The Gens: A to Z

There is much word about Gens. Gen X is the current one apparently. In conversation the other day with one of the latter, I was spoken to in this way repeatedly and with a rather patronizing smile: "In your day...". I hear this often being on the plus side of the eighth decade of life which designates me evidently as someone to be cooed upon.  My "day" as it is described by those of this very same "day" is about those days and not the ones. you and  I live in now. "Those days" are no more for me or you or them or us or anyone. Those days are over and done with and we have all moved on to this day. Today. The only people who refer to days as belonging to the people who had them, are the people who didn't. Hey guys, I am here. I am in this day. When I was in my forties and worked in the career I had been doing for a long time, my age group was spoken about often as "tapped out", "jaded" or "dated" if not plain "old fashioned". Nope, folks. We were not any of those. I learned that what worked for me, worked and what worked for the newcomers worked for them, and that we should both have spent more time lauding our successes and working together to achieve the main goals of our profession. There is no "in your day". Today is today. Every living individual is in this day, not days long ago. We eat the same foods, sleep the same nights, shop the same things, deal with the same daily issues and ply the same streets and neighbourhoods. We vote, we participate and we pay our taxes.  Being born in a different year or decade or series of them, doesn't have you in the past somewhere. Whether you can touch your toes, drink a dozen beer or build a rocket, you are here and now and should be addressed as equals in society and by it, not as some broken down hasbeen. Well, maybe a bit broken, but most of us have something a bit broken to work at.  Of course, there are some aging people who do get stuck in their pasts and can't seem to move out of it. That is too bad because they happen to be living now and times have changed and it takes all of us to improve society. Sure, it's more comfortable for anyone, including the young, the middle aged and the ancient, to live amongst their kind and exchange tales of the challenges they meet with their peers. Nevertheless, they live now and life is what we have and what we all share. We all work toward making life better for ourselves and others. We all try to be responsible citizens and help our fellows who and whatever they are. We are people of the planet earth and we are all important and have a purpose however seemingly small and insignificant. Whether we are small babies or teens or youth or Gen x, whatever that really is, or very old, we are here and now and what we do and think matters. We are not a Gen, we are a human race.