No one should live in the past, but a little nostalgia is good for your mental health. Remembering puts things into perspective and reminds us of the events and times that shaped our lives and made us who we are. After all, the richness of life lies in the memories we have made. They help define us.
While the "greatest generation" was the predominant force that shaped the first half of the last century, the second half belonged to another generation--the Baby Boomers. To capture those exciting decades, I will be periodically posting excerpts from my upcoming book, American Dreams--the Baby Boomer Story on our site. It will be an opportunity to remember and reflect on our past. This is the first part that helps intoduce that series, so enjoy these mini-walks down memory lane.
Maybe you didn't go to Woodstock or participate in campus protests. Perhaps you never wore bell bottoms, love beads or flowers in your hair. But if you were one of the 77 million born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, you're a Baby Boomer. As our parents returned home from World War II to resume their lives, it was the most fertile period in US history. It was also a time when everything changed.
Computers, shifting demographics, and global economics propel change today. For us Baby Boomers, though, change was driven not merely by a combination of technological advances and population shifts, but explosive cultural transformations as well. Our times were marked by a country that was always on the move.
From ponytails and flat tops with ducktails, we went on to become hippies, yippies, and yuppies. We went from drive-in movies to drive-through banks and from American Bandstand and hula-hoops to finding ourselves and Vietnam. It was a wild ride. The 1950s were a time of innocence; the 1960s an age of protest and change; the 1970s a decade of disco and discovery. The 1980s were marked by money, Wall Street, and three piece suits. By the 1990s, we were solidly establishment--even having gained the White House for the first time with the election of Bill Clinton.
We were the product of the greatest generation. Growing up we often frustrated and mystified our parents. Ironically, with the passage of time, leading edge Baby Boomers are now joining the ranks of seniors. We now increasingly share common interests and concerns that are blending both generations into the same group. Indeed, with the new millennium, many of have slid past middle age and are now in our 60s. Not surprisingly, we look at the past to gain perspective as we ponder the future.
Set against the tapestry of music, events, technology, fads, and people that shaped us and our world, American Dreams is the story of one of the largest and most diverse groups in America. Throughout our journey, despite different locations, politics, and economic backgrounds, there are memories, experiences, and lessons learned that all Baby Boomers share. And, as we become increasingly part of the senior set, these shared memories are merging and altering the nature of that group as new common ground is forged.
Our children may never have used a telephone party line, dialed a rotary phone, wound a watch, owned a 45 rpm record, shifted a three speed gear shift on the steering column of a vintage Chevy or Ford, gone to a sock hop in a gym, or clacked the keys on a manual typewriter, but we did.
Although it was a different time, like older seniors, we grew up in a dangerous world. The leading edge Baby Boomers grew up under a mushroom cloud in a world chilled by a Cold War and divided by an Iron Curtain. There was no escape. By the time many of us were starting school in the 1950s, we had seen atomic bomb tests on TV and the all too familiar mushroom cloud was indelibly etched in our minds. We became the first generation with a legitimate fear that there would literally be no tomorrow. Even our name "boomers" conjured up something volatile and explosive. It wasn't until later that our voices would be heard as we rebelled against the establishment, an establishment that we would later embrace.
None-the-less, ours was a world shaped by a large dose of hometown hope and optimism. Fed by our parents' hopes for us, our expectations were high. Unfortunately, those expectations would eventually turn into a sense of entitlement. This sense that society and government owe us something lingers today, unlike the independent, self reliant attitude of older seniors. Even though we shared dreams with them of something better, our youth was very different from that of our folks. After all, they didn't grow up with TVs, computers, and the pill.
Ironically, though, it started when our parents brought home the first televison sets. These one-eyed marvels produced an eerie light that washed over us, but didn't really illuminate our being. No matter, it was magic. It helped shape our image of the world and spawned many of our myths and hopes. It talked to us, provided many of our role models, and brought us together--although sadly not to converse since as it turned out it went a long way toward destroying conversation in our homes.
TV shows of the day were aimed at our parents and us. Many had strong parental role models. They were most often males. Remember Father Knows Best? Leave it to Beaver? The Nelsons? Looking back they may have been a little low on reality, but they were usually high on morality.
Although the world always seemed to be spinning out of control, on a lifestyle and cultural level, we shared things that were constant. We not only watched the same TV shows, but also followed the same professional sports teams. There were no free agents. Johnny Unitas was a Baltimore Colt; Mickey Mantle a New York Yankee; Ted Williams batted for the Boston Red Sox; and, Ernie Banks was a Chicago Cub--period.
Early on our idols sang about innocent love, tenderness, and cars. There were never thoughts about the need for warning labels or ratings for movies, music, or TV shows. This started to really change in the 1960s with songs like Happiness is a Warm Gun, I shot the Sheriff, and The Bitch is Back.
Everyone said we had it made so we didn't talk about hardships. We weren't allowed. After all, our parents with their "great depression" and war stories had first rights to that. Funny thing, though, our parents remembered, but didn't really complain, view themselves as victims, or blame it on somebody else.
Respect for our elders was the way it was. Everybody was a Mr., Mrs., sir or ma'am. Our parents didn't try to be our friends. It was strictly a parent-kid relationship. Maybe they knew something we would never learn. We Baby Boomers on the other hand would later want to befriend our kids and the results were mixed at best.
In the early years, life wasn't really a Norman Rockwell painting, but many of thought it was. But the conformity of the 1950s covered up smoldering embers of social and cultural tension that helped to ignite the flash fires of the 1960s when Baby Boomers as a generation were torn apart by race, culture, war, and politics.
To be continued as we explore the timeframe segments from the 1940s through to the millennium and beyond.
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