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The Traumatized Generation

Copyright John F McMullen 2021


They call those Americans
who were adults
during World War II
The Greatest Generation
those military and civilian alike
who got us through the
greatest conflict in human history
and then rebuilt the country

I am of the generation that
came after it – that grew
into adulthood after WWII
The Traumatized Generation
one in which all the norms
that were installed in them
as children were replaced
in short order by changes
in everything
        Morality
        Business
        Safety
        Sexuality
        Education
and the greatest technological
changes since electricity

We have seen
old friends
Russia and China
become enemies
and
old enemies
Germany and Japan
become friends

We have seen
Television become commonplace
The Pill
School Desegregation
The Internet
Roe v Wade
AIDS
Globalization
Wireless Communications
iPhone
9/11
Social Media
The Covid Pandemic
and each of those caused trauma
and disruption in our lives

We named them
The Civil Rights Revolution
The Sexual Revolution
The Gay Revolution
Womens Liberation Movement
and each of these improved our country
but made us doubt traditional beliefs

And technology tore everything apart
Jobs disappeared as
        Companies could manufacture overseas
        Customers could
                Order online
                Bank online
Traditional Companies disappeared
Sears
A&P
Kodak
and too many more to name
as
iTunes and mp3 ate record stores
Digital photography ate film processing
Amazon ate everything
and old skills became useless
new skills difficult to obtain

AND

We were in the most divisive war
since the Civil War
were attacked on our mainland for
the first time since 1812
were engaged in the longest
war in American history
were locked in our homes
by a Global pandemic
where Zoom replaced human contact

And we saw our country devolve
into the greatest polarization
since the Civil War
        Ministers said that Gays caused 9/11
        and conspiracy theories became commonplace
                Democrats were selling babies in a Pizzeria
                Covid was a Big Pharma scam
                Bill Gates was putting tracking chips into vaccines
                The Democrats stole the election from Donald Trump
                The January 6^th riot was a peaceful protest
        and spread through social media like wildfire

BUT

The next generation generally
        had Smartphones almost from birth
        sees technology as part of their lives
        recognizes sexual, gender, and racial equality as normal
        welcomes the adventure of change
        is not threatened by the revolutions of our generation
and is our hope for the future
as we leave
The Traumatized Generation

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