My Generation
Per Foilwoman's request I started thinking about things I'm thankful for and this little topic reared its head in my mind.
My generation. I'm thankful for my generation.
I was born in the early 50's and came of age in the 60's. I knew of stay at home mothers but didn't feel any need to be one. Women my age felt like they could have it all and do what they wanted. Just because it wasn't so doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy feeling like we could. I really did feel like I had choices and I really did.
I knew of the bad old days of back alley abortions but grew up with freely available birthcontrol which spawned the free love generation at a time when there were very few STDs to be chastened with. There was a lot of room for exploration without alot of fear associated with it.
I knew of the Cold War and Korea and protested Vietnam but really, for the most part, didn't live with what I would call war-related deprivations. There was no major depression or WW with rationing. I think we might have been the first generation where it was easy to get fat on all the things that were available to us. I don't ever remember a time when I couldn't have an orange if I wanted on but my parents do.
The world seemed wide open - TV, news, books, it was all there and all accessible (at least to me).
Mine was the first generation that made it wrong to be racist or sexist (although lots of racism and sexism continued but like smoking now, people started to be embarrassed to hold those feelings).
There were/are a lot of us. We make waves as we move through the nation's demographics. Our needs are noticed and cared about just because the shear number of us.
Computers came into their own in time for us to all use them (unlike our parents) but not so soon that we didn't know there was anything else to do (same with TV).
I think my generation was probably the last one where you could get through a decent college fairly cheaply. I got through a PhD without any debt and never learned that life had to be lived primarily on credit.
My mom had polio as a kid, I got one of the first vaccines. My dad knew a kid who died of gangrene from a blister he got from new shoes but I never knew one kid who died from a bacterial infection. My brother was born a premie and I would have been an only child had he been born even a few years before he was. During my lifetime we sequenced the human genome.
We could drive almost anywhere but there weren't so many people and cars that driving wasn't fun. It was still an adventure. I hitch-hiked back and forth from college when I was 18 and wasn't really in that much danger and people still picked you up that weren't psychopaths. For that matter, kids played all around the neighborhood unattended.
I was born when central heating and cooling were both possible and will die before global warming makes this hell on earth.
I'm sure there is more.
My generation. I'm thankful for my generation.
I was born in the early 50's and came of age in the 60's. I knew of stay at home mothers but didn't feel any need to be one. Women my age felt like they could have it all and do what they wanted. Just because it wasn't so doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy feeling like we could. I really did feel like I had choices and I really did.
I knew of the bad old days of back alley abortions but grew up with freely available birthcontrol which spawned the free love generation at a time when there were very few STDs to be chastened with. There was a lot of room for exploration without alot of fear associated with it.
I knew of the Cold War and Korea and protested Vietnam but really, for the most part, didn't live with what I would call war-related deprivations. There was no major depression or WW with rationing. I think we might have been the first generation where it was easy to get fat on all the things that were available to us. I don't ever remember a time when I couldn't have an orange if I wanted on but my parents do.
The world seemed wide open - TV, news, books, it was all there and all accessible (at least to me).
Mine was the first generation that made it wrong to be racist or sexist (although lots of racism and sexism continued but like smoking now, people started to be embarrassed to hold those feelings).
There were/are a lot of us. We make waves as we move through the nation's demographics. Our needs are noticed and cared about just because the shear number of us.
Computers came into their own in time for us to all use them (unlike our parents) but not so soon that we didn't know there was anything else to do (same with TV).
I think my generation was probably the last one where you could get through a decent college fairly cheaply. I got through a PhD without any debt and never learned that life had to be lived primarily on credit.
My mom had polio as a kid, I got one of the first vaccines. My dad knew a kid who died of gangrene from a blister he got from new shoes but I never knew one kid who died from a bacterial infection. My brother was born a premie and I would have been an only child had he been born even a few years before he was. During my lifetime we sequenced the human genome.
We could drive almost anywhere but there weren't so many people and cars that driving wasn't fun. It was still an adventure. I hitch-hiked back and forth from college when I was 18 and wasn't really in that much danger and people still picked you up that weren't psychopaths. For that matter, kids played all around the neighborhood unattended.
I was born when central heating and cooling were both possible and will die before global warming makes this hell on earth.
I'm sure there is more.
2 Comments:
WOW! Great post.
Prom:
Yep, that's just about the way I hold it.
Post a Comment
<< Home