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Check out this three part manifesto on a Gen-Xr turning 40.  here are some excerpts:

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Part 1

I remember the day I really started thinking about generational awareness, a topic (hell, a term) that before then mattered very little to me. I was a couple years into college and heard about a book circulating among the underground literati on the cusp of going mainstream.

The book’s author was Douglas Coupland, a first-time novelist from Vancouver who had unwittingly ordained himself the new voice of a generation. The book was called Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. I found it at a little bookstore near campus—the only copy left—and when I bought it the clerk told me they couldn’t keep the book on shelves for more than a few days before selling out.

more of part 1

Part 2

I called the editor of a national college magazine I was writing for at the time and said I wanted to interview the authors ofGenerations and 13^th Gen. It was 1994, three years after the watershed year when Coupland, Linklater and others kicked off what was fast becoming Gen X’s dubious legacy. I eventually managed to get an interview with author William Strauss, one of the few public supporters Gen X could boast.

Strauss said a couple of things to me in the interview that really resonated and helped ferret out  facts from a landfill of pop media garbage. The first was that Gen X was the most pragmatic of the generations. We gravitated toward what works. Spiritualism and the New Age were fine for mystified enthusiasts, but not for rabidly skeptical pragmatists. Theory was great, but application was vital. Don’t distract me with bunnies in the clouds when there are problems to solve. And the old time religion—we’ll test its medal with a ball-peen hammer and see if it’s still standing when we’re done.

more of part 2

Part 3

On the brink of turning 40, the  thing about generations that stands out to me most is how our differences slowly but inevitably evaporate. The stances that made me a generation warrior in my twenties really don’t matter much now.

As intense as the conflict was between Gen Xers and Boomers in the early 90s, you’d have thought we would never agree on anything, but much the opposite has happened. We agree on many things, as a recent PEW survey showed. And as it turns out, the Millennial generation isn’t too far removed.

A few examples:

Between Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials, who thinks being a good parent is one of the most important achievements in life? According to PEW Research, most of us do, to the tune of 50-52%.

What about having a successful marriage—how does that rank in importance between the three generations? According to the same survey, we rank it all about the same, and not particularly high: 32-35%.

How about living a very religious life? We’re all also in agreement on that one, with Gen Xers and Boomers being just slightly more religious (21%) than Millennials (15%).

Who works more hours, Boomers or Gen Xers? According to the Families and Work Institute, they work roughly the same number of hours every week at their main jobs (an average of 45) – which also happens to be the longest number of hours for any living generation.

Who’s more dissatisfied with the state of the nation?  According to PEW, we’re all plenty dissatisfied, with Boomers (70%) more annoyed than Millennials and Gen Xers (55 and 57%).

more of part 3

via True/Slant