Twixters Part Two: Personal Thoughts

You might laugh at my portrayal of Twixters just blogged, but you ought not to do so, fair friend of the internet. You see, I went to school with the Twixter generation. Kids whose lives had been programmed from day one pressed through college until, like so many released doves, they flew from performance, blissful in the chaos of it all, without a clue or thought as to where they might land. I know classmates right now who are doing any number of odd things: touring France, living in their parent’s basement, working construction. Keep in mind, these are the ones who were supposed to be halfway to partner at the law firm by now. That’s not to say that I don’t know a bunch who have continued on in the ways of high-achieverdom; there are plenty. But there is a whole group of acquaintances I know who are simply burnt out from their upbringings. You don’t think so? At my school, you had to go on a waiting list for a counseling session with the school’s hired hands, so in demand were these practitioners. It was sort of the silent byproduct of perfomance-ism, cause though many went for counseling, no one talked about it. One could not self-puncture the bubble of achievement so long and devoutly crafted.

Again, this is not an excuse for these people. Far from it. It is merely an attempt to inform the conversation on Gen X. The driving pace of the boomers has helped create the listless neutrality of the Twixters. The generation obsessed with success has given way to a generation determined, in many cases, to ignore it. Such is the legacy of the boomers. Moral of the story: parents ought to involve their kids in good stuff, to push them academically, to develop their children in all the ways this should happen. But they should not commandeer their kid’s lives, live out their dreams through them, or rob them of the simple joys of growing up. SAT scores are forgotten eventually; cello arrangements fade from the mind; but character and a simple happiness with one’s strengths and weaknesses abides. Now, we’ll have to wait and see how the Twixters apply their experiences to their parenting. Should be interesting.