Generation X came along about 1965.
HAPPY SENIOR BIRTHDAY, GEN X.
You cross the line into being a Senior this year.
You are officially OLD. You are offically past your prime even if 50 is the new 40 as Baby Boomers have been known to say.
You have a little longer to bask in the sunlight of "acceptable" ages as some famous Hollywood personalities are working hard night and day to tuck, trim and use their millions to "look" and "act" as though 60 was the new 40.
Welcome To The Ranks of Old Age and all its negativity; where time passes quicker and you move into becoming a member of the "forgotten generation" -- passed over, set aside and too many members becoming a strain on society if it notices and cares.
Old saying "Too much powder and too much paint makes a little lady what she ain't."
New aging rendition: "Without powder and without paint the marks of time regenerate."
Men can "get away" with aging physically much easier than women. Grey hair and wrinkles are distinguishing and even "sexy" -- on a man, that is.
What's interesting about the different "generational segments" is how closely their lives intercept and overlap as the years pass.
What's challenging is how they don't notice this relationship until they cross so many timelines and by that time their power and their voices become less strong, less viable.
I find the fact of the "melding generations" amusing because I have a niece who was the flower girl in my wedding and just four years old at the time is actually in the same generation, The Baby Boomers, as I am.
Of course we're at different ends of the spectrum of the group, but we're still "in it together" and affected by all the challenges it brings.
I'm almost positive she doesn't find that amusing because each generation, until the years rapidly pass by, don't give a thought to their own place in the time cycle, the generations cycle, and how it actually relates to others.
Tick Tock. She's going to be 51 this year. Wonder how becoming 50 felt to her?
Wonder how she felt when she received that greeting from AARP to join their ranks?
Imagine she felt a lot like I did.
Five decades.
Where did the time go?
Measuring by the children's ages and our marriage.
Looking back but still looking forward seeing possibilities and opportunities.
Thinking of grandchildren and other positive pleasures even for those who married late and began families later as she did.
Suddenly, another decade passes. A warning light appears.
Sixty. Retirement, if it's not happened or happening (by choice, hopefully) is looming.
Admittedly, some savor the possibilities and have active lives. Some, however, are headed for the challenges of choices they made in life or potential medical challenges they had no warning would occur and put a quick end to all their plans, hopes and dreams.
From the word "senior" comes the word "seniority". Once a valued and highly sought after position and reference.
Today, that reference often puts the worker in a position to be the first up for dismissal or "early retirement". No wonder people don't want to age, don't want to climb the ladder too high and often find ways to sidestep or avoid having "seniority".
Funny/Sad -- we all want the Google positive definition and positiveness of the word:
sen·ior·i·ty
sēnˈyôrədi/
noun
- 1.the fact or state of being older or higher in position or status than someone else."one by one, in order of seniority, employees' names were called"
synonyms: rank, superiority, standing, primacy, precedence, priority; More
- 2.a privileged position earned by reason of longer service or higher rank."pay and benefits rise with seniority"
Marking the years on a calendar from birth to whatever day it is, the reality is, we get this definition from Widkipedia of SENIOR, the base of the word "seniority"
Senior may refer to:
- Senior citizen, a common polite designation for an elderly person in both UK and US English
INTERESTING: "a common polite designation" WHOA! Guess we all know how many not polite, how many derogatory, designations are given to "seniors".
Most importantly, we all eventually gain that designation, thanks to the popular movement of the "Senior" Organizations who build their businesses on this base and so have moved the bar down to the age of 50 .... FIFTY!?!
What exactly does that do to the ages of 70, 80, 90 and beyond?
WE ALL WANT TO LIVE TO BE AT LEAST A HUNDRED, RIGHT?
That would mean we'd spend half our lives being SENIORS.
Actually, that would make fifty MIDDLE AGED if you divide the years equally.
Google provides this more common definition of senior tagging on the "title" citizen:
sen·ior cit·i·zen
noun
- an elderly person, especially one who is retired and living on a pension.
- LIVING ON A PENSION?
- Well, maybe a private pension but who can live on Social Security alone today?
- Very few can exist let alone actually live in a society that demands we pay higher and more taxes, mandate significant additional costs esp Insurance, doesn't give adequate tax breaks to Seniors living in homes they've spent years paying for and high taxes long after they had children in school or used many of the services or facilities constantly added to the "base" of the tax.
- LOOK. LISTEN. LEARN. We become what we see, what we feel, what we decide to listen to and apply:
THE POWER OF SUGGESTION RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD WHEN WORDS ARE GROUPED TOGETHER TO FORM A CONCEPT, THOUGHT OR PAINT A PICTURE AS IN THIS GOOGLE SEARCH ENTRY:
eld·er·ly
PAST ONE'S PRIME AGED OLD ADVANCED IN YEARS AGING
I love the one Google uses that says LONG IN THE TOOTH -- thought this was a time in life when many lost teeth?
PAST ONE'S PRIME.
It's like we have an expiration label.
Like a can of green beans or a frozen bag of some meat or vegetables.
WHAT PICTURE DO YOU SEE NOW?
Withered? Smelly? Nonflexible?
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF DOING WITH SOMETHING DESCRIBED LIKE THIS?
Give it away? Throw it away? Never want to look at it again?
IS IT A WONDER, DEAR BLOG READERS -- We give so little value to those who have given us to much of their lives, their blood, their sweat and their tears?
THE GREATEST GENERATION aka The Silent Generation
BABY BOOMERS
GENERATION X a title once bestowed on the young people of the 1950's but it didn't stick
MILLENNIALS
LOOK OUT, GEN X'ERS Very rough and tough times ahead.
For some reason, some "authorities" have categorized this group into a smaller span of years, 16 instead of 20.
Could it be they want to give less voice by reducing the number due to the challenges faced when they have to deal with the large population of the Baby Boomers raising their voices for change?
And, isn't this the group that "sprung from" The Baby Boomers and thus would be a "formidable force" in numbers if grouped into the usual twenty year span?
Think about it:
Gen X was the first really ENTITLED generation.
First to look at a car, their own TV and other objects as their "needing" and "must have";
beginning to be tech saavy and require the equipment;
believing life "owed them" rather than they "contributed";
that college and a job were a given right of passage;
and that alcohol and drugs were just "entertainment" used by many who were trying to escape what their parents and society saw as "their responsibilities".
Not all, of course, but a larger majority than any generation before them.
Is it really a wonder the powers that be are reducing the masses to a more manageable figure of SENIORS?
GenXers are reaching SENIORITY as some begin that jump into their fifties THIS YEAR!
WELCOME TO THE RANKS OF THE ELDERLY, GENERATION X.
You enter the ranks of the soon to be forgotten and set aside as of 2015.
UNLESS, OF COURSE, you heed the warnings and begin to take up the banner alongside The Greatest Generation and The Baby Boomers .
Raise your voices, GenXers, use your techonology saavy and parts of your current income (while it's still there coming in regularly) to advocate and be seen as making changes in how others and eventually you will live on a daily basis.
