What is the defining moment of each generation?
The Silent Generation remembers Pearl Harbor.
The Baby Boom Generation asks where were you when JFK was shot?
The Millenial Generation / Generation Y / Generation Next / Net Generation has 9/11.
These generations all have something in common : A national uniting event - an attack on country, on home. An event that can bring them all together.
What does Generation X have that is similar in 'uniting' a generation? What is the fallout with which this generation must contend? What is the most likely captured event in the childhood / coming of age memory of Generation X?
"When did your parents get divorced?"
This is our memory. This is our hardship. This is our shared sacrifice. This is our 'unifying' moment because most of us experienced this ripping apart of stability long before the actual divorce. Far from a unifying event, we were isolated by what was taking place. Separately, we didn't feel like we could go to any one or any place. We didn't have support like the other national defining moments.
Why is this a definition of Generation X? Because it affected everybody whether divorced or not, whether children had married parents or not. It changed the expected outcome, the influence, the support and support systems, the income, the feelings, the emotions of everyone involved. If your parents were divorced, it became a comaraderie thing - a silent acknowledgment of the battle and that you weren't alone even if you didn't have anyone to go to for help. For those whose parents were still married, we looked at them with a kind of mystique - how did their parents stay married and ours did not?
Thus, the unifying battle cry became are your parents divorced or when did your parents get divorced?
1983.