The People Behind My Eyes

Narrow Past with Too Broad Of A Future - Saturday, May 27, 2006 - 4:53 AM EST

I just read a letter floating around the net addressed to kids who survived 30s-40s-50s-60s. First of all let me say that the link to this letter is not by someone that buys into all of this philosophy. The letter is just posted on her site.

What bothers me about the letter is that it’s narrow minded. It talks only of play but nothing of school or family life in those years. It says they were simple times but it leaves out poverty, the Great Depression, wars and social injustices that mark those times. It only says play was simple and people accepted responsibility. It left out so much. Being irritated by that I had to leave a comment on the blog. I should have told the blogger that the comment was addressed to the writer of the letter and not to her. I wish I'd done that. This entry is also written to the writer of the letter and those who buy into his/her narrow view. This was my comment on that site:

they say people of my generation aren't made of the same things as those of past generations. this is true. the air is different, the water is different, wars have come and gone and the attitudes of many have soured. so they are right, we are not made of the simple times. we're made of security & instant pleasures. i can't say that is right but what i can say is right…we are not made of the same things.

recently a friend of mine and i went to Target and played dress up in THEIR clothes while taking pictures of ourselves. this was good clean fun. there are people who know how to do this that were not born in simple times.

Again, I wish I'd told her the comment was to the writer of the letter and not her. Anyway though, those generations missed out on medical advancement. Those generations lost parents, brothers and sisters to illnesses that they now have a cure for. Those generations lost out on the ability to heal their mind through therapeutic means and other means with greater understanding. In addition to physical and mental health delays they were stifled when speaking of and caring for social issues like disabilities, animal rights and sexual offenses towards children and women.

The major thing this generation has in common with the past generations is that we all live in fear. We lived in fear then and we live in it now. We either feared our fathers, brothers, uncles or the neighbor next door or we feared not getting enough to eat, not having good shoes or not having medical help when needed. People in the 30’s thru the 60’s experienced the same crimes we have today only now it gets across the world in seconds instead of days, months and years. The present generation shares the same growing pains as past generations only now if there is a crime against us we can tell and maybe get some help. Unemployed past generations suffered hunger the same as unemployed and underemployed do today. So when you think about the simple fun you had does it compare to the heartache of silence and injustices that were practiced in those times? I didn’t think so. I'm happy you were able to and I quote:"play kickball and come home when the street lights came on." I'm happy you were able to "ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags" and live. I am okay with the fact that you didn’t have or need, “Play stations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms.”

I agree that there is way too much out there for our children to get into. What they have access to is also accessible to people that prey on children. What the future holds as far as technology isn’t even imaginable. There will be ways to hurt each other faster and deeper than today. There will be ways to hear of this hurt faster and in vivid colour. Is this a good thing, to have things faster and brighter? I have no idea but when that time comes I hope I never say that I'd like to revert back to the old ways. People say you can’t have it all. You can’t have the simple times as well as advancement. If you want simple you have to give up all the progress the world has made. If you want progress you have to give up on the idea that things will ever be simple again. I myself prefer a balance and this is where your conscience comes in. You have to know right from wrong and act on it to be able to enjoy the simple and benefit from advanced ideas and practices.

I am only 35 years old. I was born in 1971 past the time of most of what that person spoke of yet I appreciate simplicity from the past but I also enjoy luxuries from today. I decide what is best for my lifestyle based on more than what I want immediately. I keep in mind the interests of others. While I live with free will I understand that my actions impact others either positively or negatively. I’ve learned important lessons from generations past. You’ve shown us how not to be. We have rights now. Women have them, children have a measure of them, and animals have them. People of colour can vote, women can vote, all children in this country can go to school, rich or poor. So yes, I am happy the good things are still remembered but I am sad for you because after all this time your views are still narrow. You’ve learned nothing. You’ve learned absolutely nothing. When will you gain the wisdom to know the difference between stagnant ideas and beneficial ones that move forward?

If what I’ve seen in my short life time has taught me anything, it’s that history is never far from us and tomorrow is never guaranteed. That basic truth belongs to all generations whether they played kickball until the street lights came on or Nintendo into the night.

Austin’s August