Generation?

Officially, I am a product of the Baby Boom generation that began at the end of World War II, but I was born in early 1946.  Rather than having had to wait for my father to return home from the war, my parents celebrated that he did not have to serve.

So many changes occurred in my generation that some writer I read said there is a difference between those of us born in the early years and those born later.  I know that is true.  I can relate much better to those people born before me than those who were born after me. 

Also, contributing to this was the fact that I was born to older parents, each of which had children from previous marriages.  This was in an era when divorce was still frowned on and “blended” families were rare.  My father adopted my mothers son, who was 10 years old when I was born.

Because both of my parents were  from large families (10 kids on Dad’s side and 7 on Mom’s) that had gone through the Great Depression, their values differed from that of younger parents and those values passed on to me.  Some of them were:

1. Don’t throw away anything that can be repaired and/or reused.
2. Everything can be reused, if not for its original purpose you can find another use for it.
3. Recycling saves time (it saves trips to the store) and money (you don’t have to buy as much).

My generation, however, was the first to be influenced by mass advertising on television and those conflicted with what my parents believed, practiced and taught.  Those messages were:

1. Throw out old, outdated items and buy the latest, time and effort saving gadgets.
2. You can find a new gadget to meet every need, so why hold on to the old-fashioned methods and have people look down on you.
3. Recycling wastes time and energy, as does making anything from scratch.  Prepackaged, ready to eat foods replaced cooking in many homes.

Because of these conflicting values instilled in me, I found my life confusing and chaotic, without being aware of what caused my unhappiness.  I felt inadequate or inferior if I didn’t have the newest technological gadgets and would be one of the first to get small inexpensive gadgets, but for larger, high priced items i had to wait until they were mass marketed and copied before I could afford them.  Then, I would buy the least expensive, or close to the least expensive item, to feel good about getting a bargain.  I never realized they would usually be of inferior quality, need replacing and cause more frustration, making them not really a bargain after all.