There's something called the Middle Place. According to Kelly Corrigan it’s where you find yourself when you’re both a parent and a child; what others have called the “sandwich generation”. I like Corrigan’s description better. But what if you're like me and there are 4 generations. I have grandchildren, 3 wonderful kids, children, 2 beautiful and talented daughters (no, they really are), if that's all there was; I would be in the Middle Place. But I also have a Mother, and Step Mother who are still alive and well.
A government study labels these 4 generations this way:
The Traditionalists, the oldest generation
Baby Boomers, born between 1943 and 1960.
Generation Xers, born between 1960 and 1980.
Millenials or Generation Y, born after 1980.
These labels work, for now, but what happens when the Millenials have children and the Traditionalist leave us? I think there has to be better, general labels.
Perhaps the layers of the Earth would work:
Inner Core
Outer Core
Mantle
Crust
Oh, I don't know, does any one want to be called "Crust" generation. I can just hear it, "You're a Crusty".
Then there is the Four Layer Dessert:
Cool Whip
Pudding
Cream Cheese
Crust
So, we're back to the Crust, maybe it's not so bad.
There are also four layers of the digestive tract:
Mucosa
Submucosa
Muscular layer
Serous layer or serosa.
No, I don't think so.
How about the four layers of the Rain Forest:
The Emergent
Upper Canopy
Understory
Forest Floor
I'm liking this a lot better, no crust, no mucus. What do you think?
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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3 comments:
I like the way you think. :)
I think researchers will continue to give specific names to specific generations, rather than choose general names that represent the cycle of life. I believe part of their thinking is that we are affected by the era in which we were born. Not sure if it's true, but I think that's their assumption.
The trouble with labels are that they are labels - kids in WWII got labeled - labels are for beaurocrats who file instead of interacting.
Yeah, not a fan of mucus....not really a fan of Gen X being my label either.
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