Coronavirus quarantine? Gen X was made for this. Boomers and Gen Z, not so much.
We Gen Xers will take our time in the spotlight however we can get it — and hope that means more people listen to our advice on venturing out: Just Say No.
By Megan Gerhardt
In every crisis, there is an opportunity. Amid a global pandemic, it looks like my own Gen X has finally found ours. As the generation raised in the age of stranger danger and Just Say No, our inherent risk aversion is finally being recognized as a great strength and asset to the survival of the species.
Our independent streak was fostered by our need to fend for ourselves while our boomer parents toiled for long hours at work, making us more than comfortable with self-reliance and an afternoon spent on the couch playing video games. Now, for the first time in our lives, the question “Why can’t everyone be more like Generation X?” is being uttered.
And we Gen Xers have been quick to pounce on the moment. “Shout out to Gen X, the only generation who can keep our asses at home without being told, the motherf***ing latchkey kids, the generation used to being neglected by f***ing everyone,” writer Lauren Hough declared in a self-congratulatory tweet last week. “We’ll be the only ones left.”
The best minds of my generation quickly responded to Hough with more backpatting. “As an X’er, I feel like my whole life has led up to this important moment when my nation will call upon me to do nothing,” replied one tweeter. Another added: “We survived Reagan, the crack epidemic, the AIDS epidemic, the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, the S&L collapse all the while living on nothing but PB&J and ennui. The other generations should follow our lead on this one.”