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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1993)
Who are you calling Slacker? With all this babble and blath er about Generation X, I can’t help but ponder the reality of my generation and where I fit into it. I’m not sure that I do fit in, if what the newspaper articles say is true. I see the profiles of the self-pro claimed slackers, the environments in which they thrive and the ideas they embrace and espouse. And I’m distressed. Maybe I don’t fit in with these X-people at all. Strike one. The slackers seem to have no goals. I don’t think I fit in here. I have some goals: I want to be happy. I want to make enough money to pay the rent, to make my student loan payment and to buy groceries. Strike Two. Some slacker types spout ideas about individuality, all the while wearing the latest clothing trends, and are supposed to represent me. I don’t fit in here either. I do think individuality is great. However, I can’t follow every fashion trend: Those big, black shoes are too expensive, and I’m too poor. Strike three. Other slackers have no job and no home, and they like it that way. They also don’t care about college or want a degree. Whoops, no place for me here. I have a job, two in fact, and I have a home, one I like a great deal. And I don’t necessarily care about college, but I’ll get my degree next year. Actually, I’ll get two. Hmm, maybe I can give one to someone of “my generation.” Strike four—shouldn’t I be out by now? One smattering of slackers, blaming their parents for subscribing to the ideals of their generation, thipks everyone in my whole generation are losers and without hope. Gosh dam golly, will I ever fit in? I like my parents and I don ’ t think they embody all the evil in the world. I don’t think I’m a loser, and I have hope for both myself and for the future. Then again, maybe I’m still in the i, game. , , These slackers exist in every decade, in every generation. There is nothing terribly original about them, nothing that really separates them from any other generation before them. Hit: It’s only a single, but at least I’m on base. Many slackers don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. Holy cow — finally a place for me. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up either. I don’t even know if I want to grow up. I also have no solid ideas of suc cess or where my career destination lies. But my part in the game ends there. My misdirection, unlike the slack ers’, is no one’s fault. It’s certainly not the fault of my parents, and the gov ernment can be to blame for only so much. > Sure, the horizon isn’t as sunny as it may have been in previous years and for previous generations, but that certainly is no excuse to let slackers stand up and symbolize my genera tion. These traits are simply typical of people when they hit my age bracket, when we come to one of the more difficult crossroads in life. Typical when we have to decide if we want to grow up and if so, what we’ll be when we get there. T ypical of my age range, not my generation. So these slackers, these so-called representatives of myself and my gen eration, are not. They are representative of little more than those who shy away from the crossroads. These slackers exist in every de cade, in every generation. There is nothing terribly original about them, nothing that really, separates them from any other generation before them. They are merely recycled carica tures ofprevious generations. They’ve just been called different things over the years. Slackefs are the Beats of the ’50s, except they have less soul. They are the Lost Generation of the ’20s, except they have less to write about. OK, so they think their parents subscribed to the American Dream and it died. So they think the govern ment subscribed to intense capitalism and the country’s ideals crashed. And inequality runs rampant and the few get the most and the few get stronger. Of course, according to the slack ers there is no answer to the world’s ills. And if that’s the case, what op tions do these people have except to turn their backs on their future and slack their way to old age. 1 understand some of these objec tions to our world. But I expect more out of myself and more out of my generation than to just sit and bitch over a steaming cup of java. Slacker, I am not. Nor am I hip or cool. I’m just a regular person with regular dreams. I do drink coffee and I do ponder my fate and I do worry about the world. These “symbols” of Generation X don’t symbolize me at all. And just because the newspaper says they rep resent my generation does not mean they do. Stayer U a leaior EagUsb a ad history aiajor, a sealer Arts a ad Eatertaiaaieat re porter aad a Daily Nebraikaa colaaaalst. — "" " 11 • " 1 .— i THE FIRSTIER SURVIVAL KIT... 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