Generations

All generations
just like all nations
religions, professions
and ethnic groups
all have their fair share
of both good and bad people
different ingredients
in the same soup

That’s sort of a silly poem I wrote in response to a meme this morning, which had the Big Lebowski smoking a blunt as a representation of Millenials, and other frames depicting Gen X, Gen Z, and Millenials. So many false divisions, so many generalizations.
There are honest people and there are liars in every generation, there are people of principle and opportunistic social climbers, there are brilliant people and dumbasses, saints and sinners, rule following middle of the roaders and flat out deviants.
Sure, younger generations spend a lot more time on their phones, and older people are confused a lot and like restaurants with affordable, fixed menus. These are not fundamental differences. And the lines are not as fixed as most people seem to think.
When I was a child, I didn’t really think of myself as a boomer. I was the tail end of the boomers, in fact sort of the tail end of the hippie generation. Now, I’m viewed as smack dab in the middle of the boomer generation and the Hippies, unfortunately, have mostly been erased from the conversation. Maybe that’s why I enjoy smoking pot with younger people. Restores my faith in the future of humanity. Or maybe it’s just because I like smoking pot, and they are the people I’m most likely to do it with.
At any rate, point of the blog is that these are arbitrary dividing lines, the way that people think you’ll have a different personality if you’re birthday is May 18th, or one week later on the 25th. Or, if you use the Chinese Zodiac, according to what year you were born.
So, I don’t really object to these memes any more than I object to memes about the zodiac, or even any of Facebook’s lame personality tests.
As long as nobody takes them too seriously.