It appears some Millennials are feeling frustrated at the rest of us for turning up to vote on the 23rd June, and have organised a foot-stamping event to protest.

*Millennials, Clicky, the ‘Hero’ archetype… I was born in 1967, making me a Gen Xer of the ‘Nomad’ persuasion…*

 

*/rolls eyes…*

So how is my generation described in The Fourth Turning?

‘Generation X (Nomad, born 1961–1981) survived a “hurried” childhood of divorce, latch keys, open classrooms, devil-child movies, and a shift from G to R ratings.’

‘They came of age hearing themselves denounced as so wild and stupid as to put The Nation At Risk. As young adults, maneuvering through a sexual battlescape of AIDS and blighted courtship rituals—they have dated and married cautiously.’

‘In jobs, they embraced risk and preferred free agency overloyal corporatism. From grunge to hip-hop, their splintered culture revealed a hardened edge. Politically, they have leaned toward pragmatism and nonaffiliation, and would rather volunteer than vote.’

Unless, of course, the vote actually means something 😉

‘Today, entering midlife battered by economic hardship, they ascend into political and corporate leadership roles feeling less like hailed winners than like resilient survivors, seeking out safe harbors for the sake of themselves and their families.’

*******

 

I’ve been pondering when exactly this Fourth (Crisis) Turning began because my boys were born in 2001 – What archetype are they: Millennial or Homeland?

A Crisis year begins with a catalyst – a startling event (or sequence of events) that produces a sudden shift in mood.

Was it the 2008 Financial Crash or spectacular 9/11 in 2001 that heralded ‘The War on Terror’? Perhaps it started just before, in the period immediately following the publishing of the book.

The dot-com bubble was a historic speculative bubble covering roughly 1997–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5,132.52^[1] in intraday trading before closing at 5,048.62) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the Internet sector and related fields.

*Okay, if you’re now slipping into River, Clicky, it’s probably time to finish with a Song*