It’s been years here and one theme runs on like an old scratchy record-vinyl-(surely you remember vinyl). Gen-Xers hate us. They despise us, loathe us, feeling nothing but contempt for us.

At the risk of ducking rotten tomatoes for the rest of my apparently worthless life, I finally have to ask-why?

We grew up in upwardly mobile families, we had the world on a string. And yet, many (you do remember the March on Washington) of us felt the world could be a better place. Not just for us, mind you—most of us had it pretty good already. We felt discrimination, racial and gender bias were wrong. We felt that the war (you do remember Vietnam) was wrong. We believed that opportunity should not be based on bank balances or last names. We did not want to be the Stepford Generation—molded into our parents’ image. We wanted to have fun (like you), be heard (like you), and make a real difference (not so like you).

The people who educated those of you in your mid-30’s were not us. The people who made policy were not us. The people America elected were not us. And the people who raised you were most certainly not us.

Our dreams may not have come true. Most of us “grew up,” got married, had children, held down jobs. Most of us felt we had not done enough. But maybe we did. When was the last time you saw an African American being sent to the back of the bus? Did you get to play sports in high school or college because of Title IX? Did any of you have to have a back-alley abortion? Has affirmative action provided you with an education or a job? You may not think it’s much—but every generation’s job—yes, job-is to question, to rile things up, to try to make the world better.

We didn’t bitch about the job market, we went to work. Some even worked for almost no money in social services, education, public service. Some of us worked through child-rearing and not necessarily because we wanted to. Some of us have been phased out because we’re too “old”—-apparently experience just doesn’t mean much anymore.

I hope you’ll see, when you’re done bitching about the last dotcom gone down, that sometimes we all have to adjust our dreams. We wanted to make a better world-we did the best we could, and we’re still doing it. Raising our children, working our jobs, living our lives in the best way we know how. Maybe it’s your turn.