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Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Appreciation Generation

 

Appreciation Generation

 

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I’ve been a pondering.  Now the fact that I still ponder tells you I am from an older generation.  I don’t think anyone from generations since mine ponder; my generation also tends to wander while we ponder…anyway

While pondering all I have to be thankful for, including the fact that though Mrs. C is still Covid positive, she is feeling much better and is full of piss and vinegar (something that pondering people used to be full of) it occurred to me that I am from the luckiest generation ever.

Why is my generation so lucky?

We have had our difficult times, much as any generation.  A few wars, but none quite as difficult as the World War variety.  We’ve had the Carter economy, but nothing like the depression years.  We had 9-1-1, that was horrible.

We had polio, and now we have a pandemic almost the equal to the Spanish flu of 1919.

Nothing is easy, but we also have things previous generations did not.  TV, computers, I-phones, to name just a few.  Younger generations also have these things and more, so why is my generation the luckiest generation?

Stuff is just stuff.  Unless you have done without, you do not fully appreciate stuff.  My generation remembers when there was no TV, computers or I-phones.  We remember cutting our fingers opening cans, we remember spilling milk trying to gouge those stupid paper tabs out of the bottles.  We remember popping our own corn…OK, that was fun.  Anyway, we remember not having stuff, and the inconvenience of old stuff, and therefore we appreciate what we now have more than subsequent generations that take many things for granted.

We knew friends that suffered from polio and other diseases so we really appreciate vaccines.

Not only do we appreciate things that we once did not have, we had parents who really had it bad during the depression and several World Wars.  Anything which we may have taken for granted growing up, we were constantly reminded that these were things our parents did not have.

I never went without a meal. I also never ate without being told that food abundance was a luxury, and there were people in other countries that were starving.  When the air conditioner kicked in, I was reminded that “back in the day we just slept on the porch and sweated.”  When the heat came on, I was told how much better central heating was than huddling around a radiator.

So, my generation is the appreciation generation.  

No other generation has seen such growth in living standards.  No other generation has experienced the wonders of new technology with the same sense of awe as my generation. Because we can more fully appreciate all the bounty of our times, mine is the luckiest generation.

As you gather with friends and family, you older folks need to express this appreciation to the younger crowd.  Being thankful for what you have requires appreciation that comes from not having.  That includes stuff, it includes friends, it includes family, it includes health, it includes faith.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and as the kids say today, 

“I appreciate y’all.”

 

12 comments:

  1. Well said, Crank. We’ve so much more for which go be grateful than we can gripe about.

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  2. You hit it pretty accurately! Neither of my parents talked about the great depression, but I do recall my Mom telling me all her clothes were hand me downs, and Christmas was an orange and a few small things in her stocking. Oh, and the really funny ones, like walking 4 miles to school and it was uphill both ways, haha.
    Yes, our parents made sure we did not have the same hardships as kids that they did, but they also gave us an appreciation for how hard they worked to make sure we didn't. Oh, I did still have to walk to school since we didn't live more than 2 miles away, we had to watch whatever the parents had on tv...remember being their very own remote control? I have much to be grateful for, and most of that was them. :-)

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  3. Very well said, Joe. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Mrs. C from Judy and I, even if you don't have a full house. Just think of all those leftovers!

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  4. I'm glad to hear that Mrs. C is full of piss and vinegar. That leaves less room in her for the VIRUS.

    Yes, we are the lucky generation. My mom's three older brothers conspired to throw her shoe out the car window during the depression, and she had to go one-shoed until the next month, when her dad could buy her shoes at the company store of the lead-mining company he worked for. I'm pretty sure there were repercussions for those brothers!

    Happy Thanksgiving to the Cranky family!

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  5. That's a lot of appreciations. I appreciate many things too, in particular hot showers and toast. I know toast has been around since whenever the first person dropped a slice of bread into the fire, but it is still worth appreciating. Central heating is good too, but it takes time for a whole room to warm up, while huddling around a radiator is instant warmth and I often sit by mine until I get too warm, then move into the other room which is still warming up and usually gets warm enough just when I'm cooling from the radiator heat.
    I'm glad Mrs C is feeling better.

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  6. This was a wonderful post Joeh and I plan to send the link along with my Thanksgiving emails. Perfectly said and you made me smile as I shared your appreciation. So glad Mrs.C is doing so much better.

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  7. Well written. Let us be thankful for all we have.

    Praying for your wife.

    Happy thanksgiving to you and your family. God bless.

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  8. Beautifully said.

    A very blessed Happy Thanksgiving to you both, and a speedy recovery to Mrs. C!

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  9. Well said.

    • ★ Happy ★* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
    •。★ Thanksgiving ★。* 。
    ° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
    ˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
    ˚ ˛ •˛• ˚| 田田 |門| ˚
    * Grateful ♫•*¨* Blessed♪♫•*¨*

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  10. Loved this post and I'm very thankful for your blog and meeting you and Mrs. C through the technology that I also didn't grow up with. I have so much gratitude for my family and friends and I hope Mrs. C gets better soon. Have a good weekend!

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  11. oh reading this made my eyes teary yes with thankfulness of course dear Joe !
    you are such a fine human being very thoughtful and humble and amazingly beautiful writer!

    again reading this lovely post was therapeutic ,thank you for sharing your inner voice as nicely .

    i consider myself boring and old fashion because i do all what your parents did to you :) a constant reminder to kids that Creator is not indebted or obliged to them to provide them everything in life so they must keep in mind that His" giving"and Taking" both are test to check if we Ponder the life and universe and feel that there is some energy who made it all intentionally and put us here like characters in a game to see what they think ,choose and do and everything they determines our points and rewards or punishment ,no place to mistake because it is not heaven but world .

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  12. Happy thanksgiving !
    sorry for being late ,you know probably i was little out of my mind dear Joe.
    health ,peace and happiness to you and loved ones!

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