As a fellow Gen-X, I totally get where you're coming from. When I was growing up, I saw generations more like family rather than just these big societal labels. It's pretty interesting (and sometimes annoying) how these labels have changed to create division instead of helping us understand each other better.
I totally get what you mean about Boomers sharing their advice from their own experiences. It really hit home for me. I think a lot of the issues between generations come from misunderstandings and different perspectives, not from any bad intentions. Boomers had their chances thanks to post-war growth, while Gen-X dealt with a changing economy, and younger generations are figuring out a whole new world.
Working together and getting where each other is coming from is super important, and I particularly like your idea about soaking up wisdom from the older generation while we have the chance. Every generation has something to offer, and connecting these dots could really help tackle the challenges we all deal with. Thanks for writing this. It really makes you think about how important it is to connect rather than divide.
Over the last few years during conversations with my daughter I've realised that there were still a lot of things I didn't know about my grandparents' lives and experiences and I wish I'd asked them more about it when I still had them. Hindsight is always 20/20, though and it was never that important to me when younger, so I guess it's hard to encourage the younger generations to take up this opportunity.
Same here. I just wrote some poems about my grandparents and it hit me how much I don’t really know about their lives. It’s a bit of mixed emotions since most of what I know came out after they were gone, and now I’m left with a ton of questions I never got to ask.
Looking back, everything makes so much sense. Like you, I never thought to ask them either when I had the chance. Now I realize how important those stories are, not just for me, but for getting some perspective on our family’s journey. It’s a bit tricky to get young people interested in the same way, but maybe if we share what we know, it’ll inspire them to dig into their roots later on.
It's the same for me. I've learnt more from my aunties and mum, but even they don't have all the answers.