I like being an X. I think it's kind of like the "X-Men" who I always loved back in the Good Ol' Days. It's got a mysteriousness to it. And a sense of versatility -- an X can be anything it wishes; just swap in the new identity.
But yeah, being a "Y"? Why? Not nearly as exciting.
Anyway, more seriously....
The world is a very different place now. Globalization, developed industrial automation, the goddamn internet which changed everything etc. Not to mention culture and gender roles and so on.
That's true. The world in some ways is very different, and there's been a lot of changes in how things are done. This is course also means the "old rules/formula" might or might not be operational for a given situation.
I do also think "having a purpose" matters. My parents never really got that; they just looked at my job as my way of making money. I wanted more than that. I didn't really get it. In the end, I kind of floated and I *do* make an awful lot of money, but I'm indifferent to my job and feel like my life has been unproductive. I just did not believe in the vision of success I was handed by boomers to the degree I could do REMARKABLY well -- I'm pretty much as far as I'll go and don't really feel fulfilled by it.
Anyway, my own kids are not really Y, they'd be Z or whatever came after (born in the mid/late 1990'). The eldest seems to be completely floundering. No idea what he wants to do, no real skills he's using and leveraging. (With me, I loved computers and was always screwing around with them, picking up skills and odd jobs... and it fueled by eventual career. But... he does nothing that can be leveraged. I was also writing and composing music, but he just... hangs out and reads and watches movies.) SO he spent three semesters at college with marginal grades, didn't work part-time to help us pay, and is now taking at least a semester off to live on his own and work full-time enough to pay for his living expenses doing low-end jobs.
I feel bad, like I should have given him some kind of vision or helped him find motivation to apply himself. At the same time, if he's happy doing that... who cares? The only issue in that case is, will he want stuff later in life he won't be positioned to get because he isn't prepping for it now. But really, he had a decent experience bumming around in Mexico last summer for example. he just seems unsure what he needs to be happy, and I'm not sure either. There's a real confusion there. The Boomers seemed to have their game all figured out and the way to get there solidified; it's too bad much of that game was bullshit IMO. But they did have a plan.
Yes, because of over stimulation.
