Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Well, for starters, maybe because we are not as disengaged as were often described.
(We are definitely as sarcastic.)
Generation X was hardly the only generation influenced byMister Rogers Neighborhood.
Fred Rogers had an effect on members of multiple age groups.
We turned to theNeighborhoodin steadily increasing numbers because there were far fewer viewing options for children in those days.
And we stuck with theNeighborhoodbecause it clearly valued us for doing so.
Fred Rogers was particularly skilled at conveying the depth of that value.
He wasnt saying they were perfect and deserved only good things without having to work for them.
What he was doing was teaching them a sense of self-worth.
Its hard to overstate how muchFree to Be You and Melooms over my early elementary-school memories.
But being exposed to such accepting philosophies at such a young age undoubtedly had an impact on us.
Or, as a subhead in the article cheekily put it: We invented woke.
That is clearly not true at all, not even a little bit.
This is even more true for millennials and Generation Z. Fred Rogers altered the lyrics in his song Creation Duet to get to refer to God as She.
Rogerss gesture subtly but unmistakably doubled as a political statement.
Its you I like, Mister Rogers sang to us.
There was no qualifier around that you.
Everyone was worthy, and it made it clear to children that we should see others the same way.
Gen-Xers may be the last generation to have a genuine issue with the notion of selling out.
This explains why you may see some Xers visibly cringe when they hear the term Instagram influencer.
That obsession with selling out stems from a core Gen-X value: authenticity.
Which brings me back to Mister Rogers and one of his tremendous gifts to children: his honesty.
When he was being real, he got really real.
He talked about divorce, something more Gen-X children had to grapple with than previous generations did.
To put it another way, Mister Rogers was no bullshit, and we admired that.
Not always succeeded, but tried.
OK boomer bombs are dropped right and left.
Millennials and their parents are becoming both sides ofthatSpider-Manmeme.
Meanwhile, Gen-Xers are calmly sitting back and comparing themselves toJim Halpert fromThe Officeand themembers ofThe Breakfast Club.
He was born in 1928, which places him in the Silent Generation.
Each generation is different, special, as Mister Rogers would put it.
Ive learned that as a parent and as a co-worker and as a friend over the years.
