Gen Xer Writes 'Love Letter' To Gen Z Validating How Hard Things Are For Them — 'Kids, Don't Blame Yourselves'
The thoughtful letter made it clear that not everyone in older generations blames Gen Z for their own problems.
Kinga | Shutterstock Older generations are known for being a bit hard on the younger ones. Gen Z catches a lot of flak from baby boomers, Gen Xers, and even some millennials for a variety of reasons, whether they are actually realistic or not.
One Gen Xer decided it was time for this animosity to end and for older generations to admit they did receive some advantages that Gen Z has not had. They shared a “love letter to younger folks” on Reddit and got some pretty touching responses.
A Gen Xer was disappointed that Gen Z had such a bad reputation.
The writer identified themselves in their post as being born in 1969, making them 56 years old. “[In my humble opinion], Gen X is the first lost generation,” they said of their own generation. “Our boomer parents pretty effectively left us to raise ourselves. College was cheap. A lot of us graduated in the early 90s, during the first of four major economic depressions in our lives, so far.”
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They went on to describe these three other depressions. One was the “tech crash,” and another was the economic downturn of 2008. The fourth and final economic depression, they said, is one that is still all too present in people’s minds. “2020,” they said simply. “Rearranged everything.”
Despite going through all of this, the Gen Xer readily admitted to having certain advantages that are absent for young people now. “The system held up just long enough for us Xers to catch some crumbs,” they shared. “I managed to buy a house early. But I’ve also been unemployed for three and a half of the past 10 years.”
“Those benefits of time and place are certainly gone now,” they continued. “Sub-100k salaries don’t get the job done. College is unaffordable, health care is impossible. Layoffs roll around like random corporate idiocy tornadoes. And we’re supposed to keep our chins up.”
The Gen Xer even admitted that part of Gen Z's problems come from what previous generations encouraged them to do.
Despite the stereotype that Gen Z is full of lazy people who don’t want to work hard, they said, “I have RARELY worked with someone from a later generation who didn’t impress me with their skills and knowledge.”
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“They are saddled with massive debt they accrued getting degrees we told them they needed,” they confessed. “Surviving now is much more expensive.”
It’s meaningful to see someone take such ownership and responsibility for the mistakes their own generation made when pressuring younger generations. Others from older generations agreed with their sentiments. “Can’t upvote this enough. These kids are definitely impressive,” one person said. Another added, “If only more people thought like this instead of placing the blame on the people that are going through this struggle. Might give people some much-needed hope.”
As for Gen Z, they tend to think of themselves as being pretty lazy.
While Gen Xers like this Redditor may be working to dispel what they see as myths about Gen Z, the generation has labeled itself as lazy. In a Homebase survey, 50% of Gen Zers identified themselves as the laziest generation.
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However, the director of One Degree Training and Coaching, Andy Nisevic, disputed this. “The truth is that Gen Z are no lazier than any other generation,” he said. “They’re just a product of a society that’s evolved far quicker than at any point in history. That means the things that motivate them are very different from what motivated previous generations.”
It seems like Gen Z is seen as lazy because of their circumstances, something that people like this kind Gen Xer are willing to overlook. If more people were willing to step across generational divides and unite in this way, the world would be a more empathetic place.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
