Generation X: The Forgotten Voices of Hardship

Generation X catches a lot of flack on social media from the younger generations that do not understand what it was like to actually grow up back in the 1970’s and 1980’s. We were mostly latch key kids that had two parents in the home and both typically working. If we got hurt we didn’t tell our parents unless it was bleeding profusely or a broken bone. We were mangled by our older brothers, sisters and cousins and you best not tell on anyone. We played outside in the hot summer months and cold winter months. We drank water from a water hose and ate bologna sandwiches for lunch. Our parents were hard working people that did not put up with quitting sports teams, back talking or making bad grades. We rode around in trucks and cars with no seat belts and Marlboro smoke rolling out the windows. We came through one of the best times in music history and got the opportunity to see some of the best groups ever to take the stage whose music still stands to this day.

We slid down giant metal slides at the community park that were about 110 degrees and burned your skin on the way down. We rode bikes for miles and miles everyday and stayed in the woods playing in the creek and war. We shot each other with pellet and BB guns. We learned to use a pocket knife and rifle at an early age. If you were a Gen X boy, by the age of 8 you had a Red Ryder BB gun and was hunting in the woods and playing war. We worked in the garden, plowed, cleaned up, and did what we were told or we got our ass beat and did not get fed. We went to Church on Sunday, Grandma’s house after church and played outside all day. We had smoking areas in the high schools. We drove to school with rifles in our trucks and cars and not once did anyone get shot up. If you were different, then you were different and people left you alone to be you. We didn’t care if you were white, black, mixed, Asian, Mexican, etc. We were just all buddies and took care of one another.

If you had an issue with someone, you went into the woods and had a quick fist fight. Whomever won, well they won and that was the end of it. Nobody jumped in, nothing was filmed and if you lost then you just lost. Our coaches were mean by today’s standards. They grabbed us by the face mask, shook our helmets, hit us on the helmet with whistles and rarely had a kind word to say. We didn’t need a safe space, counseling, equality or all this new age mess that kids are learning. Nobody thought they were a cat or dog. You had to be tough or you would get eaten alive at school. Teachers taught the entire hour or more and you sat there and listened. If you messed up, you got paddled at school and an even worse ass whooping at home. We wore hand me down clothes from our older siblings. We got what we “needed” and not what we “wanted”. We learned the hard way by making stupid mistakes and doing stupid stuff.

We were the first to experience the rise of technologies such as the old cell phones, pagers and more. The internet was beginning and MTV was the best channel on TV. We had no cable, so you had to use an antenna to watch football, NBC, CBS and Fox. We saw the rise and replacement of many genres of music such as 1970’s mellow rock, 1980’s hair band metal, 1990’s grunge, 2000’s alternative rock and then the rise of pop music in the early 2000’s. We are now all in our 40’s and 50’s and really do not care so much for all the social change stuff. We like to work hard, save our money, travel, spend time with family and love on our grandkids. We grew up with tough parents that taught us that hard work, determination and dedication to jobs, family and community are important. We parented a generation that thinks more closely to us, but changed in other ways as the technology changed and the options for educational opportunity and social awareness came into play.

Our give a “blank” gave out long ago and we have very little patience for grown ass people wanting to be babied, complaining about having to work or raise a family. We are a loving generation that will soon be the elderly population. We are a generation that had two parent houses, we had working parents, we learned life the hard way. We also had and continue to have our own issues. Not everyone was perfect, acted right or did the right thing. But, we love America and what it offers our children and grandchildren. We pray for America and our kids to stay on a path of light and to stray away from the darkness that has engulfed it with all the unGodly ways. We miss our grandparents and parents as many have moved on to the next phase of life. We watch over our kids and grandkids daily with intent to keep them safe, while knowing they cannot be babied and have to live and learn. We are the classic American generation X. Older but still powerful and strong. Our voice is still heard and we thrive instead of surviving because we know that life can be hard and you will get out of it what you put into it.