Jim Stillman
Nevar
The Betweeners
August 17th 2009 23:50
My Generation: The Betweeners
A few days ago, according to the evening news, was the fortieth anniversary of something occurring in an alfalfa field in Woodstock, New York, that had an overwhelming transformation of the country. I'm not all that certain if that is a fact but I do know that I wasn't affected. If I were in a historical and literary mood, I might start this essay explaining I was born three score and 14 years ago. That’s not important except that I view the world and stuff from a certain perspective fashioned by my personal experiences.
Social scientists and other major-type Thinkers have spent some time and energy in defining cultural “generations”. For example, Tom Brokaw called the men and women who fought in World War II the “Greatest Generation” and the “Silent Generation” - to which I am said to belong – are those born too late to serve in that war and the mid-1940’s. As I will explain, “silent” isn’t the word I would have used; rather we were innocent and unaware, perhaps absent altogether.
The generation to which I am assigned is hardly as culturally interesting as the ones that follow. The “Baby Boomers”, were born after the end of World War II and through the early and mid 1960’s. This group, by the time they reached late teen or college years became part of an exciting and vital part of society. They were part of the counter-culture movement that was active in condemning the Vietnam War and the conservative reluctance to promote the emerging civil rights movement. The push for equality included gender as well as race. Along with that generation’s anti-establishment and conventional attitudes went endemic drug use and experimentation with psychedelic drugs. Our children were late Baby Boomers or, perhaps, part of Generation X (born during the 14 or 15 years before 1975).
My “Silent Generation” was described, about 40 years ago in Time Magazine
We are renters still, taking as our own the values of both old and young—and not thoroughly comfortable with either. Many of us now feel quite at ease with pot, rock and permissive sex; many of us reject the youth culture categorically. Most of us, however, occupy the unhappy position of being undecided: we want to enjoy, but deep down in our pre-Spock psyches, we feel we shouldn't. We puff marijuana at parties when we would be happier with Scotch or gin; we don bellbottoms when we would rather be in tweeds; we jump into affairs when we would rather be at home in bed—asleep. The visible result often is a compromise: the staid Wall Street lawyer, in vest, rep tie and cuffed trousers in the daytime, who turns Bloomingdale hippie in the evening, donning tie-dyed pants and tank top to weed the garden.
Actually, I was, somewhat involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960’s at least to the extent of participating in litigation; I drove a VW Beetle, festooned with stick-on daisies; I had a Nehru style jacket which was worn with a turtleneck shirt and medallion around the neck; and, I grudgingly admit, wore my share of polyester leisure suits.
My generation, at least my small part of it --growing up in a small Massachusetts city and far removed from the more sophisticated Boston or New York – spent teenage years in innocence. We were aware of world events, certainly, participating in “duck and cover” drills at school. For those of younger years, the “duck and cover” was a way, we were told, to escape a nuclear attack: you would cower under a small wooden school desk and if the Russians decided to drop an atom bomb on Haverhill’s Fox Junior High School, you would be safe.
Essentially, we were in between the essential conservatism of our elders and the excesses-excitement of the Boomers. For many of us, in small town America, there was no sexual freedom or adventures. My friends and I spent High School years scared to death of girls and dating, at which date a good-night kiss could be attempted, how one would survive rejection. We rarely left our hometowns and lived a naive, simple life. It wouldn’t be much later when we watched the younger people cavort and enjoy their sexuality that some of us loosened up!
I compare our growing up with my children and grandchildren, armed with means of communication of which we could not ever have anticipated. While the grandchildren’s continuing text messaging to each other, even if both share the same sofa, can be annoying to their elders, that annoyance is born of unfamiliarity with the process. The current generation is maturing in an age of instant information, access to a font of knowledge and experience just beyond the laptop. The current generation has the ability to travel and expand horizons in a way we never could have imagined. I read about the apathy of the young and hate to think of the knowledge and technology “out there” being ignored and wasted. I want to shout, “Use the equipment for more than texting friends; use it to reach and tame the universe.”
Some will; I envy and wish them well in their journey.
.
A few days ago, according to the evening news, was the fortieth anniversary of something occurring in an alfalfa field in Woodstock, New York, that had an overwhelming transformation of the country. I'm not all that certain if that is a fact but I do know that I wasn't affected. If I were in a historical and literary mood, I might start this essay explaining I was born three score and 14 years ago. That’s not important except that I view the world and stuff from a certain perspective fashioned by my personal experiences.
Social scientists and other major-type Thinkers have spent some time and energy in defining cultural “generations”. For example, Tom Brokaw called the men and women who fought in World War II the “Greatest Generation” and the “Silent Generation” - to which I am said to belong – are those born too late to serve in that war and the mid-1940’s. As I will explain, “silent” isn’t the word I would have used; rather we were innocent and unaware, perhaps absent altogether.
The generation to which I am assigned is hardly as culturally interesting as the ones that follow. The “Baby Boomers”, were born after the end of World War II and through the early and mid 1960’s. This group, by the time they reached late teen or college years became part of an exciting and vital part of society. They were part of the counter-culture movement that was active in condemning the Vietnam War and the conservative reluctance to promote the emerging civil rights movement. The push for equality included gender as well as race. Along with that generation’s anti-establishment and conventional attitudes went endemic drug use and experimentation with psychedelic drugs. Our children were late Baby Boomers or, perhaps, part of Generation X (born during the 14 or 15 years before 1975).
My “Silent Generation” was described, about 40 years ago in Time Magazine
We are renters still, taking as our own the values of both old and young—and not thoroughly comfortable with either. Many of us now feel quite at ease with pot, rock and permissive sex; many of us reject the youth culture categorically. Most of us, however, occupy the unhappy position of being undecided: we want to enjoy, but deep down in our pre-Spock psyches, we feel we shouldn't. We puff marijuana at parties when we would be happier with Scotch or gin; we don bellbottoms when we would rather be in tweeds; we jump into affairs when we would rather be at home in bed—asleep. The visible result often is a compromise: the staid Wall Street lawyer, in vest, rep tie and cuffed trousers in the daytime, who turns Bloomingdale hippie in the evening, donning tie-dyed pants and tank top to weed the garden.
Actually, I was, somewhat involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960’s at least to the extent of participating in litigation; I drove a VW Beetle, festooned with stick-on daisies; I had a Nehru style jacket which was worn with a turtleneck shirt and medallion around the neck; and, I grudgingly admit, wore my share of polyester leisure suits.
My generation, at least my small part of it --growing up in a small Massachusetts city and far removed from the more sophisticated Boston or New York – spent teenage years in innocence. We were aware of world events, certainly, participating in “duck and cover” drills at school. For those of younger years, the “duck and cover” was a way, we were told, to escape a nuclear attack: you would cower under a small wooden school desk and if the Russians decided to drop an atom bomb on Haverhill’s Fox Junior High School, you would be safe.
Essentially, we were in between the essential conservatism of our elders and the excesses-excitement of the Boomers. For many of us, in small town America, there was no sexual freedom or adventures. My friends and I spent High School years scared to death of girls and dating, at which date a good-night kiss could be attempted, how one would survive rejection. We rarely left our hometowns and lived a naive, simple life. It wouldn’t be much later when we watched the younger people cavort and enjoy their sexuality that some of us loosened up!
I compare our growing up with my children and grandchildren, armed with means of communication of which we could not ever have anticipated. While the grandchildren’s continuing text messaging to each other, even if both share the same sofa, can be annoying to their elders, that annoyance is born of unfamiliarity with the process. The current generation is maturing in an age of instant information, access to a font of knowledge and experience just beyond the laptop. The current generation has the ability to travel and expand horizons in a way we never could have imagined. I read about the apathy of the young and hate to think of the knowledge and technology “out there” being ignored and wasted. I want to shout, “Use the equipment for more than texting friends; use it to reach and tame the universe.”
Some will; I envy and wish them well in their journey.
.
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Comment by Jeff Musall