They call us 'The Elders'

[calguy]

They call us "The Elders"

We were born in the 40s-50s-60s.
We grew up in the 50s-60s-70s.
We studied in the 60s-70s-80s.
We dated in the 70s-80s-90s.
We got married and discovered the world in the 70s-80s-90s.
We ventured into the 80s-90s.
We stabilized in the 2000s.
We became wiser in 2010. And we are firmly moving beyond 2020.

We've lived in eight different decades... TWO different centuries... TWO separate millennials...

We have gone from telephone with a long distance operator to video calls anywhere in the world.

We've gone from slides to YouTube, vinyl records to online music, handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.

From live game radio, to black and white television, to color television and then to 3D HD television. We went to the video store, and now we watch Netflix.

We met the first computers, punch cards, floppy disks, and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones.

We wore shorts all our childhood, and then trousers, oxfords, rockets, full shells and blue jeans.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19.

We used to ride roller skates, tricycles, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars, and now we drive hybrids or electric cars.

Yes, we've been through a lot, but what a life we've had! They could describe us as "exemplars", people born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and digital adulthood.

We're like "I've seen it all"!

Our generation has literally lived and witnessed more than anyone else in all dimensions of life. It is our generation that has literally adapted to "CHANGE." A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which will be... UNIQUE!

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drgilda_they-call-us-the-elders-we-were-born-in-activity-7169515238415872000-xh14

[nolabear]

1. I'll take it.

We really are the giants on whose shoulders other young giants are standing.

[calguy]

2. And we wouldn't have had the life we've had

If it wasn't for the generation before us who survived TWO world wars and the greatest depression the world has ever been through.
Each generation builds on the latest, only wanting to leave the next generation a better world than the one they lived.

[IA8IT]

8. Well Said...Appalled folks my age(71) have anything to do with todays GOP/tRump.

[wnylib]

12. Very true. When my mother reached 90 and my

brother lived just two blocks away from her in a retirement community, he sometimes got impatient with her when she asked for help in resetting the language on her TV. She accidentally hit the wrong buttons on her remote and ended up with Spanish or French.

I reminded my brother that she was an adult with a husband and child when she saw TV for the first time. She grew up when ice was delivered to homes for the ice box. Talking films did not exist until her teen years. Clothes were washed in a ringer washer and hung outdoors in summer and in the basement in winter. She had survived the Great Depression and watched our father leave for military service in WWII when my brother was a baby.

She lived from that background into an era of personal computers, personal cell phones, CDs for music instead of a 5 foot floor model radio. So he needed to be more patient.

She loved reading and music. But I did not know what books or CDs she already had. (Forget streaming music. That was a bridge too far for her to learn.) So I mailed her Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift cards and asked my nephew, who lived in a nearby suburb, to send his kids to my mother's place with a laptop to help mom pick out CDs and books. It was a good intergenerational exchange experience for them. The kids (in their teens) would go to the website, select the books or music section, show mom the choices for her to pick out. They set up an account for her, entered the gift card info, and her address for delivery. She loved those visits from her great grandchildren and they enjoyed her stories of "the olden days."

[3Hotdogs]

22. Back to your second paragraph. Clothes.. hung outdoors. And in spring and fall, there was a fresh smell to the clothes

that you don't get from pulling them out of the dryer.

[marybourg]

27. And a certain stiffness you don't get from pulling

them out of the dryer, either.

[wnylib]

49. True. But that stiffness could be softened a bit by

Last edited Sun Aug 11, 2024, 05:21 PM - Edit history (1)

running your hands over the sheets while folding them. I have some 100% cotton T shirts that I hang on doorknobs in my apt. to dry because I don't want them to shrink in the dryer. I smooth them over with my palms when folding them. It's a practice that I learned from my great aunt, who still insisted on using her wringer washer long after front and top loading automatic washers were available.

[marybourg]

53. Try doing that on a pair of king sized sheets.

And four terry bath sheets.

[wnylib]

54. King size (and other) sheets need dryers. So do towels.

But king size sheets were not a thing in the era of clothes lines.

[marybourg]

55. But you seemed to be talking about smoothing

outdoor-dried items today.

And besides, people did of course hang double size flat sheets and towels outdoors before the advent of dryers.

[wnylib]

56. I am not in favor of still hanging clothes outdoors to dry.

Dryers are great inventions for convenience and for softer results. I am only pointing out how people used to cope before dryers

[marybourg]

57. . . .

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

64. Not in favor? I hope you're not against it.

It has benefits, not least the positive environmental effects!

This thread is making me think I ought to get a clothesline & use it. Living in the woods, though, might not be the best setting for it, but we do get some sun.

[wnylib]

68. No, I am not against it, either.

Not at all practical for me, though. I live on an upper floor in a multi story apt building in a city. No place to string a line.

[wnylib]

46. Today we imitate that fresh smell with scented dryer sheets,

but it's not the same.

[EverHopeful]

26. Read a great reply once for kids impatient with their parents'

lack of tech savvy. "If you're impatient about teaching your parents how to use the computer, remember, they're the ones who taught you to use the toilet."

So glad your Mom and the great grandchildren got to share that time.

[betsuni]

63. Thank you.

We don't have a clothes dryer and hang things out to dry, sun's so strong it's like an outdoor dryer anyway.

It's been over 100 degrees (in the shade) for weeks and we don't have air conditioning. Cold towels, electric fans, complaining. Space heaters in winter, complaining (although winter is better because you can always put on more clothes and with heat you can't take off any more when practically naked).

Lots of extremely thrifty old people in our neighborhood, they remember the war and post-war era. Nobody's going to have large vegetable and fruit gardens they share the produce with neighbors after they die.

[nolabear]

21. Amen and amen.

You’d think we’d all want that. And respect it.

[LudwigPastorius]

3. I thought this was going to some kind of H. P. Lovecraft post.

[Celerity]

31. shame it wasn't

[cbabe]

4. My grandmama went from traveling west in a covered wagon to the Apollo moon landing.

[lastlib]

40. my grandmother went from horse & buggy to the space shuttle.

Born just before the first Wright brothers' flight, died in 2001. Saw her first car when she was four, first plane when she was five, lived through two world wars, a dozen or so lesser conflicts, multiple depressions/recessions, Spanish flu, polio epidemics, and the mapping of the human genome. And more.

[biophile]

5. Grandparents -from horse power to the moon

My grandfather went through two centuries - 1890 to 1976. He also went from horse and wagon to seeing the lunar landing- I was sitting beside him on our sofa watching it on TV! In my lifetime- and I hope to live a while longer- we might see the Singularity, if Kurzweil is correct

[COL Mustard]

34. My grandfather was almost that same age

Born in 1888 in rural Alabama, lived until 1978. He had seen some things, but man did he have an attitude about race. I’ve never understood it, but I didn’t walk in his shoes.

[0rganism]

6. I feel honored to have seen these things happen and played a small part in it

We humans have done things, seen visions, shared ideas that would have been considered reserved for gods a thousand years ago. Some beautiful, some catastrophic, for better or for worse we are here for this slice of it. Shout out to my fellow gifted-technologist semi-aquatic primates, you've come a long way baby!

[wnylib]

17. Yes, we should remember when we congratulate ourselvess

for all we have seen and done in our lifetimes that great changes happen in each generation. We are not the first whose lives span several technological developments.

[mercuryblues]

7. My Grandmother went from dirt roads,

the Great depression 2 world wars, Korean war Vietnam to the telephone, man on the moon. People dying from measles, polio, smallpox and more to vaccines. From prohibition to owning a bar.

Every generation sees amazing things. I wonder sometimes what my kids and grandkids will see in their lifetime.

[calguy]

9. Life is truly amazing

when we take the time to remember where we've been, and to appreciate what those who came before us have achieved during their time.

[mercuryblues]

10. I always laugh when people of our/my generation

complain about how woman dress. It's almost like they forgot halter tops and Daisy Duke shorts, string bikinis, tube tops etc.

[Abolishinist]

59. You're talking about California Girls!

California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your popsicle
Ooh oh ooh
Ooh oh ooh

[MineralMan]

11. When I was a teenager in the early 1960s, I talked with my grandmother.

She was born in the 19th century. I asked her questions about the first time she encountered things.

She grew up in rural Texas. She remembered the first time she saw electric light bulbs.
She remembered the first time she used an indoor toilet.
She remembered the first automobile she ever saw.
She remembered the first time she heard a radio.
She remembered the first time she was able to vote in an election.
She remembered the First World War and the influenza pandemic.
She remembered people who died of childhood illnesses, because there were no vaccines.
She remembered many, many things.

I remember listening to the radio in the dining room, because there were no TV sets in my town.
I remember a time when all records played at 78 RPM.
I remember having to give a phone number to an operator to make a call.
I remember Rotary Dial phones.
I remember Sputnik.
I remember polio, and the amazing polio vaccine.
I remember the year the birth control pill became available.
I remember when girls right through high school had to wear dresses or skirts to school.

I remember stuff, too. We all will remember stuff. But, my parents and grandparents saw more huge changes in their lifetimes than I did, or than today's children will do.

Is there wisdom in those memories? Only if you think about it.

[calguy]

15. I remember back when I was a little kid, younger than ten

The biggest thrill was getting to stay with my grandma for a week. She was born in 1888, and all during her life, she kept scrap books of newspaper clippings reporting on stories and headlines of the day. I spent many amazing hours looking through her scrap books, seeing such events like the assassination of President McKinley, the start and ending of both world wars, Charles Lindbergh's first trans-Atlantic flight, and so many other important events we studied about in history class, events she lived throigh and told me about as we paged through all her scrap books.
Those were times I'll never forget.

[MineralMan]

18. Yes. I was a curious young lad, and

had lots of questions about my grandmother and her history. She loved it. There were so many things she remembered. I was the only one in the family who bothered to ask her about her life.

I was most interested in technology and stuff like that as a boy. I wish I had asked her more about other things.

[LeftInTX]

29. My grandmother was born near Tomarza, Turkey in 1903

No telephones. No trains. Maybe there was a telegraph in town. Who knows? No plumbing.

Photographs were very rare. The town had a collective photo taken in front of the monastery , but I don't know if she was in it.



My great grandfather would travel to Kayseri and got his picture taken there. There were no childhood photos of my grandmother etc. No studios locally.

School was grades 1-2 only. My great grandmother never went to school.


They eventually had smallpox vaccines, but those could have been in Syria.

They were Armenians, so she saw a lot of shit.

There were trains on the Syrian border.

They patiently waited for a camel to die knowing that Muslims would not eat a camel that died of natural causes. After it died, they ate it.

[MineralMan]

37. Thank you for sharing that.

I was stationed in Samsun, Turkey in 1967-8. That's on the Black Sea coast. I never got to the area where your grandmother lived, though.

[LeftInTX]

50. I'm sure Anatolia was developed by 1960

From the movie America, America there were apparently a few telephones in Kayseri prior to WWI. I think they were used by govt officials. I don't know if this is a fact.

[lame54]

13. They still make ribbon candy...

You can order it on Amazon

[LeftInTX]

28. I would personally like to forget about ribbon candy!

[Cha]

14. Hey I remember it all.. even got married

in the '60s .. lol

Mahalo, calguy!

[calguy]

47. Good for you Cha! You just made my day.

Why...? Because I just discovered another person older than me. There aren't many around anymore as I live the autumn of my life. I have a hunch that your mind is just as young and liberal as it was back in the sixties. ❤❤❤❤

[Cha]

60. LOL! Happy to oblige!

I'll be 80 on Tuesday.

[calguy]

61. Happy Birthday, big sister!

You're only six years older than me.

[Cha]

62. Yeah, I wish I were 74

Mahalo, calguy..

My younger sister flew into today from Asheville, North Carolina "

[DavidDvorkin]

16. What? Speak up!

[DFW]

19. Oh, THOSE elders. I thought you meant these elders:

And--for the record, I am NOT a bacterium. I have lived in two different millennia, but definitely NOT in two different millennials!

[speak easy]

20. And now, the majority of us vote GOP.

[Cirsium]

36. misleading

People who vote Republican - white people, wealthier people - live longer and have easier access to the polls. Most of my friends have passed. None of them voted Republican.

[calguy]

38. Not me.

Never have. Never will.

[mamacita75]

23. The 'elders'

are us!!
Good list of what we have lived through.
Tks for posting.

[Clouds Passing]

24. Count me in....

I remember when President John F Kennedy was murdered. Our black and white tv was on when it happened. People were screaming and crying. I was shocked. Then Robert….Then Martin…Then all the drug overdose deaths of our musicians, Jimi, Janice…

Transistor radios…Rotary telephones with super long cords so I could hide behind the cellar door and talk to boys…. 8 track tapes…45s…LPs…cassette tapes…coal deliveries for the furnace… milk deliveries to the milkbox….we had a washing machine with a hand crank wringer to squeeze the water out…and a clothes line for drying…hand washed and dried the dishes…cat eyeglasses…beehive updos…bell bottom jeans and pants…halter tops….bikinis….earth shoes…we actually played outside all day….rode bikes everywhere…talked face to face with people…cooked food from scratch….picked and ate wild berries…the sky was clear and bright….

[sagetea]

25. Wisdom

in some cultures Elders, is respect. Uncles, Grandfathers, Brothers, Grandmothers, Aunties, Sisters, and our Twin Spirited Elders. It's all about wisdom, experience, growth.

We are lucky!


sage

[joanbarnes]

30. Soon I pray we will finally see a female President!

[calguy]

39. Your dream will come true. It's less than 90 days away

[Martin68]

32. My grandparents lived from a time before automobiles and electric appliances of any kind. Before airplanes. Some people

still call a refrigerator an "icebox" because they kept things cool in a box with a big piece of ice in it, delivered to the door by a horse drawn cart. The iceman. When my grandmother died at the age of 98 she had seen a great number of the advances you list. I've often wondered whether at the age of 72 I've seen more change than she did.

[Codifer]

33. Spans.

I am the late-life son of a late-life son.

I am 79. My father was born in 1902. His father was born in 1857.

Many changes in the world in that span of time.

Not that much change in the family tho.

They were country folk and miners. Often illiterate.

[Voltaire2]

35. Yeah well half of us are utterly horrible.

As a boomer I’m appalled at my generation. We could have been the greening of America. Instead we elected Trump.

[GP6971]

66. Good morning!!

[Ping Tung]

41. I was born in 1944. FDR was running for Prez. D Day was a few months away.

Party line phones. Ice boxes. Delivered milk. DDT. Crappy 50s music.

If you feel bad about being old, don't worry, it won't last long.

[tavernier]

42. I miss flirting.

I’m 77. All the guys I knew in my town that were my age are gone. But I still put on my pretty dresses, slap on some mascara and lip gloss, and pretend I might get a wink when I’m out grocery shopping.
Hey, we’re still standing… do everything with joy and a lot of laughter.

[iluvtennis]

43. KnR - I love this thread. Thank you alm for psoting your memories from your elders.

[ShazzieB]

44. I wore dresses most of my childhood and teens.

We wore shorts all our childhood, and then trousers, oxfords, rockets, full shells and blue jeans.

Not quite. Dresses were required by every school I ever attended until I got to college. I wore shorts in the summer time and long pants in my teens for activities other than school or church. But I lived a lot more of my life in dresses than anything else until college, after which I lived in jeans or other types of trousers as much as possible.

Also, I don't drive an ev or a hybrid, because my husband and I cannot afford to replace our old gas-powered beaters. Other than that, I relate to just about all of this!

[Dave Bowman]

45. We've come a long way and there's no going back.

[Midnight Writer]

48. They call me "Old-timer".

[LizBeth]

51. Or old. I simply go with old. And I am on the lower end of old. But old is old

[NoMoreRepugs]

52. I often say I was born in the first half of the 1900's.

[broiles]

58. It's a privilege to be old, everyone gets to be young.

[republianmushroom]

67. Yup, it has been a wild ride, would do it again with no changes.