Friday, March 11, 2022

That’s Life

Get over it. (The list, I mean, not the description of it as “Boomer Porn.” It is.)

Yes, I’m a Boomer. Yes, I remember all of these things. No, I’m not maudlin and nostalgic about it. My daughter is a Millennial. Her childhood couldn’t have been any different than mine. (The list neglects rotary dial phones, calling the operator to make ling-distance calls, walking up to the TeeVee to change channels; having only 5 channels (3 network, 2 local. Lots of TeeVee. Let’s be honest, we were the TeeVee generation.) I never told her my childhood was better than hers.  My childhood also included segregated schools, water fountains, bathrooms, restaurants and lunch counters.  I can literally count on one hand the number of times I encountered black people in my childhood, because the world I lived in was that segregated, up until the year I turned 16 (and the schools were desegregated).  It was so normal it didn't occur to me there was something wrong.  To discuss that with my daughter is to make it sound like I grew up in medieval Europe.

So enough with the stupid nostalgia about what never really was.

Someone who sincerely thinks this list is a good thing is a very sad person.

1 comment:

  1. Makes you wonder why you never heard adults nostalgic for being sent to work in the mills and mines when they were seven. Or for diphtheria and polio.

    Time is not meant to go backwards. Our age cohort didn't get over being self-obsessed and now the young'uns make fun of us because of it.

    ReplyDelete