My formative years were in the "Me" generation. There are a lot of folks who know me who will smile and nod at that.
The prism of perspective and the whimsical wishes of days-gone-by show that the ''Me Generation'' was more pompousness than circumstance.
Ages and eras and names that define them can forever reveal those glory years. Or gory years.
The Roaring 20s. The Hungry 40s. The Swinging 60s. The Naughty 90s. You get the idea.
That's right, as we wrap up the 2010s, the need for a nickname seems clear. And with that, allow me to be the first to say a wholehearted good riddance to the ''You Decade.''
No, not as in YouTube or ''Wish You Were Here'' decade. This was the ''You!'' Decade as in ''You were the problem'' over the last 10 years.
Sure, we'd all love to wish that could have been meant the 2010s could been the Thank You Decade. But we all know that's fake news. (Yeah, the ''Fake News Decade'' was a close second, but that would have been fake news about fake news and then you have a whole different riddle wrapped in a fortune cookie inside an enigma.)
As for the You Decade, let's understand where we are and what got us here.
This, without question, has been the decade of finger pointing. You are to blame.
This has been the decade of shouting. You must listen to me.
This has been the decade of divide. You are wrong.
Think about the storylines and controversies of the 2010s. Whether a Trump supporter or an Obama backer, all of us have been guilty of the "Well, what about you" justification of our stalwarts. We play the blame game rather than analyzing situations.
And who loses in the blame game? Not you; We all do.
Certainly there was history made - good and bad - in the 2010s, but there almost always is in every decade. There were advances made, too, but the feeling that for every two steps forward we took 1.5 back is hard to ignore. The economy has never been stronger, but debt continues to spiral out of control.
This last decade has been more about blame than credit. It's been more about searching for the guilty rather than finding grace, which is painful. It's been more about finger-pointing than hand-holding, and that's downright bad.
The you movement - ''You pay for my college;'' ''You are selfish;'' ''You are ... (fill in the blank in our blame culture)'' - is not about sharing. It's about self. It's been about blame and bullying.
And that is a culture that fails long term, regardless of the side of the divide you occupy.
For goodness sake, the word of 2019 was "they," after all. A politically correct choice, to be sure.
But the bigger picture is that it was in some unintended way a fitting end to the 2010s.
Maybe the word of the 2020s will be ''us,'' because that feels a heck of lot more hopeful - and more American - if you ask me.
Jay GreesonContact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.