I found this particularly appropriate, given I was born in the early 40's
Think about it!
Many of our friends are no longer with us. And those of us still here are lovingly called “the elderly.” But what a journey it has been.
We were born in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
We grew up in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
We studied through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
We fell in love, built families, or chose our own paths in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
We settled into the 2000s.
We grew wiser in the 2010s.
And here we are, still going strong into 2020 and beyond.
Think about it. We have lived through eight different decades, two centuries, and two millennia. We have truly seen it all.
We went from making long-distance calls through an operator to holding the world in the palm of our hands with video calls.
We went from handwritten letters to instant messages. From black-and-white TV to 3D. From vinyls and cassettes to streaming music online. From standing in line at a video rental store to watching anything we want on Netflix.
We learned on typewriters and punch cards, and today we carry gigabytes in our pockets.
We wore shorts and Oxfords, mini-skirts and bell-bottoms, Palestinian scarves and blue jeans.
We lived through polio, meningitis, tuberculosis, swine flu, and even COVID-19.
We went from tricycles to hybrids and electric cars.
We played marbles, checkers, and Monopoly on a table. Today, kids play Candy Crush on a phone.
We drank milk from glass bottles and ate vegetables fresh from the garden.
And through it all, we adapted.
We are the generation that witnessed the birth of molecular biology, the discovery of DNA and RNA, and the rise of gene therapy. We are the generation that has lived an analog childhood and a digital adulthood. We have faced more change than any other generation in history—and we made it through.
What a life. What a story. What a gift.
To everyone who belongs to this very special generation—congratulations. We are, and will forever be, unique.
And I would add some things that that overlooked: we went from women being housewives to women being a major force in the workplace. We went from Jim Crow to at least a solid pretense of racial equality. We went from gay people being castigated and shunned to being part of the mainstream, and we went from politicians who, for example, called America a Shining City on a Hill, to one that calls it ... well, I'll leave that one out in light of forum rules, but you get the picture.