Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Captured by History


There are time periods and events that some people never release. They go through life as prisoners of an experience that is long gone. A few of the culprits:

  • The Sixties
  • The Great Depression
  • Munich
  • The JFK Assassination
  • Disco
  • Vietnam
  • Watergate
And, of course, high school.

2 comments:

John E. Smith said...

Good list, Michael

This reminds me of the term "generational experience", which is another way of looking at these large-scale events that provide lasting effects.

It's interesting to me that each generation tends to adopt an experience (Baby Boomers see Vietnam as their experience), and sometimes disregard the reality that they were not the only generation to experience it, the uniqueness being that the guys were mostly of military age.

Of course, always good to remember that everyone might be shaped by one of these large events, but not always in the same way or with the same long-term effects.

Thanks for the list - nostalgia time coming:)

John

Michael Wade said...

John,

Good points!

"The Greatest Generation" label for the WWII generation has always struck me as both inaccurate and sloppy. It might be more accurately applied to the founders of the nation but then Benjamin Franklin was hardly of the same generation as Alexander Hamilton. As you note, when we look at a large event, more than one generation was experiencing it.

Michael