held for 15 years. GenX Steph welcomes comments and hopes to engage and motivate her readers to actively making positive changes in our global community.