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Respect from Generation X At the respective ages of 44 and 46, my grandmother and grandfather adopted me, their firstborn grandchild, and raised me as their own daughter. These survivors of the Depression and champions of WWII brought up a Gen X kid reaping the benefits of their sacrifices and hard work, as well as the advances of the Baby Boomers after them. To experience childhood in an era of prosperity and peace allows a certain security and comfort virtually unknown to previous generations. Bread lines and hand-me-downs and the generosity of a landlord saw my mother’s English family through the Depression. Members of my father’s family had to be split up among German relatives. At 18 years old, my father enlisted in the Marines during the war. Only as I mature and gain a fuller understanding of history and the times can I begin to grasp the depth of the hardship they endured. I remember my amazement when my mother told me she did the laundry in a tub with a washboard. Life without washers and dryers? Incomprehensible. And color TV, air conditioning, hot running water, computers, VCRs … the technology and conveniences we have at our command today were only then being explored, developed and distributed. Comparatively, the people of my generation and younger are soft. We have it so easy, and we take it all for granted. I have learned so much from “meeting my grandparents.” I hold deep respect and admiration for the lives they led and the honesty and integrity with which they led them. Tracie Darnell, Cape Carteret |
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