YOUNG BOY ON A BIKE, GEN X MEMORIES, AND BITCOIN - CAN THEY BE RELATED?
Normally, I would probably prefer to write about Bitcoin and freedom, here in Nostr, but I had a fabulous experience tonight that reminded me about what the world was like world when I was a child. Being that that particular time was the Gen X, latchkey kid time, I think there’s something kind of “Bitcoiny” about Gen X. And maybe we’ll be able to tie this into Bitcoin again. Let’s see if I can do it.😂
Gen X era was a kind of do-it-yourself, don’t-tell-me-what-to-do ethos. It was an explore-on-your-own, and battle-out-your-local-social-structure-without-intervention kind of looseness in the experience of growing up in Generation X.
The things we learned internally, before the digital age, about self-reliance and the strength of identity, developed through entertaining ourselves, or the compassion and creativity that evolved within us naturally, are potentially things that can come again, as a result of what Bitcoin might do in the world.
As we take self-sovereignty of our chosen money, we may naturally take back the self-sovereignty of our thinking, spending more time in nature and less time doomscrolling.
All that is in a weird way to preface what I experienced going to my local sunset spot for a second night in a row.
I saw a boy and his bike, in the grassy expanse on my hill. He looked to me to be about 10 years old. He had stopped there. There were no other humans around in that moment. As a mom, I usually take a look around when I see lone kids, to make sure they have people looking out for them. I was shocked to see him there by himself.
I stared at him in amazement. Probably he noticed my surprise because he smiled and waved at me through his neon green Bike helmet that matched his fancy neon green sport bike.
Gobsmacked, at his age, independently cruising the hill, I smiled and asked him, in delight, if he came up alone, indicating towards the scene to enjoy, the setting sun.
With enthusiasm the boy said, “yeah, It’s nice.”
I said, with big joy busting out of me , “I KNOW, right?” Wanting to speak a little closer to his age range for his comfort.
Turns out, young fella didn’t need me taking care of his comfort. He was just kneeling down in his grey shorts and striped shirt, taking various pictures of the sun coming through the frame of his bike and panning his camera around the surrounding wide open, grassy heath and the views. He was confident and with purpose.
I could not help myself, I took a pic of him because from where I normally sat he was there a little to the left side, between me and the sunset. Of course I won’t post it, though it is amazing, but I’m making a re-creation of it with AI to post with this.
He finished his photography session and started to get on his bike to leave. Waving goodbye at me.
And I called across to him, “you’re leaving before the sun sets?”
“Yeah,” he said, as he raised his shoulders, like he was done or had to be back home maybe.
I really wanted to support this boy’s adventurous, creative spirit. I never said it was because he was adventurous and super interesting soul, at his age, for coming up alone to practice his craft at sunset. Instead I said, “Well, I’m really happy to see YOU up here”
“I’m happy to see you too” he said.
Big smiles on me, “Maybe we’ll see you again sometime.,” Waving at him.
He smiled and started to ride off.
“Have fun!”, I called out
“You too!” Was his return reply to me as he rode off down the hill.
I do not really know how to describe or write about how stunned I was to see a young boy of that age, up the hill alone, super affable and doing things on his own, like he was 20 years old instead of 10.
As fabulous Gen X gal, who’s seen a few decades of life now, and self-determined always to think like I’m forever 35 years old, I didn’t realize how much I lament the loss of our kids being able to do what we did as kids.
We roamed around without cells phones, without location apps, entertaining ourselves, doing stupid shit, learning stuff, parents not always knowing where we were, just that we would be home before the streetlights come on.
That kind of thing.
This kid tonight had a phone of course for taking his artistic pictures, capturing the sun through the bike frame, his videos panning the scene, but it was his emotional maturity and developed identity that impressed me.
The parents of that boy tonight must be pretty awesome people.
Gen Z has been raised by us to be so protected and always watched that they may have trouble developing the inner strength and ability to connect deeply and with curiosity, like we maybe did when we were kids, learning the rough and tumble way.
I am a Gen X mother to a Gen Z daughter and there is a big difference between our generations. As a mother and a person who delights in being around children, I don’t think the kids now are secure in themselves. I don’t experience them as interested in talking and interacting with others, not as much as we did. Not like before social media, being escorted everywhere, location tracked, and with constant check-ins by protective parents.
I may be generalizing a bit, but my daughter and her friends are not talkative with me. Kids, in the double-digit age range, that I try to engage with are nervous and awkward, as if adults are aliens, and social media is waiting for them as soon as they can get away.
This kid tonight was so impressive, to me, as a stand-alone soul, the experience of interacting with him probably gave me more joy than him, and made me hearken back to different times when we were less controlled and had more privacy to develop ourselves, and our interesting ideas. We had the freedom to determine for ourselves what connections with others meant to us, without social media and governments and newscasters all blasting us with their packaged programming and rules of control.
Maybe I’m romanticizing and extrapolating a lot, but I suspect the tenets of Bitcoin and adoption of it, the world round will eventually lead to higher quality schooling and supporting the individual gifts of each child, left to their own devices, in more freedom again.
Maybe it will bring back the era of Gen X for all, who are ultimately changed by Bitcoin, gravitating toward healthier lives on all levels through the control of our own financial freedom.
And then we may come to raise children, again allowing them the freedom to become who they are without so many of the controls we are oppressed by today.
And so, those are my thoughts of the moment, having the blessing of meeting this lone boy up the hill.
