Food for thought :
We grew up in the 50s-60s.
We studied and dated in the 60s-70s.
We got married and discovered the world in the 70s-80s.
We ventured into the 70s-80s.
We stabilized in the 90s.
We got wiser in the 2000s.
And went firmly through the 2010s.
We we’ve lived through EIGHT different decades…
TWO different centuries..
TWO different millennia…
We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world.
We have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music,
from handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp… from live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, and then to HDTV… We went to Blockbuster and now we watch Netflix…
We got to know the first computers, punch cards, diskettes and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in hand on our cell phones or iPads… And we wrote most of the code…
We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long pants, oxfords, Bermuda shorts, etc.
We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu and now COVID-19…
We rode skates, tricycles, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars and now we ride hybrids or 100% electric (if that’s your thing)…
Yes, we’ve been through a lot but what a great life we’ve had!
They could describe us as “exennials,” people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.
We’re kind of Ya-seen-it-all.
Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.
It is our generation that has literally adapted to “CHANGE”.
A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which are UNIQUE.
Here’s a precious and very true message that I received from a friend:
TIME DOES NOT STOP
Life is a task that we do ourselves every day.
When you look… it’s already six in the afternoon;
when you look.. it’s already Friday;
when you look… the month is over;
when you look… the year is over;
when you look… 50, 60, 70 and years have passed!
When you look… we no longer know where our friends are.
When you look… we lost the love of our life and now, it’s too late to go back.
Do not stop doing something you like due to lack of time.
Do not stop having someone by your side, because your children will soon not be yours, and you will have to do something with that remaining time, where the only thing that we are going to miss will be the space that can only be enjoyed with the usual friends. This time that, unfortunately, never returns…
The day is today!
WE ARE NO LONGER AT AN AGE TO POSTPONE ANYTHING.
h/t John B author unknown
Hey Old NFO;
Yeah I am what is called the first year of the Gen-X kids, born in ’65. and I remember what you remember, the last of the latchkey kids or streetlight kids if you know what I mean. THe kids nowadays will miss out on all the fun and innocence of a childhood that we had and embraced and thanks to social media and helicopter parents, they will never had.
Ah, yes. I’m the third year of Gen-X kids, born in ’67. I too was a latchkey/streetlight kid. Spent my summer days playing and exploring the woods and a small stream across from our townhome in Maryland, or whole days at the neighborhood pool. All completely unsupervised. Whole ‘nother generation now, with their own set of rules. Don’t know whether it’s better or worse, but it’s dang sure different!
A nice read for mechanical engineers and machinists, Fred H. Colvin’s “60 Years with Men and Machines” ( https://www.amazon.com/Sixty-Years-Machines-Fred-Colvin/dp/0917914864 ) is a chronicle of his career from 1885-1945. He went from turning piecework on a belt-driven steam-powered lathe lit by a fat lamp – to working on atomic energy at Oak Ridge at age EIGHTY. In his day, writing in his last pages of the book he too affirms that life, though fleeting, does NOT stop!
As someone remarked, “I don’t buy half ripe bananas”.
Read somewhere that the greatest pain in the afterlife is the un-given love we take with us.
I grew up as a young lad on ranch in California’s gold rush country. Suffered three concussions while still in grade school. One of them was when a horse went down with me at the gallop, which also broke my left arm. I claim no lasting ill effects, but there are a few folks who beg to differ.
I would also add that we were raised by the generation that lived through the Great Depression, and the turned right around and won World War II.
Where I grew up eating in the street was frowned on, with an exception made for ice cream. Women smoking in the street was frowned on. Drunks were looked on as pathetic creatures because they couldn’t hold their drink in a manly way. And even little boys were encouraged to hold doors open for women.
Bad language was deprecated. But I can remember when a bunch of us boys pushed our luck by marching out of the Saturday morning cinema singing together “And to hell with Burgundy!” (An allusion to the Duke not the wines.) We got to shout “hell” and nobody told us off. Because it was in the film we’d just been watching. Herewith:
Lawd, talk about self- serving poppycock. True boomers are framed between 1945-55. 1965 is nonsense. The generation raised and weaned on an America with no competition because we destroyed it all, who turned on her principles during the commie fueled 60’s and became the establishment through the following decades and now want nothing to do with the chaos they created, just more free stuff. Well done indeed
Got to agree, but I may be biased as I was born in ’45.
Phones: Don’t forget the party line. Our ring was 2, pause, 1. And, “Operator, I’d like to make a long distance call.” “Will that be station-to-station or person to person?” Both were big bucks, too!
FU. I was born in 53.
I served in the military.
I still work.
I and my friends did none of the above.
I won’t be broad-brushed like that by you, tucker Carlson or Charlie Kirk.
That did not post correctly.
It was in response to Casual Observer.
Don’t count the days, make the days count.
Was born 4 months prior to WW2. Lived with relatives who were born in the 1890’s so raised with 1800 values. Went to live with bio mom and new hubby fresh from 6 years on the battlefield. That didn’t end well. Was raised only child with my own ration book, witch I still have. So, 1890’s values, moved into the our 19 hundreds and now into the my third type of values. Can’t say it meets with any of my values. Who knew that the 70’s riots would lead to soy boys with man buns. Ugh!!
All- Thanks! I was born in 51, so I’m truly a boomer… And was raised in a family that had endured WWI/Depression/WWII. I appreciate your ‘takes’ and agree with all!
I actually think the turn of the 20th century generation lived through the most change of any in history.
My great grandfather was born in 1898 and died in 1986. We were a close family when I was young and he loved to tell stories.
He was born in the age of horses and wagons, Steam driven trains, coal stoves and candlelight. Electricity and indoor plumbing were luxuries for the rich.
When he died we had Satellites, everyone had a car, a TV and air conditioning. Mile long cargo trains pulled by diesel electric engines carried cargo across the country and you could fly anywhere in the world on jet airplanes in a matter of hours.
When he was a child, The Wright brothers had barely gotten their “airplane” contraption off the ground. In his 60’s, he watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon on TV.
During his lifetime, he lived through part of the industrial revolution, the roaring ’20’s, the great depression and two world wars.
Armies transformed in his lifetime from route marches and horse drawn canons to infantry fighting vehicles, Abrams tanks and tactical nuclear weapons.
I could go on but you get the idea.
It boggles my mind the depth of change that people in that era experienced…not to mention the people of that era who made it happen.
Not to denigrate your point, but in my opinion, we’ve got nothing on that.
I was thinking the same thing until I got to your comment – my grandparents were born in 1891 & 1893. I always thought that telephones and washing machines (they had 12 kids) must have been magical to them!
Curt- Good point! From the sheer about he ‘saw’, I’d tend to agree.
Good list, conclusion.
OldNFO, ditto here, Feb. ’51.
“and then one day you find, 10 years have got behind you…”
Now I’m pushing hard on my 75th trip around the sun, could have done things differently, but no REGERTS (ot tattoos).
Also – We had a 48 star flag until July 4, 1959, We had a 49 star flag from July 4, 1959 until July 4, 1960 (which nobody remembers). Then we went to a 50 star flag on July 4, 1960. Stars are added to flag on the 4th of July after a state joins the union. If we get part of Canada, that will be 51, and if we get Greenland it will be 52.
I was born in ’65. I remember popcorn balls and home made cookies from neighbors on Halloween. I remember cyanide in the Tylenol bottle that started all the bottle seals we see now. I remember razor blade in the apple that began the x-ray checking if fruit. I remember global cooling in schools which transformed into global warming in a few years. I remember Carter as the embarrassment and wanting to put candles in our windows. I remember if I got I to trouble at school, there was something awaiting me at home. All adults were to be properly addressed. There were clear expectations on the behaviors of kids, boys, and girls. I have lived long enough to see the destruction of good.
Tree- Agreed!
Mikey- Good point!
Matt- Oh yes…