FOR ALL THOSE BORN BEFORE 1945
WE ARE SURVIVORS!!!...
CONSIDER THE CHALLENGES WE HAVE WITNESSED!
We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens. Before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes…and before man walked on the moon.
We got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be? In our time, closets were for clothes, not for “coming out”. Bunnies were small rabbits, and rabbits were not Volkswagons. Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with our cousins.
We thought fast food was what you ate during lent, and Outer Space was the back of the Riviera Theater. We were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages. We were before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electronic typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt and guys wearing earrings. For us, time-sharing meant togetherness…not computers or condominiums. A chip meant a piece of wood. Hardware meant hardware, and software wasn’t even a word.
Back then, “Made in Japan or China” meant junk and the term “making out” referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, McDonalds and instant coffees were unheard of. We hit the scene where there were 5 and dime stores where you bought things for five and ten cents. Watson’s and Rite-Aid sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime. For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a public phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two post cards. You could buy a new Chevy coupe for $800.00…but who could afford one? A pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon!
In our day, GRASS was mowed, COKE was a cold drink and POT was something you cooked in. Rock Music was Grandma’s lullaby and AIDS were helpers in the Principal’s office. We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change. We made do with what we had. And we were the last generation that was dumb enough to think you need a husband to have a baby.
No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap!
But…WE SURVIVED… and WE THRIVED!
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
