The Whole Hog
Where do you sit on "the animal of a life"? More specifically, what "generation" are you—and do you fit in with your demographic compatriots? An open thread...
Readers,
Last weekend I learned a term I’d never heard of: The Lucky Few, referring to a group otherwise known as The Silent Generation, born 1925-1945.
According to the Population Reference Bureau,
“This generation has been lucky for various reasons. They were born during the upheaval of the Great Depression and World War II but enjoyed a smooth and easy transition to adulthood in the relatively prosperous 1950s and early 1960s. Men served in the military as much as those in the Greatest Generation but their time in uniform was not marked by war and high casualties to the extent of the previous generation. The Lucky Few enjoyed higher employment rates than preceding and following generations.”
This new nomenclature came my way just as I was thinking about the demographic markers of different generations, and all the media attention to clashes between them. (We especially hear about conflicts between Baby Boomers and Millennials.) I mean for Oldster to serve as something of an inter-generational conversation, in which we all get to understand and learn from one another’s experience of getting older, throughout life. And so I wanted to take a moment to ask you all a two-part question:
Which generation are you associated with, in terms of the year you were born?
Do you feel like you belong in that demographic, or a different one?
The second part of that question comes from what I’ve been learning about another demographic cohort many have never heard of, “Generation Jones,” basically the youngest Baby Boomers—born either between 1955 and 1965, or 1960 and 1965, depending on who you ask—who are said to feel and act more like free-wheeling, slightly discombobulated Generation X (my generation), born 1965-1980.
I’ve had “Generation Jones” on my mind for some time, since a reader took me to task last year for describing a particular contributor as a Gen X icon even though she was born in 1964, one year before Gen X is said to have begun. I argued that these markers are made-up social constructs, the boundaries of which should be considered fluid. (Also, my 61-year-old husband Brian reads as such a Gen X-er—surely the most boyish glaucoma patient you ever met—despite having been born in 1962, designating him a Boomer.)
According to the Wikipedia entry for Generation Jones, the name “has several connotations, including a large anonymous generation, a "keeping up with the Joneses" competitiveness and the slang word "jones" or "jonesing", meaning a yearning or craving.”
Here’s a useful chart, covering most common generation distinctions:
And this Wikipedia entry has great descriptions of each generation.
So, where do you fit in—and do you fit in, with you compatriots?
Here’s a third related question, hinted at in the headline:
Where are you, as Oldster columnist
puts it, “on the animal of a life.” In her most recent installment of Notes on Another New Life, she writes:
At every age, you think about the age you are on the animal of a life. We’ve arrived at the position of the tail, and you may wonder what I think of this.
(As you should know by now, snout to tail, Oldster covers the whole hog.)
At 57 I think of myself as being somewhere between the ribs and the tail, although my grandmothers both died in their 50s, so who knows? How do we know where we are along the timelines of our lives without any foreknowledge about when they’ll end?
Born in 1965, I’m definitely Gen X (and I have an aptly named book to show for it. 😉), even though I often feel out of step with my peers, meeting milestones at all the wrong times. Or never meeting them. All of which is kind of a loosey-goosey Gen X way of going about life, so maybe I’m right on target?
How about you? In the comments, tell me which demographic your birthdate locates you in, whether you feel like that’s a generational fit, and where you see yourself situated “on the animal of a life”…
-Sari
I am one of the “Lucky Few” albeit the tail’s end. Am I lucky? I guess so. Yes, I entered the military as an officer and served in foreign war. Lucky that war I participated in was in the Dominican Republic, not Vietnam - lucky!. I wad shot at but not wounded and I received my honorable discharge in 2 years - lucky!
I had my own consulting firm for over 15 years and enjoyed attempting to protect the environment. Probably was at least 20 years too early since the world is just beginning to wake up to the reality of Climate Change - unlucky for me and everyone else living on Mother Earth.
I am 81, healthy, and financially comfortable - at least somewhat lucky. I am still married to my 1st wife for 47 years - very lucky!
Ok, count me in as one of the lucky few.
1969, and I fit - I'm a total Gen X. Independent, suspicious, and rolling their eyes at the Boomer/Millennial drama. Latch key 1970s kid reading "Flowers in the Attic" in 3rd grade and watching "Apocalypse Now" when I was like 8. Parents who paid zero attention to what I was doing/reading/watching/even where I was. I can make my own entertainment w/o media distractions and I don't mind just sitting in a chair and chilling out. That may be that I'm just old now! But I'm glad my brain formed before social media, phones, and even home computers, really.