Born in 1947
Did you know that 99% of people born between 1930 and 1946 (GLOBALLY) are now dead?
If you were born in this time span, your ages range between 77 and 93 years old (a 16-year age span) and you are one of the rare surviving one-percenters.
We are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s.
We are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the very structure of our daily lives for years.
We are the last to remember ration books for everything from tea to sugar to shoes. We saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into cans.
We can remember milk being delivered to our houses early in the morning and placed in the “milk-box” at the front door. Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers. We are the last generation who spent childhood without television and instead, “imagined” what we heard on the radio.
With no TV we spent our childhood “playing outside”. There was no city playground for kids. The lack of television in our early years meant that we had little real understanding of what the world was like.
We got “black-and-white” T.V. in the late 50’s that had 1, 2 or 3 stations... and no remote.
Telephones (if you had one) were one to a household and hung on the wall in the kitchen, often with a party line. Computers were called calculators and they were hand cranked. Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon. INTERNET and GOOGLE were words that did not exist.
Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and your father would give you the comic pages after he read the news. The news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. The radio network gradually expanded from 3 stations to thousands.
New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes and there were no freeways. We went downtown to shop, and we walked to school.
Our parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.
We weren’t neglected, but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus. They were glad we played by ourselves. Our parents were busy discovering the postwar world. We entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed and enjoyed ourselves. We felt secure in our future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.
Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it, and the world was thankful for its vaccine, rather than campaigning against its proven benefits.
We are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our country. World War II was over and the cold war, terrorism, global-warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt our life. Only our generation can remember a time after WWII when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. We grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better and people treated one another with respect and dignity.
Last, but not least, we knew and understood that the Star Spangled Banner, when played on a piano, uses both the white and black keys.
More than 99% of us are retired now, and we should feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times!”
If you have already reached the age of 77 years, you have outlived 99% of all the other people on this planet.
You are a 1% ‘er!
As a public service, this article has unlimited access. To support public service journalism, call (209) 223-8761 to subscribe.
Vincit qui patitur
He conquers who endures
Perseverance will lead to victory
If you were born in this time span, your ages range between 77 and 93 years old (a 16-year age span) and you are one of the rare surviving one-percenters.
We are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s.
We are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the very structure of our daily lives for years.
We are the last to remember ration books for everything from tea to sugar to shoes. We saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into cans.
We can remember milk being delivered to our houses early in the morning and placed in the “milk-box” at the front door. Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers. We are the last generation who spent childhood without television and instead, “imagined” what we heard on the radio.
With no TV we spent our childhood “playing outside”. There was no city playground for kids. The lack of television in our early years meant that we had little real understanding of what the world was like.
We got “black-and-white” T.V. in the late 50’s that had 1, 2 or 3 stations... and no remote.
Telephones (if you had one) were one to a household and hung on the wall in the kitchen, often with a party line. Computers were called calculators and they were hand cranked. Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon. INTERNET and GOOGLE were words that did not exist.
Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and your father would give you the comic pages after he read the news. The news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. The radio network gradually expanded from 3 stations to thousands.
New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes and there were no freeways. We went downtown to shop, and we walked to school.
Our parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.
We weren’t neglected, but we weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus. They were glad we played by ourselves. Our parents were busy discovering the postwar world. We entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where we were welcomed and enjoyed ourselves. We felt secure in our future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.
Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it, and the world was thankful for its vaccine, rather than campaigning against its proven benefits.
We are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our country. World War II was over and the cold war, terrorism, global-warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt our life. Only our generation can remember a time after WWII when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. We grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better and people treated one another with respect and dignity.
Last, but not least, we knew and understood that the Star Spangled Banner, when played on a piano, uses both the white and black keys.
More than 99% of us are retired now, and we should feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times!”
If you have already reached the age of 77 years, you have outlived 99% of all the other people on this planet.
You are a 1% ‘er!
As a public service, this article has unlimited access. To support public service journalism, call (209) 223-8761 to subscribe.
Vincit qui patitur
He conquers who endures
Perseverance will lead to victory
