Are you on Threads? It’s like Twitter (X), except no one appears to be monitoring the content, which is absolutely random and fabulous! Threads has everything a GenXer could want: political memes, cat videos, sarcastic social commentary, followed by grandma’s secret family recipe for handmade ravioli. Here’s an example of a quintessential Threads post:
“What if Mars has water on it because we used to live there and we messed up the climate so badly that we had to send an escape pod to Earth with only Adam and Eve in it, and the pod was the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs?” – blackspielberg_
This. This is the kind of imaginative musing that makes me like us humans. And as tired as I am of our patriarchal perspective on history, I love it when I come across something truly unconventional. Something or someone that is so far out of the box gives me hope for the future of the whole human race. I’m lucky enough not to have kids, but if I did you could be sure they’d be learning how to build a cabin and grow, harvest and distill potatoes for Mommy’s vodka martini. Even as untethered as I am, it’s still hard to watch what we’re doing to this planet — not to mention each other’s children.
Speaking of children, why can’t we just love them for the nonsensical little monsters they are? Who cares if they want to play with a truck, or wear a dress, or play with a truck while wearing a dress … This gender hang-up thing is really getting on my nerves. It reminds me of middle school when I would get passed a note in class (don’t get caught!) and I would have to unfold it about eight times (quietly!) only to be given a choice between two boxes: yes or no. What a boring existence if we were to go through life with only two choices. In my experience, most of life is a spectrum and sampling the whole smorgasbord is the entire point — always with consent! (I really shouldn’t even have to say that by now, but you know.)
There’s something here on Earth for everyone, and we only run into trouble when we stifle our natural tendencies or desires because of some outdated, preconceived notion that was most likely invented by a repressed and unhappy pilgrim in the first place. Shame is a terrible nanny. If they aren’t hurting anyone else, what exactly is the problem with experimental youth? Why are some adults so concerned that they fit in with the norm? A norm, I might add, that led us here.
The natural balance of healthy life on Earth is seriously skewed and I can’t really see anything about our current situation that inspires confidence in our sustainability. In fact, it feels as though we are hurtling through the cosmos like a sequel to the Roaring Twenties, unaware that a crash is even coming. You gotta admit, if you just landed on Earth right now, it would seem chaotic and confusing, to say the least. (Side note: I’ve thought about writing a planet manual with chapter headings like “Don’t eat chicken that comes in a bucket” and “Watch out for anyone claiming to be a ‘man of the people.’”)
Hopefully the younger generations are less susceptible to the charms of snake oil salesmen. At least they seem to be less concerned with checking a gender box, and more interested in learning how to grow food in the nutrient-depleted soil they’ve inherited. After the economy tanks and we start to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, I’m sure their laid-back adaptability will come in handy. And GenX is more than ready to put the old in old-age again. Enough of this 70-years-young BS; we’ll take it back to the days of sitting on the porch in a rocker for most of the afternoon and into the evening …
Take it from us: being self-sufficient and disillusioned with authority from a young age comes in handy as we can make do with what we’ve got and appreciate the simple things in life. Things like a good sci-fi story about life on Earth after the asteroid hits.
Ps&Qs: Adam and Eve killed the dinosaurs
