George's Hobby Site

Chapter 8

November 5th, 2009 Posted in Boomer News, social science

Generation to Generation

Do seniors citizens my age believe in weird things? You bet!  Some how we seniors feel that we can turn the clock back to a simpler time. Seniors my age like to point out that it was NOT us seniors who took:

  • The melody and understandable lyrics out of music,
  • The pride out of appearance,
  • The courtesy out of driving,
  • The romance out of love,
  • The commitment out of marriage,
  • The responsibility out of parenthood,
  • The togetherness out of family,
  • The learning out of education
  • The service out of patriotism
  • The civility out of behavior
  • The refinement of  language
  • The dedication out of employment
  • And seniors are certainly are NOT the ones who eliminated patience and tolerance  from personal relationships and interactions with others.

Let’s go back to 1940 when seniors citizens like myself were 10 years old or younger. The US population was about 130 million. It is now about 307 million people. I called the period from 1930 t0 1945 “The Luckiest Generation”. In 1940, a ten year old was mainly influenced by their parents, family members and teachers. The major outside influence was the radio. Norman Rockwell’s 4 famous 1943 paintings of the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear were the corner stone’s of  The Luckiest Generation life style and existence. We’ve had an extraordinary run of good luck … but it’s over and there is no going back.

The amount of information that is available to you “plugged in” 17 year old high school seniors … is mind boggling to me. You seniors have had access and have been exposed to everything that has been available to your parents. You are probably aware of the life styles of people in there 20s & 30s that are described in David Brooks Nov. 3rd New York Times column entitled “Cellphones, Texts, and Lovers”. Do the people described in this column have weird beliefs? You Bet!

You seniors have seen it all … and you know what is right and wrong. You, and the youngsters right behind you, will known some day in the future as “The Most Enlightened Generation”.

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