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Post by vspindler on Sept 24, 2022 15:45:11 GMT
That you have lived through?
I kind of started thinking about this with the death of QEII and how much history she was a part of. But then it got me thinking about how much history I’ve lived through in my 47+ years. Like when I cast my ballot for Obama I had a moment of “holy crap I’m living history in this very moment”. But I actually sat down the other day to make a list, from the space shuttle program (and then the Challenger explosion), the end of the Cold War, fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf Wars, the first black President, first woman AND woman of color VP, first woman on the Supreme Court, 9/11, AIDS crisis going from certain death sentence to all but an outright cure, to the current pandemic.
Has anyone else had these kinds of realizations?
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Post by lucyg on Sept 24, 2022 15:54:22 GMT
YES!! But then, I was a history major.  What I really think about was my grandmother’s lifetime. She was born in 1904 and died in 1998. She basically experienced the entire 20th century, and went from cars, phones, indoor plumbing and electricity being a novelty, all the way up through the U.S. traveling to the moon and computers/the internet being a part of everyday life. |
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Post by ntsf on Sept 24, 2022 15:57:47 GMT
I remember interviewing a great aunt in the 1970's about what halloween was like in the 1890's in rural iowa.. she lived from the 1880's to the 1980's... 104 yrs. I think in some ways she experienced a wider range of historical events.. from a non electrical world for the most part--to personal computers. history is my avocation.. so it is amazing.
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Post by vspindler on Sept 24, 2022 16:29:40 GMT
Ok I find it amusing that the two responses this far are history folks, and is my hobby.
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basketdiva
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by basketdiva on Sept 24, 2022 16:41:15 GMT
Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars, the Summer of Love ( I grew up in the Bay Area), Aids crisis, Berlin Wall coming down,internet and cell phones, Nixon & Watergate, first woman nominated for VP (Geraldine Ferraro) Challenger, Moon Landing, 1st black president as well as 1st female vp, music's British Invasion" and of course the pandemic.
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Post by epeanymous on Sept 24, 2022 16:42:12 GMT
I remember a few years ago thinking "oh 9/11 is probably the most memorable thing I will live through" and then COVID happened. I am rather hoping I don't live through anything else (negatively) momentous and that I live a very long time . But yes, one of the things I realize I have lived through is the computer/smartphone revolution, and how much life has changed as a result. |
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Post by quinlove on Sept 24, 2022 17:14:55 GMT
That you have lived through? I kind of started thinking about this with the death of QEII and how much history she was a part of. But then it got me thinking about how much history I’ve lived through in my 47+ years. Like when I cast my ballot for Obama I had a moment of “holy crap I’m living history in this very moment”. Has anyone else had these kinds of realizations? When I voted for Hillary, I quickly, quietly and probably illegally - took a picture of my ballot. I was so proud to vote for the first woman president. As there was no doubt that she was going to win. My dd let her 2 teen daughters stay home from school on voting day. They made a day long party about Hillary going to be President. 😕 |
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Post by busy on Sept 24, 2022 17:31:06 GMT
Yes, I talk about this often with DS. I personally think the advent of the internet is the most historic change in my lifetime.
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snyder
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Posts: 3,955
Location: Colorado
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Post by snyder on Sept 24, 2022 17:34:06 GMT
I do at times and it amazes me how much has changed just in my life time. I live in a county of 700,000+ people and I remember my dad saying he remembered when they laid the first pavement on Pikes Peak Avenue. I can't vision this place without paved roads. lol I remember when they were putting up high power lines and thought we were going to see rockets lauch as they reminded me of the rocket structures I had seen on TV. That particular row went up in the late 50s, and they have now been taken down and replaced with underground utilities. I was so disappointed to see my rocket launchers removed. lol Just the advances in home computers boggles the mind. We got ours when my son was in 10th grade. Now its hard to remember what it was like without one.
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Post by gar on Sept 24, 2022 17:36:03 GMT
Obviously with the recent death of The Queen that has been a thought but also in the UK I’ve been around for the first female PM and now (for better or worse!) we’re on the 3rd.
Those are the things that came to mind first.
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wellway
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Sept 24, 2022 17:40:58 GMT
Like lucyg I like history. First man on the moon, Apollo 13, collapse of the Berlin wall, the creation and expansion of the EU, Good Friday Agreement, 9/11, Foot and mouth disease with the follow up killing of thousands of cows, the fields were empty for a long time, Chernobyl, apartheid in South Africa, handover of Hong Kong, Concorde (it flew over me one day as I was stuck in traffic on the M25 near Heathrow), Live Aid, Iran-Irag war. So many disasters, cults, uprisings, assassinations and attempted assassinations, redrawing of national borders. |
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Post by mollycoddle on Sept 24, 2022 17:45:26 GMT
Yes. I think a lot about the politics that I have lived through. What a wild ride! My earliest political memory is the 1960 election. I was 4, and my mom and I went to the Nixon campaign headquarters so that she could get a button. I asked them if they had a Kennedy button, because Kennedy was handsome.
I remember the Kennedy assassination very well. Likewise the Vietnam war, RFK and MLK’s assassinations so close together.
Mostly though, I think about the advances in technology, and how much they have changed peoples’ lives for the better, and not for the better. I love technology, but some days I miss the times when everyone wasn’t accessible all of the time. It made for a lot less stress, IMO.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Sept 24, 2022 17:51:26 GMT
For all the history lovers, this is a video made in 1965, the man being interviewed was 107 at the time. He was being asked about changes he has seen in farming among other things. m.youtube.com/watch?v=daIMIv8perM |
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joelise
Drama Llama
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Post by joelise on Sept 24, 2022 18:04:26 GMT
I’ve not necessarily thought about how much history I have lived through. But now, when I think about it, it blows my mind that I was born 19 years after WW2 ended! When I was growing up I thought it was ancient history! Its 16 years since I got divorced and that seems like yesterday!
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Post by craftedbys on Sept 24, 2022 18:32:38 GMT
My Dad turns 95 in a few weeks and we are always talking about how much history he has witnessed.
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Post by busy on Sept 24, 2022 18:39:52 GMT
I’ve not necessarily thought about how much history I have lived through. But now, when I think about it, it blows my mind that I was born 19 years after WW2 ended! When I was growing up I thought it was ancient history! Its 16 years since I got divorced and that seems like yesterday! I misread this and thought you were 19 when the war ended and was a little confused lol |
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Post by Embri on Sept 24, 2022 19:00:30 GMT
Ok I find it amusing that the two responses this far are history folks, and is my hobby. I'm going to wager there's some survivorship bias going on here. The Venn diagram for people interested in personal memory keeping and people interested in history likely has a big wedge of overlap.
The thing that always sticks in my head when it comes to personal, lived history is that I can remember the world before internet. Not just before it was ubiquitous, but before anyone outside of the military/science/education fields really knew what to do with it. It was pretty wild. Oh, and typing in the actual IP addresses in numeric form to go places! Thank you, domain name registry for making URLS people friendly.
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purplebee
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Post by purplebee on Sept 24, 2022 19:09:11 GMT
I’m 70, so all of the above. I have a very clear recollection of life without computers, cable TV, internet and cell phones. And at the risk of sounding like I am going to shout “Get off my lawn” momentarily, I’m not sure that life wasn’t better then in a lot of ways. But yeah, I’m old (and I do like my internet…)
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 24, 2022 19:18:16 GMT
Before TV, automatic transmissions in cars. Somehow my grandmother had an automatic Bendix washing machine in the forties, but I then had to learn how to use the wringer machine.
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lindas
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by lindas on Sept 24, 2022 19:22:50 GMT
I’m old enough to remember when Alaska and Hawaii got statehood.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 24, 2022 19:27:14 GMT
I’m old enough to remember when Alaska and Hawaii got statehood. Me too. I even won speech contest about why Hawaii should become a state! |
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Post by candleangie on Sept 24, 2022 19:33:41 GMT
And the social changes….gay marriage, roe v wade, and then it’s abolishment. Dress codes, and then their abolishment.
Mental health awareness, the housing crisis, the shift to “college is the only answer” and now the shift away from that.
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Post by Bridget in MD on Sept 24, 2022 20:44:07 GMT
That you have lived through? I kind of started thinking about this with the death of QEII and how much history she was a part of. But then it got me thinking about how much history I’ve lived through in my 47+ years. Like when I cast my ballot for Obama I had a moment of “holy crap I’m living history in this very moment”. But I actually sat down the other day to make a list, from the space shuttle program (and then the Challenger explosion), the end of the Cold War, fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf Wars, the first black President, first woman AND woman of color VP, first woman on the Supreme Court, 9/11, AIDS crisis going from certain death sentence to all but an outright cure, to the current pandemic. Has anyone else had these kinds of realizations? we are about the same age and I didn't think I'd lived thru that much, but when you put it that way!!!!! LOL I guess I have! |
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Post by Zee on Sept 24, 2022 20:51:53 GMT
I often think about what if a favorite historical character (since I was a child, I've pictured Laura Ingalls) came to our future and you had to show her everything new.
Can you imagine? And she herself lived through enormous changes!
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Post by jemali on Sept 24, 2022 21:10:17 GMT
My DD was born in 1997. Her goal is to live to be 103 years old so she can say she’s lived in 3 centuries. My grandma was 101 and her siblings were all in their 90’s, so she’s got a good chance.
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Post by Gem Girl on Sept 24, 2022 21:28:03 GMT
I'd say we've been recipients of that dubious blessing, "May you live in interesting times."
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Post by mollycoddle on Sept 24, 2022 23:33:10 GMT
I’m 70, so all of the above. I have a very clear recollection of life without computers, cable TV, internet and cell phones. And at the risk of sounding like I am going to shout “Get off my lawn” momentarily, I’m not sure that life wasn’t better then in a lot of ways. But yeah, I’m old (and I do like my internet…) Right? I love so much about technology, but I sometimes miss the days without constant videos, passwords, etc. life seems faster and more tiring now. But the advances are remarkable, so my feelings are very mixed. I AM glad that videos were not around when I was young. Yikes! |
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iluvpink
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Post by iluvpink on Sept 24, 2022 23:56:38 GMT
I often think about what if a favorite historical character (since I was a child, I've pictured Laura Ingalls) came to our future and you had to show her everything new. Can you imagine? And she herself lived through enormous changes! I've had that thought too! I've often wondered what my maternal grandmother would think. She died in 1983 and so much has changed even since then. |
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Post by ntsf on Sept 24, 2022 23:59:00 GMT
when I started looking into my family history.. spurred by an invitation to visit the ancestral german village (celebrating their 1250th birthday), I realized my dad.. who was almost 92 at that time, knew his grandfather quite well.. his grandfather was born in 1855.. fought in the kaiser's army in franco prussian war.. and lived into the 1930's. so all that history was in the living oral tradition..I wrote down many stories.
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moodyblue
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Sept 25, 2022 0:15:47 GMT
I’m another who had history as a major, so I do think about what has happened, and how long or not long ago things were different. Currently, I’m most concerned about how our country is moving backwards, and I don’t think it’s a good thing. I never thought I’d live through seeing people lose rights that were gained in my lifetime.
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