Genesis of XYZ Junction

Okay…let’s face it. Two thousand twenty was a bad year for everybody. I can’t recall hearing a single person say that 2020 was a great year, even two years removed. During the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns to “stop the spread,” many people decided to change course completely, whether that be in family, career, health, spirituality, or other facets of life. I was one of those people. The pandemic wasn’t the reason for the change, but it was the catalyst. That change became the genesis of XYZ Junction.

In June of 2020, I was at home under a semi-quarantine. My husband was in another state working on a long-term

job, my older son was working offshore on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico while navigating a messy divorce and child custody issues, and my younger son was finishing his first year of community college, most of which had been spent under lockdown in the dormitory attempting to survive a freshman year during which everything was in chaos. With the full support of my husband, I decided to take the opportunity to complete my bachelor’s degree in psychology and possibly pursue a graduate degree. After all, I had plenty of time on my hands. Thus began this little road trip I have embarked upon.

For more about me and my family - and their contributions to this endeavor - check out the "About" section.

One course in my psychology degree plan sparked this journey - Statistics! As a final project in this course, I chose to look into attitudes toward the death penalty in the United States. Specifically, I wanted to investigate the possible relationship between a person’s age and that person’s attitudes about the death penalty and capital punishment. From my perspective, younger and more socially-conscious - and possibly more liberally-minded members of society (i.e., Gen Y or Gen Z) - would be less likely to be for the death penalty. If that idea was correct, the opposite would be true of older and more mature members of society.

Boy, was I wrong! After eight weeks of looking at charts and statistical analyses, I discovered there was virtually NO correlation between age and position on the death penalty. I was really surprised by these findings. After all, I have two grown children who have surprisingly differing opinions about everything from politics to money to marriage and family. I should be able to gauge how people in their age groups feel about a subject like capital punishment, right? What I discovered is that, while I have a close relationship with my children, I don’t really know how they think or feel about a lot of issues.

Much of the blame for this lack of communication lies with me. I’ve never really asked either of them for their opinions, while always volunteering my position on issues without instigation or provocation. Was I unapproachable? Was I so emphatic in my opinions that my children felt less incline

d to share theirs? Whatever the reason, I became determined to change the status quo. Few things could be more important to a successful family relationship than having a genuine connection and intelligent, empathetic, and respectful communication with your children and spouse. Issues that are important to me, I have discovered, are often also of similar importance to others in my family, and I value and respect the opinions of those in my orbit - especially my children - enough to provide those opinions the consideration they deserve.

Let me just say that opening a connection to communication with my children and my spouse has resulted in numerous benefits. Not only has it helped to deepen relationships with those around me, but it has also provided me an exploration into the psychology of communication. Considerin

g that psychology is my chosen field of study, this is just an added benefit of the process.

That, readers, has been the Genesis of XYZ Junction. I should probably note that my children and I are from three separate “social generations” - Gen X (me), Gen Y (my older child), and Gen Z (my younger child) - giving rise to the intersection of generational thought and ideas. Through XYZ Junction I plan to explore many of the issues confronting our soci

ety today, gaining insight into points of view from those with a different life experience and perspective than mine, with conversations and insights from those of different social circles, generations, and backgrounds. Through this platform I will be sharing those insights with you, the readers, to ultimately (hopefully!) create a “junction” of communication among and between members of all generations.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Becca