I was talking to a 40-year-old about how depressing the world seems to be now. We talked about inflation, the war in Ukraine, COVID, mass shootings and many other topics. She feared for her children and how they would cope. The events we are going through along with her reaction to them, will, I believe shape her children’s view of the world as they grow.
The conversation got me thinking about my youth. As my generation grew, we were fighting a “cold war” in Europe and a “hot war” first in Korea and then in Vietnam. The threat of worldwide annihilation by nuclear war was with us every day and we practiced protecting ourselves by hiding under our desks at school and our basements at home. Where I lived the winds would bring in dust from the nuclear tests and we would stay inside for a few days to protect ourselves from the fallout.
That was the 50s in the 60s things got worse. John Kennedy and
his brother were assassinated along with Martin Luther King, Jr. The US was at
war internally, race issues and opposition to the war galvanized both sides and
violence was an almost everyday experience, if not in person then on TV.
There were good things, my parents stayed calm and maintained a
normal family life. Being encouraged to try new things and go to a new University., Also, meeting my future wife, starting new adventures, and getting married. events like Woodstock, and the moon landing also shaped me. Finally, privacy was a given, and there was no internet.
But that’s me. How about you? What were the epochal events in
the country and the world that shaped you?
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