The winds of change
 

I was talking to my mum the other day. We were talking about her childhood in postwar Salford. her family were very poor but so were a lot of families at that time. She told me about a friend of hers, who was a little more affluent and who had fitted carpets in her house. She was envious of this and was very excited when the day came for them to get fitted carpets in their house. She must have been about 14 when those fitted carpets arrived.

It struck me when she was telling me about this, that the world had changed a lot between her childhood and mine. This little difference was one of many.

What do you think characterises most, the difference between the world your parents grew up in and the one in which they brought you up ?

Television, hands down.
It showed us the world and what's happening in it, both across the ocean and across town. :cool:

Trick question....given that I'm old enough to be parent to many Dwellars. :-)

Communications in general- imagine how different the world would be if we didn't have the ability to instantly communicate between two places thousands of kilometres apart? Travel is the same thing- you can now get to pretty much anywhere in the world in less than two days.

.......so does that mean horsedrawn carriages are on your list? :P *ducks*

hmmmm...... sticking to the topic...

'What do you think characterises most, the difference between the world your parents grew up in and the one in which they brought you up ?'

my parents grew up in the '30s .... war with Germany was imminment... in fact my father enlisted at age 18 in the RAF in November 1939 - on the day after his 18th birthday.

Happily, he survived the war (I would'nt be here otherwise) and raised me and my sister.

We were also raised under the spectre of war - but this would be an all-out no-holds-barred nuclear war which no-one could win. I think that more than anything, has defined my viewpoint regarding armed conflict.

On the domestic front, TV was also a difference, but not so much to me. As an RAF familly, we moved all over the world and it was'nt till 59/60 that we settled back into the UK and experienced the 'delights' of TV.

The speed with which information travels now compared with when my dad (aged 76) was working is huge. I grew up and worked under the stress of INSTANT information (internets, fax machines) When my dad was working a lot of things were done via the mails so he had plenty of time to think about his response, etc. Today if you need documentary proof--voila! The fax will do. If you need instant updates-the computer. This has increased our work load, our production levels and our stress.

What has changed in one generation?


Curls in their hair mandatory! Dresses and one pair of shoes forever.

No Oranges or candy except at Christmas.

Shinning the hard wood floors in their socks.( I think kids still do that )

5 cent ice cream cones.

Black was the only color of vehicle and the shiner it was the more proud you could feel.

Sunday bonnets.

Making paper dolls out of Sears cataloges.

[edit]

I have to mention the thing I notice most is that ole time penmanship.That flowery flowing scribe. * sigh*

Distances. They do not exist anymore.

Then you stayed in the town where you were born, never went much further than the state capitol, were always surrounded by people whom you knew and who knew you, and you always knew how things were "supposed to be". Now, we can walk away from any place or any situation, immediately, permanently. There is no grounding in place or identity anymore, and even a SARS epidemic from half-way around the world is only one plane ride away.

My personal observation is that there is much much more independence these days. My parents grew up in Taiwan during the turmoil leading to China's cultural revolution - everything was about the family. Your interests were inherently those of your family - everyone else always came first.

That American spirit of searching for independence and forging your own path seems to have pervaded many parts of the world. Now it's easier and more acceptable to leave your family/parents and do what suits you, instead of coming to terms with economic reality.

The example strikes me as ironic, because fitted carpets (wall-to-wall carpets in the US) are now a sign of cheap construction, used to cover flaws in workmanship and use of less expensive building materials. A house with hardwood floors or tile floors is now the object of envy, and wall-to-wall carpets are considered common.

Times do change.

The ability to instantly connect and communicate with someone tens, hundreds, or thousands of miles away with almost no effort. Instant messinger, email, facebook, forums (such as this), boggle my rents minds at how fast and easily kids of my generation can talk to one another.
They once asked me what the "redeeming value" of posting in the Cellar was. I shook my head and didn't have an answer because they just don't get the whole community aspect of this place.