StatCounter

Friday, July 15, 2016

The Lucky Generation



Recently I went to my 40th High School reunion. It occurred to me how lucky my generation was.

Sure there were a lot of crappy things going on. The economy wasn't looking that great. In fact, we graduated at what would turn out to be about the peak of the middle class economy. It's been downhill ever since.

Over time the major employers in my home town went out of business. Good jobs were lost long before people could even think of retiring. That's the same period of time when good defined benefit pensions started to be phased out.

So our wages turned out to be stagnant or even lost to inflation. The housing bubble hit us pretty hard. The medical insurance system turned to crap just as the bulk of us started to really need it. Even people with good technical skills found themselves out of work.

So how are we lucky?

Growing up there was no Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or anything else like that. In those days cameras were bulky and used expensive film. Today everyone has a much better camera on their phone that can take almost unlimited pictures for next to nothing.

Looking around at the bozos I went to school they are all pretty lucky that most of their exploits were not saved and shared around the world. By today's standards, nobody would have hired us and may have filed criminal charges. Our generation's stupidity is mostly archived in the weakening minds of those of us who were there.

For that I am grateful.

-Sixbears

10 comments:

  1. Amazing how we lived through it all isn't it? :o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't believe some of those people are still walking around. :)

      Delete
  2. I, too, think we were lucky, Sixbears. Not that I did much to rate going viral, but because we had more personal interaction with family and friends, and perhaps weren't so quick to judge and speak out when the other party was face-to-face. Made jumping in with 2 feet a little more difficult, and pulling a foot out of your mouth a little more thought inducing. Sorry meant what it said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It makes a difference when someone is in nose punching range.

      Delete
  3. had to....
    make our own stuff
    create our own adventures
    calculate equations with a pencil

    this new generation is lost already

    Wildflower

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have hope that at least some of them will pull it together when they really need to.

      Delete
  4. LOL - That's ONE way to look at it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My class had some smart people . . . they really stood out in that crowd.

      . . . and to think, these were the ones who figure out how to show up and pay the registration fee. Quite a few could not scrape up the money for tickets.

      Delete
  5. Some of the guys who graduated with me in 1961 went to Viet Nam. One was killed over there. Other than the war, it was a great time to start out in adult life. BTW, that year that I graduated is one of the few years that you can turn upside down and it reads the same.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was born in '44 and believe that I have lived through the best of times, even though there were some rough spots. So glad I don't have to go through growing up today.

    ReplyDelete