Nostalgia Ain't What it Used to Be

As the Battle of the Boomers vs. the Alphabet Generations drags on, it becomes increasingly obvious there will be no clear winner.

As seen in our local library.

Scrolling through Facebook, I see my peers waxing nostalgic about playing outside all summer long without supervision, the absence of screen time (unless you count Saturday morning cartoons) and the overall wholesomeness of a childhood spent in the golden age before technology took over and AI threatened our very existence.

While this bucolic view of growing up in the 1950s/1960s/1970s is lovely, it shows but one side of the coin. Flip it over, and you see that most of us are lucky to be alive. My brother tells a story of going into the woods with friends and blowing things up using dismantled fireworks. Holding onto car bumpers and sliding down the street on snowy days was a thing. And no one thought anything about riding in cars without seat belts (until seat belts were invented, at which point, my mother insisted). 

If I look back honestly on my growing up years, I recall a lot of boredom.

Conversations with friends went something like this:

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

Just don't ask Mom, because she would "give you something to do," and you wouldn't like it.

Sure, we had real music. Serious rock 'n roll. Bell bottoms and tie dye.

But we also had disco, polyester clothes and weird knitted/crocheted items. Also, baby puke green and orange décor. Plus stinky air and polluted rivers (pre-EPA). 

And let me tell you, many of the TV shows we thought were the bomb at the time simply bomb when you watch them today – a la The Flying Nun, Three's Company, BJ and the Bear. 

So, yes, there are things to look back on with fondness, but like any generation, there are cringe-worthy memories, too. 

I wonder what the current generation will look back on with awe: 

"Remember the before-days when there was no AI to help with your homework?"

"When I was a kid, we only had 162 cable channels, no streaming services."

"Sometimes, we'd go to the store to buy stuff."

Well, there I go, getting all Boomer snarky on you. 

I suppose my point is, there are great and sucky things about every generation, and we should just get over this divisive "my generation is better than yours" thinking.

After all, my parents survived the Great Depression and World War II. And they raised six kids on a very tight budget. 

We really can't top that.