Thankful for being GenX

Posted by Jew-zilla@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 72 comments

At 1977, I slip in under the wire. I won’t repeat all the stereotypes, we all know what they are. Most of us lived those stereotypes. I know I damn sure did. But I’m thankful I did live those stereotypes. It made me resilient. It taught me problem solving skills. I learned how to drive on a 1979 Cadillac. Damn thing was so long, you pulled into a spot and the back end got there 5 minutes later. I can drive almost anything because of that. Took a couple of road trips with my mom and stepdad, so I got to see a good chunk of the country at a young age. Gas prices were cheap so it was affordable. Same thing with air travel. I spent more hours in the air by the time I graduated high school than I have in the past 30 years. And let’s be honest, we had the best pop music. So, yeah, I’m thankful to be GenX. I would not want to grow up in any other era. And we’re still badass in our late 40s and 50s. Still not as badass as my grandfather, though. WW2 vet. Doesn’t get more badass than that. We knew WW2 vets. I knew a few dozen Holocaust survivors. We have a connection to history.

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72 Comments

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WilfordsTrain@reddit

Well said!

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Thank you

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Minimum_Republic_600@reddit

We are the last useful generation.

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TassieLucifer666@reddit

We're the cockroach generation - no matter what happens, we'll survive. In a societal collapse when the drug companies shut down, that's the end of most generations before us. And when the internet and food shops disappear, that's the end of generations after us due to starvation, social media withdrawal symptoms, and crippling anxiety from survival reality. Gen X will be the center of the bell curve of survival probability.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

When shit goes down, watch what a GenXer does and follow their lead. Don’t ask questions. And do not open your mouth unless someone is about to die.

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ContributionHour3264@reddit

Holy sh*t! You are right!!

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

I can see the future. But nobody will listen. Reading that back, that sums us up in two sentences.

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ContributionHour3264@reddit

Love the user name, by the way🤗

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Thank you. I wasn’t as creative back in the AOL days to come up with Jewzilla. Nor was I brave enough. Now I don’t give a fuck.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

And we’ll be standing over the smoldering remains. As usual, it will be up to us to clean up everyone else’s mess. Millennials will be crying about their Starbucks lattes. GenZ will give us the blank GZ Stare because they have no critical thinking or problem solving skills. We’ll just sigh, shrug or shoulders, and get to work.

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Relevant_Fuel_9905@reddit

I’m a little biased, but I genuinely think we’re the best generation so far.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

I don’t know about the best. My Zadie did serve in WW2. I knew a few dozen Holocaust survivors.(That’s just a feature/bonus of being a GenX Jew.)There’s a reason it’s called The Greatest Generation. I’d call that more badassery than anything I could come up with. Respect where respect is due. For as much as we’ve been through/done to ourselves, WW2 vets are a whole different breed. I’d call us 2nd behind The Greatest Generation. There’s no way in fuck I could do what Greatest Gen did in terms of the Great Depression followed by WW2. Nope, they were more hardcore than most of us ever will be.

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AlarmingSlothHerder@reddit

And they were great people too. When I was a kid I thought I honestly liked old people. Turns out I liked that specific generation. Don't care for most of the old people around now.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Greatest Gen were awesome AF. They saw some things and really wanted to make things better.

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crinklyplant@reddit

Being Gen X served me well in terms of survival skills. But our generation wasn't very kind on the whole. We probably couldn't afford to be. It sucked to be a latchkey kid, grow up with the terror of AIDS and nuclear war and just tough it out alone.

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brunoponcejones03017@reddit

So glad to be Gen X, the Millennial generation is filled with fear and softness we didn't have. We knew how to get it done on our own. When we were feeling down we didn't search out the worst possible diagnosis. As teenagers We knew how to work and hustle and we knew it was our ticket to our own lives. We didn't have organized playdates or sporting events. We had to go find friends and then find enough others to have a game happen. We had a connection to things that mattered (history and experiences live aid) not the revisionist BS about those events we get today. We had comedians that ripped others and we weren't offended. We understood socialism fucking blows because we saw how many people wanted to escape it. While.it want all great times . We had the best of the old and the fun part of the new.

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Sumeriandawn@reddit

This is a great copypasta. Where is it originally from?

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brunoponcejones03017@reddit

No copy and paste. Just my beliefs.

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Sumeriandawn@reddit

“Softness” Most GenX are in their 50 now. I don’t see that as a tough crowd. If you were a military member or grew up in a rough neighborhood, that I would considered tough.

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brunoponcejones03017@reddit

You can see the crowd any way you like. For me I stand by what I said and believe about the majority of the generations X and Millenials. It is my experience. I am a 1966 birth, grew up in the projects in NYC, single mom until.i was in my teens. Started working at 13, put myself through life. Not crying not bitching , just is what it is.

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Weathergod-4Life@reddit

I am so thankful I had a childhood without the internet and would leave the house all day to play outside until sunset without my parents calling the cops because I was missing. You can't put a price on a childhood like that.

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crs1904@reddit

One foot in, and one foot out of cell phones, the internet, and the next: AI.

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Actual_Appearance246@reddit

I feel like our generation would do well in an apocalypse. We can critically think, plan and communicate. We’ve survived without internet and the amenities of today’s world.

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Sumeriandawn@reddit

How can you realistically stop gangs of automatic weapon- weilding thugs?😀 https://preview.redd.it/06bvow95ma7g1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=380e072ce1fd62b72cb542fdc7679b3eb05c7e37

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Subject-Ad-8055@reddit

The real question is did you wear an 80s rock band t-shirt School? Did you try to moonwalk down the hallway at any point? Did you own a bicycle that had the words GT Hutch or Red Line stamped on it? If you answered two or more of these questions welcome to the club my dude

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Yes, yes, and I don’t remember.

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Subject-Ad-8055@reddit

What everssss

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

You had a beeper? I couldn’t afford one.

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Subject-Ad-8055@reddit

Duude u cant sit at our lunch table go over there with the jocks straps....

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LizzieKay289@reddit

We were sandwiched in there before the internet so we have a good perspective on both sides of that history. We remember rotary phones and can use iphones-just enough to harrass our kids with. Nothing like having a LOT of material to annoy them with the “when I was a kid” stories.Frankly my girls (26,29) still think 80s music and movies are the best.

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reachers_toothbrush@reddit

I know younger generations are afraid of phonecalls so I deliberately call them if they don't respond to messages/emails instantly. (I know I'm a monster)

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LomentMomentum@reddit

There was a time I hated being ignored by the generations before us and mocked by the ones after us (or was it the other way around). Looking back though, I actually feel lucky to have grown up when I did.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Not just when, but how we grew up.

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Relative-Accountant2@reddit

The Pontiac Catalina. A battleship it was. Good times!

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awfl@reddit

1970 here, 4dr powder blue, 400 engine, wound out to at least 120? Btw, could walk on the hood, as I recall .. but at the least got a few friends in the drive in in the trunk......

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respectandmanners@reddit

'77 Olds Cutlass Supreme. Those land yachts did teach some skills

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The_Burghanite@reddit

‘76 Monte Carlo. All hood. I generally managed to get around in the snow. But I did wipe out once and slammed front first into a telephone pole. I jumped out to look at the grille expecting the worst, but there was absolutely no damage.

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awfl@reddit

Haha so much fun in these in high school with buddies!

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TheProtoChris@reddit

I learned to drive in this. Miss it still.

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awfl@reddit

head on collision on highway in mine, was pristine. Into old Buick. Glad I was as it took the entire impact, not making us unalive. Rocket 350 sucked sooo much gas I'd have to kill it myself seemingly soon after anyways. Fam had two used.deuce and a quarter Buick 225s, replaced with 2 Cadillac devilles. Yeah, sure did love em...

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Sockalexis@reddit

‘78 Cougar. The hood was longer than some modern cars!!! Well at least it felt like it.

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respectandmanners@reddit

I remember when Pops got his father's '78 Cougar Bill Blass edition. That was living the high life.

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TheBigNoiseFromXenia@reddit

‘76 LaSaber. Had a second set (4) wheels in the trunk, and room for luggage.

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Johnstrummer1979@reddit

77 Chrysler New Yorker

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seyates@reddit

Lol a dusty creamy yellow $600 Cutlass Supreme was my first car.

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vbstrong@reddit

'76 Olds Cutless Supreme here - white & maroon!

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DelphinusC@reddit

Olds 98. And my second car was a stick shift. Yep, I can drive (and park) anything

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AdhesivenessEqual166@reddit

I took my driving test in a '77 Olds station wagon and parallel parked that whale like a pro! Of course, I wasn't allowed to touch the automatic until I could drive the manual. I still chose the station wagon for the test to eliminate the possibility of stalling.

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san_miguel15@reddit

those big ass cars with long hoods, giant trunks, and rooftops were fun to ride our skateboards off of.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

![gif](giphy|NISDky7DiUqAs9crvf|downsized)

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Minute-Yogurt-2021@reddit

79er, born behind the iron curtain, country reset at ten. We also traveled around the country when we could - when the old Lada decided to drive. Damn, we are resilient.

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

Born behind the Iron Curtain. I bet you’ve seen a thing or two.

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Minute-Yogurt-2021@reddit

A lot of things, what do you want to know?

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

I’m a history and culture guy. I would sit with you and listen to your stories for hours. Not just as a “this happened” thing, but how we grew up around the world. What did we have in common? What was different? Were there things in the USA that you heard about but never saw? Just to chronicle what some of us went through would be amazing.

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dolomick@reddit

Love that we rode in the back of station wagons with no seat belts and rode miles around our large city without cell phones - just “be home before dark”

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

And pickup trucks. Don’t forget the riding I. The beds of pickups.

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dolomick@reddit

Yes. And smoking sections of international flights

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Jew-zilla@reddit (OP)

I smoked on a plane to Poland in 1994

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martel47@reddit

'77 turd brown Chevy Impala. Mom and Dad were on the way to pick it up from the dealership when she went into premature labor with me. When I started to learn to drive, Dad decided it was a death trap and sold it right before I got my permit. I did get behind the wheel a few times at least. It was a beast.

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ElCaminoLady@reddit

Had a ‘72 Duster. Not a land yacht per se.. Ironically was considered a “compact” when it came out but was bigger than most modern cars at the time (90’s). It had drum brakes all around and had to give myself plenty of space to stop. Never wrecked in the 7yrs I owned it though! My dad taught me how to change a tire, the oil, and several other maintenance tasks. Was reading a sub the other day about some teenager begging his dad for a new fast car (dad was on there asking if he should give in) Per the posts in this thread none of us had that privilege and remember our low and slow barges fondly! Yes indeed our generation is bad ass, don’t have to beg anyone for anything and do the best with what we got..

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F0urElem3ntZ@reddit

From an Analog Kid to a Digital Man. Glad to have been a part of both worlds. 🤘🤘🙌

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travlplayr@reddit

Learnt to drive in a '72 Beetle That was pretty easy to park My family of four used to go camping in that car with our tents, food, etc in the (front) boot, the space behind the back seat, and in an aerodynamic storage thing attached to the roof-racks. Camping in some rugged areas that involved rough dirt roads. VW Beetles were actually pretty good on dirt roads and had decent clearance.

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IndependentlyGreen@reddit

I remember driving my dad's AMC Matador 4-door sedan. It had so much play in the steering wheel before the car would make a full turn. It glided over the bumps in the road. My dad died when I was 17, so I was pretty much on my own after that.

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Hilsam_Adent@reddit

I was just talking with my good friend (he's in his early thirties) and suddenly came to a realization during that conversation. We are the last generation to remember a time where chicken nuggets didn't exist.

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Minimum_Current7108@reddit

I learned how to parallel park in Brooklyn with no power steering 🫤🤣

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UnicornFarts1111@reddit

I drove a Ford Grenada for a couple of years as a teenager. That thing was a boat!

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AlmiranteCrujido@reddit

I'm older than you (born '75), and am very glad I grew up in this generation because it was *hugely* easier to break into my industry (tech) than it would be for any later generation except a few of the very oldest Millenials. I'm also glad I wasn't an older GenX, because depending on how far back either that profession basically didn't exist or would have too small to be as easy to break into. Other than that, it's all kind of "whatever." There are things better then, things better now. My kids will never have to deal with leaded gas in the environment, people smoking everywhere, ubiquitous sexism and racism, or date rape being acceptable. They won't have to deal with fallout drills, or the credible threat of nuclear war. All of these were at least starting to get better for our end of generation, but we still dealt with it a lot more than the oldest Millennials did, and anyone younger didn't have to deal with any of those at all. > Gas prices were cheap so it was affordable. And you see where that got us with the environment, gas is still too cheap NOW. Also, after inflation, maybe not so much so. > Same thing with air travel. I spent more hours in the air by the time I graduated high school than I have in the past 30 years. That's weird because relative to inflation, coach seats on airplanes are one of the few things (along with electronics) that are much cheaper today. Heck, for the routes I've been watching, they're sometimes cheaper in ***total*** dollars, not just adjusted for inflation. I averged about $300 (often a little over) from Boston to San Francisco in the mid-1990s when I was in college (and dating my then-girlfriend/now-wife who was in college out here) and you can regularly get a fare for $250 now. You could beat that by the very occasional $199 "fare war" but not after inflation (around $400 after inflation), and I bet you can find occasional $199 transcon fares today.

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