We received this
thoughtful essay from one of our readers asking that we would share it with all
of you who may in some way, relate to it.
Have kids...who have kids of their own?
You might want to "cut and paste" this article, sending it to them with a note saying...
"Your life is now your
own, but this is what we had to deal with in shaping yours. We don't ask for
thanks, just a little respect and understanding for those who allowed you the
luxuries you have today."
Children of the 30s and 40s
We are "The Last
Ones"
Author
Unknown
Born in the 1930s and
early 40s, we exist as a very special age
cohort.
We are the “last ones.”
We are the last, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the
winds of war and the war itself with fathers and uncles going off.
We are the last to
remember ration books for everything from sugar to shoes to stoves. We saved tin
foil and poured fat into tin cans. We saw cars up on blocks because tires
weren’t available. My grandmother delivered milk in a horse drawn
cart.
We are the last to hear Roosevelt’s radio assurances and to see gold stars in the front windows of our grieving neighbors. We can also remember the parades on August 15, 1945; VJ Day.
We saw the ‘boys’ home from the war build their Cape Cod style houses, pouring the cellar, tar papering it over and living there until they could afford the time and money to build it out.
We are the last who spent childhood without
television; instead imagining what we heard on the radio. As we all like to
brag, with no TV, we spent our childhood “playing outside until the street
lights came on.” We did play outside and we did play on our own. There was no
little league.
The lack of television in our early years meant, for most of us, that we had little real understanding of what the world was like. Our Saturday afternoons, if at the movies, gave us newsreels of the war and the holocaust sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons. Newspapers and magazines were written for adults. We are the last who had to find out for ourselves.
As we grew up, the country was exploding with growth. The G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow. VA loans fanned a housing boom.
Pent up demand coupled with new installment payment plans put factories to work. New highways would bring jobs and mobility.
The
veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.
In the late
40s and early 50’s the country seemed to lie in the embrace of brisk but quiet
order as it gave birth to its new middle class. Our parents understandably
became absorbed with their own new lives. They were free from the confines of
the depression and the war. They threw themselves into exploring opportunities
they had never imagined.
We weren’t neglected,but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.
We weren’t neglected,but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.
They were glad we played by ourselves ‘until the street lights came on.’
They were busy discovering the post war world.
Most of us had no life plan, but with the unexpected virtue of ignorance and an economic rising tide we simply stepped into the world and went to find out.
We entered
a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed.
Based on
our naïve belief that there was more where this came from, we shaped life as we
went.
We enjoyed a luxury; we felt secure in our future.
We enjoyed a luxury; we felt secure in our future.
Of course,
just as today, not all Americans shared in this
experience.
Depression
poverty was deep rooted.
Polio was
still a crippler.
The Korean
War was a dark presage in the early 50s and by mid-decade school children were
ducking under desks.
China became Red China.
Eisenhower
sent the first ‘advisors’ to Vietnam.
Castro set
up camp in Cuba...
... and Khrushchev came to power.
We are the last to experience an interlude when there were no existential threats to our homeland.
We came of
age in the late 40s and early 50s.
The
war was over and the cold war, terrorism, climate change, technological upheaval
and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with insistent
unease.
Only we can remember both a time of apocalyptic war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
Only we can remember both a time of apocalyptic war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
We
experienced both.
We
grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better not
worse.
We are the ‘last ones.’
We are the ‘last ones.’
Anthem Opinions Administration
Dick,
What an outstanding article. Being from Chicago, I envisioned my playing football in the 1200 block of Barry Avenue. We had to move to the side for the one car very fifteen minutes that had to get through.
Going to the show every Saturday.
Having to walk to the 3100 block of Kenmore each evening to tune in my grandfather's TV set.
You remember vertical, horizontal hold, rabbit ear antenna etc.?
I just received an email from someone with my same background, born in Mainland China during the Second World War.
We both grew up in Taiwan (ROC), came to the States for advanced education and stayed here as our new home country.
We talked about us being the last generation being called Mainlanders by locals in Taiwan.
Now, after reading your blog and being born about the same time, we experienced Second World War with changes in our lives, and you know what?
Best of all, we are in the same community and share the same values. I feel that I am so very blessed.