Maybe a heart shaped box would be too ironic...

Here is what I call an ominous start to your day. I had a dream last night in which I was convinced that I had a paper due this morning that I forgot to do over the weekend. I ran through my class schedule and realized that I completely overlooked a two page report for religion class. I realized that I could probably bluff something together at the last moment if I was able to sit down at my laptop and start typing.

I woke up and was literally halfway out of bed and on my way to my office when I realized the following. 1) I’m no longer in school. 2) I haven’t had a paper due for a religion class in 17 years. 3) Even if I had a paper due, I’ve earned a number of degrees since then so I doubt that my completing this assignment is really that big of a deal. But I swear I was convinced for a second that I needed to work on a class I am not taking. I don’t know if I can take this as a good sign.

However, when I did actually get to my office I was able to see a lighting strike a block away from me. It was cool as all get out. I had the blinds open (as this is probably the only time in my life when I will actually have an office with a window) and just saw this massive flash out of the corner of my eye. Turned to see black smoke start rising from behind a building across from me and a rumble of thunder that shook the building for a good twenty seconds. I just find it amazing that this is nature and we don’t really pay any attention to it. Sure, nothing wrong with giant bolts of electricity to come rocketing out of the sky at random moments. No issues with that at all.

Switching gears, did everyone hear the story of Kurt Cobain’s ashes being stolen? Well, it is currently being assumed that they are stolen. There is certainly a measurable probability that Courtney Love simply misplaced them. However, like most people I am quite concerned that Kurt’s final resting place was within a pink, teddy bear shaped handbag. I’m not making that up. That’s where the heart of Generation X was placed.

Maybe we can use this as an analogy for Generation X. Not only did our generation have an all too brief moment in the sun (roughly late 1991 to 1994 or 1995) but our remnants were placed in an all too cute bag and placed in some disregarded corner. Everything that we stood for, all of the pride and righteous anger, discounted and turfed in favor of something cute and innocuous. People look back at Generation X and think primarily of flannel and the start of coffee culture. That’s if they remember the generation at all. For the most part we’ve been lost and no one even noticed that we are missing.

But we are all still here. We’re in our thirties and forties now. Graying around the edges maybe but we’re still out and about. We just are lacking a spokesperson. Someone who people recognize as being from our age and caring about our issues. But spokespeople have never been our style. We’re a quiet generation. We do our own thing. We take care of ourselves. We keep few friends but those we have we will go to the wall for no questions asked. It’s tough to organize that type of generation.

I hope we find Kurt. I hope we find ourselves. I certainly hope that we end up in something other than a pink teddy bear. I think we deserve a better ending.