Every generation is faced with something new but when you really think about it, in the past it was the same issues just in a different timeframe. Except for this decade. And just as in the world of fashion, the old circles back around to bring its lessons to the table.
There comes a time when the baton is passed and what comes with it is a whole different language and set of experiences that haven’t yet been had. Gen X is stepping into the limelight just like every generation has before us. Meaning, parents are passing, new phases of family planning come into the fold, understanding the substantial cost of taking care of our elders and the cost of taking care of ourselves as we age. We’ve started to understand the patterns of aging and what it truly means from a political standpoint. This isn’t exciting, amazing, or fun. It’s the cycle we were born into and unfortunately, it’s the painful side of life for anyone around the world.
While America’s Gen X is in the process of receiving this baton, the younger generation is experiencing politics in their faces 24/7 without a break. Every day, all day our young people are swayed every which way from all kinds of angles leaving them vulnerable to fall victim of the lies, embellishments, incompetency, fear and intimidation of the Trump Administration.
Patriotic chaos
I’ve observed many years of slow change and change that happened in a blink of an eye. This decade’s type of change in America needs to be taken very seriously. I fear for the younger folks trying to make sense of the patriotic chaos that has become a reality not just a theory. They have no idea what real democracy feels like. Nothing was perfect but at least we could understand what was being communicated to us.
Democracy – a part of American life
Back in the 1990s when I became of age, being a part of democracy was something I didn’t think twice about. I was an American whether I disagreed or agreed with whatever subject we were talking about. So were they. We were all working together committed to figuring it out. We talked face to face, listened to the best of our ability and learned something every time. We taught each other what American life meant, and we lived it. We lived by those values as best as we could with what we had, and we wanted to be better than our parents. We needed to be a part of our society that was full of vitality, safety, tolerance and was ultimately filled with freedom.
Democracy cut off and unity crushed
It was about all of us at that time. We celebrated together when good things happened for the collective. For example, when the manhunt ended for Bin Ladan we celebrated like we did when WW1 and WW2 ended. But now the type of celebrations we are watching come together is a massive public birthday party for Trump? So very many people in our country are deeply suffering and he wants nothing to do with solving our crises. He’s creating even more. In my opinion democracy was fully cut off from “We the People” on14 June 2025. Trump intentionally crushes unity, speaks in an ignorant manner, wrote insane social media posts for Easter, Mother’s Day, and Memorial Day, ignores his expenditures putting more financial pressure on us and looks for more ways to become a stronger authoritarian. He proved himself as such by sending troops to LA.
Hopefully the No King protests were heard and in time we will be able to bring back our democracy. We have the power and the ability to overcome these dark times.
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