There are hundreds of articles that use names for generations of Americans. Words like Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, Gen Y, and Zoomers are used daily in everyday language. The terms have been fodder for meme fire after meme fire on social media. But the defining characteristics that make up the fabric of Baby Boomers, for example, unfairly defines a group of people without putting into perspective the entire changing landscape of America. It doesn’t take into consideration the cross generational education, social standards, and technology that have impacted each generation especially the last 15 years.
The black and white cages that have been forced around generation after generation make claim that there’s something unique about each group that specifically defines them, a few general things personality trait that separate the “good” generations from the “bad” ones. It’s a relatively new phenomenon to see it used openly in culture so often and undoubtedly spread by social media, but the gaps in generation have always been there. Every generation has always thought the newest crop didn’t know the value of a dollar, don’t work half as hard, or needed too much self-care. But we went from no generation having a computer in their pocket that gives access to hundreds of thousands of opinions across the world in seconds, to almost everyone having one.
America has changed as a whole over the past 15 years and no generation has been immune to these changes. The social landscape changed incredibly fast with the emergence of social media and having access to it almost anytime we want. It hasn’t melted our brains, or made us any dumber than they thought the radio would in the 20’s or TV in the 50’s and 60’s. So not much is different there.
But what is different is that what is “culturally in” isn’t inaccessible anymore. We can get incredibly specific and algorithms help. A few clicks of a button will get you more than you need to know. There are no more secrets that the “in crowd” can hide. Everything is on display. And that’s been equally good and bad.
We have been able to bring to light injustices that we’re previously hidden by wealth and power. People who were able to use the system to their advantage can no longer hide behind the camera, in their mansion or private island, or behind a badge. Truth has been on display and their lies aren’t enough anymore. This has been very good.
But at the same time, it’s been difficult for people to separate fact from fiction leading to a general mistrusting of the media, the government, and our own families. This is not good. And while we stare like a deer in headlights at the atrocities that show up on our daily feeds, the real ones and the fake ones, the world keeps turning. We comment, like, dislike, and fire up the meme machine to distract ourselves from the truth.
The truth is America isn’t doing all that great.
We’re not the leaders of much anymore. We’re completely in debt as a country. The separation of the rich from the poor is widening at an alarming rate. Inflation is on the rise. Housing is out of all of our control. Violent crime rates have risen. Our political system is a terrifying joke. Homelessness is an issue in almost every city. Infrastructure is crumbling. The health care system is a disaster. People, in general, are surly, unhappy, complaining, fighting, and torn apart.
There are no more heroes. None of the fake named generations have someone they can point to anymore that is going to “fix” anything. Everyone’s vices are on display. Everyone’s lies are exposed. No one feels like they belong to America anymore so they desperately cling to the little bits of whatever “values” they think they have left and lash out at those who think differently. Both sides of the aisle have had a terrible approach that have only caused more disjoint, more separation.
Welcome to the hopeless generation. No age limits, it doesn’t matter when you were born. You can be poor or rich, or from another country or whatever you want to be. There just isn’t much hope left and there may not be a path to get it back. It’s a money driven society where community matters less. Make money so you can barely survive. If you were born into a lower economic bracket than it’s even harder. If you were born rich, you believe you have to stay there, no matter the cost to community, family, yourself.
Everyone has the answer to why the country is falling apart but the net result so far has been zero. There may be moments of justice, but it has had little impact on the greater issues of society; complete inequality of gender, race, and money. Each side may win a battle, but now the two sides are fighting a war that can’t be won. It’s a vicious circle and outside of the small glimmers of justice both sides occasionally feel, America is still in decline with no end in sight. Neither politics nor religion can put out the fire and no one seems to know where else to look.
It feels hopeless to everyone. And when people feel hopeless, they become scared and when that happens, they become irrational. Sound familiar?
Everyone wants to feel like there’s hope, but we’re all not sure where to put it, so it becomes a heavy burden, one that can’t be carried forever and then the problem exacerbates, and the heaviness of the displacement of hope becomes more hopelessness piling on top until the load becomes too much to bear.
Well, I’m putting mine down. I realized, personally, that I’ve been carrying this around for the last 15 years and I’m done. I’ll just remain hopeless until I die. I was born to waste time until I get some sort of strange cancer and lay in an overcrowded hospital bed until my lungs rattle and the curtain crackles and drags. I’m strangely ok with it. And in fact, have felt lighter recently, less depressed, less concerned of fixing problems that can’t be fixed and more concerned about enjoying the life I have left, which is arguably not much.
I’m hopeless and I like it and you’re welcome to join me.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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