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What happened to our Gen X?
The Economist calls the Gen 'X' a lost generation. But when it comes to Nepal, I like to call them the 'lucky but spineless' generation. Generation X are lucky because they got to witness both the digital and analog worlds.
When Gen X were teenagers, they got to witness the country move forward from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. Gen X got to take 'type-writing' courses after SLC and the later ones even go to take 'computer' courses learning WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and Dbase. And from learning MS-DOS commands, they also got to see the rise of Windows by Microsoft.
They were the ones who got to use dial-up modems to search Yahoo on Netscape browser. If we go a decade back from there, they started with the VCRs, tape recorders and walkmans to CDs to DVDs and many more cool stuff.
When we come to politics, the Gen X grew up with the Panchayati system and then the multi-party democracy thing. They witnessed the Maoist 'uncivil' war and then the back to monarchy love affair to end of monarchy and the beginning of the Republic and now, the rise of the young guns who dismantled thirty plus years of misrule by then major political parties.
I call the 'Gen X' a spineless generation because most of them really didn't care about their right being violated by those in power. Or you can look at it the other way. Instead of fighting for their rights for better education, healthcare and employment opportunities, they just decided to pack their bags and go to foreign lands for better educational and employment opportunities and the trend still continues till this day.
It took a social media ban to finally wake up the young ones, especially the Gen Zs who took to the streets to demand not only the lifting of such bans in this digital age but also against corruption and nepotism. Nobody expected the then government to just start shooting school kids and that too firing at their heads and chests instead of using non-lethal means to control the protests from going haywire.
It's sad to say this but the new government has to thank those who were massacred by the Oli government last year during the Gen Z protest for their chance to lead the country for the better. We must never forget that black day when we finally realized that those in power will kill anyone, be it young or the old during protest programs to remain in power.
And the leadership of this country has moved from the Baby Boomers to Generation Y for now. It has more or less skipped the 'Gen X' leadership and in a decade, the Gen Zs will get their chance. So where do the Gen Xs go from here?
The Gen X folks now should move on and not think about becoming politicians or have high hopes of running the government anytime soon. Yes, we have a few Gen X folks in the government but for most of the Gen X, it's time to be mentors for the young ones and backers of the ideas of the young ones and instead of changemakers, inspire, encourage and fund the young ones to change this country and the world instead!
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