The Hist Generation

In light of Benedict XVI, a twenty-something reflects on her generation and all the changes she's seen in her brief 26 years on earth. It's a nice little essay. LINK. Excerpt:

I propose a name for my generation---let's face it, Generation Y is copycatting, and nothing has the pithy ring of Douglas Coupland's moniker. The name I propose is the Hist Generation. We've seen so much History made, we may actually be living on a planet that spins faster than ever before. Besides the Berlin Wall, the Internet, the SUV, and the third-longest pontificate ever, we've also seen Histrionics over a women's movement gone over the edge. Nonetheless, we've Hissed at our grandparents' mode of compartmentalizing gender roles and marginalizing lifestyles. Some of us hear a different Hiss, as all the lines in the sand blur in a whirlwind of relative ideas, and it feels like the only stable pole in our era's hourglass points downward. And we will see Hysterics when the new pope still forbids artificial birth control, still outlaws women priests, and still advocates cutting back on consumerism and giving more to the poor. Those will, of course, be nothing to the Mass Hysterics that will ensue when the oil runs out and we become the poor in question. We are like Histamines, allergically reacting against the changing of the seasons. We have not stopped spending. We are not out of debt. (And we had better get out of there: We need to save for our own retirements. We could be the Heist Generation, as we will most likely never see what we have paid to Social Security.) We have not grasped the fact that gender differences are real. We are in a tizzy over everything, and the only thing being harmed is ourselves.