I was born in a time now called 'mid-century', one among many in a group called 'baby boomers'. I have one foot on the deck of the Starship Enterprise and one in a 1975 Ford Galaxie. I am among those who watched the first moon landing and saw the computer go from the size of a football field to a device you can stick in your back pocket. We ate butter, lard, cookies and cakes and never heard of lactose intolerance or celiac disease. We ate vegetables grown on local farms that were not GMO and Monsanto was a good place to work. We caught fireflies in the summer, and thought our world would go one forever.
We didn't have integration, we believed in politicians, we didn't know what recycling was, we let banks and Wall St. rule our economics. We thought doctors were gods and cancer was a word whispered in dark corners. Drug use was unheard of, alcoholics were people who just drank a bit too much, hitting a woman was wrong but not corrected, and bigotry, not just of color prevailed.
We drove in cars without seat belts, rode bikes without helmets, we were told no and corrected when we did something wrong. We were punished when we broke our parents rules, going to our room really was a punishment, there wasn't a TV, computer or gaming station to keep us amused but there were books. Hard cover and soft cover, not on Kindles or Nooks. Comic books cost a dime and were not 'graphic' novels.
Our parents did not 'hover' over us. We went out at daybreak during the summer and came home when the streetlights came on. We ate what was given to us and were thankful.
H.G. Wells told us of worlds and times beyond our own. Orwell wrote "1984" which painted a desperate picture of the future for our race. Roddenberry told us that space was 'the final frontier', it wasn't and isn't.
Baby boomers came in all colors, sizes, background and ethnicity. They found nature and a hole in the ozone layer. They modernized and mechanized our society. They gave birth to Generation X who are now the parents of the Millennials.
We were and are not perfect, just like our parents before us. We struggle every day with the world around us. With instant news, the horrors of war, the bombings, the deaths of innocents is up front and center.
We were not given things just because we wanted them.
Wars have been fought through each generation to insure the freedom of the next generation. We now question wars fought on foreign soil as to why any generation should lose members in a war that politicians think we need to fight.
The world, our county, our people are in a state of constant flux. I am not saying my life, childhood is better or worse than any other. What I am saying is we have missed the point. Each generation has something to offer. We need to look behind us to see what is ahead. Take the best that there is, apply it to the next generation and surely there will be a change for the better.
We are trying and we continue to try to bring the best forward, to not lose the best of the past because it is old or different. To embrace all because we can and should.
One final note, I am not saying that bad things didn't exist way back in the 'mid-century', they did and they continue to. What I am saying is we have let the bad rule too much of the good in this nation, in the world. We forget with instant bad news that there is a lot of good news that needs to be told.
We are letting fear rule us. From being afraid to letting kids get bumps and scrapes to fearing opening our doors to strangers to much larger and darker fears. We can't go back to 'simpler' times but there are lessons to be learned from all pass generations, good and bad, they are what makes the future either bleak or amazing, as in what could be.
We didn't have integration, we believed in politicians, we didn't know what recycling was, we let banks and Wall St. rule our economics. We thought doctors were gods and cancer was a word whispered in dark corners. Drug use was unheard of, alcoholics were people who just drank a bit too much, hitting a woman was wrong but not corrected, and bigotry, not just of color prevailed.
We drove in cars without seat belts, rode bikes without helmets, we were told no and corrected when we did something wrong. We were punished when we broke our parents rules, going to our room really was a punishment, there wasn't a TV, computer or gaming station to keep us amused but there were books. Hard cover and soft cover, not on Kindles or Nooks. Comic books cost a dime and were not 'graphic' novels.
Our parents did not 'hover' over us. We went out at daybreak during the summer and came home when the streetlights came on. We ate what was given to us and were thankful.
H.G. Wells told us of worlds and times beyond our own. Orwell wrote "1984" which painted a desperate picture of the future for our race. Roddenberry told us that space was 'the final frontier', it wasn't and isn't.
Baby boomers came in all colors, sizes, background and ethnicity. They found nature and a hole in the ozone layer. They modernized and mechanized our society. They gave birth to Generation X who are now the parents of the Millennials.
We were and are not perfect, just like our parents before us. We struggle every day with the world around us. With instant news, the horrors of war, the bombings, the deaths of innocents is up front and center.
We were not given things just because we wanted them.
Wars have been fought through each generation to insure the freedom of the next generation. We now question wars fought on foreign soil as to why any generation should lose members in a war that politicians think we need to fight.
The world, our county, our people are in a state of constant flux. I am not saying my life, childhood is better or worse than any other. What I am saying is we have missed the point. Each generation has something to offer. We need to look behind us to see what is ahead. Take the best that there is, apply it to the next generation and surely there will be a change for the better.
We are trying and we continue to try to bring the best forward, to not lose the best of the past because it is old or different. To embrace all because we can and should.
One final note, I am not saying that bad things didn't exist way back in the 'mid-century', they did and they continue to. What I am saying is we have let the bad rule too much of the good in this nation, in the world. We forget with instant bad news that there is a lot of good news that needs to be told.
We are letting fear rule us. From being afraid to letting kids get bumps and scrapes to fearing opening our doors to strangers to much larger and darker fears. We can't go back to 'simpler' times but there are lessons to be learned from all pass generations, good and bad, they are what makes the future either bleak or amazing, as in what could be.
