So, it’s my birthday, I guess when you are young and your
birthday comes around, it is all about the party and celebration. For me it is
a time to reflect on my life up to this point and all that has happened in the
last 57 years. I think that for those of us in our 50’s the changes are pretty
amazing, there is still much to do. Please note that this is in no way meant to be
a political commentary, it is just what happened. If you feel like it is
necessary to turn this into a political discussion, post something on your own
page.
Maybe not as great as grandparents, they went from the
beginnings of air travel to seeing a guy walk on the moon. My parents’
generation started out getting their evening entertainment by listening to the
radio to being able gained the ability to carry an internet capable computer
(smart phone) in their pocket.
For us, there were some huge technological advancements.
When we were kids we had three TV channels, if dad wanted the channel changed,
he told one if us to get up and walk over to the TV, change the channel and
move the rabbit ears around until most of the snow cleared from the screen (I
realize for the younger people on my timeline, I was speaking a foreign language
starting with the part about get up and walk). Now I have somewhere around 4
remotes sitting on my coffee table, over 200 channels on my TV, a phone that
can do everything my desktop computer can do and still sometimes I am bored. I
think our parents did a good job of giving us a better world
I mentioned amazing changes that my generation has
experienced. Most of them have been of a social kind of thing.
I lived in Franklin, Va. in the early 60’s, there were
separate bathrooms and drinking fountains based on race. Now I live in Hampton,
Va., our town is about 50/50 black and white and things are actually pretty
good. Apparently this is not true for parts of the country and this worries me.
I have seen women move from the being housewives to being
able to use all their talents and abilities to be involved in all aspects of
the worlds of business and politics. There is still work that needs to be done
here. But there has been a lot of ground traveled.
The time period from about 1965-1975 or so was a time of
huge social upheaval, we had the Woodstock generation, the Hippie movement and
the Viet Nam war. I still remember the evening News (Walter Cronkite or
Huntley/Brinkley) giving us the daily body count. Dan Rather in fatigues
running through the jungles of Viet Nam. There were the race riots all over the
country. Drugs became a huge problem. It almost ripped the country apart. But most
of us survived. We gave you disco music and leisure suits. For this I
apologize, no one should have to ever experience that again.
We are again in a period of unrest and like the times before
I am pretty sure we will get through it and be a stronger world. This could
wind up in a long nasty political discussion, but that isn’t the point here.
