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Some perspective - I (29th Dec 2021 - 07:32:22) Imagine being born in 1900. When you are 14 years old World War I begins and ends when you are 18, with 22 million dead. Shortly after the world pandemic, flu called ′′ Spanish ", killing 50 million people. You go out alive and free, and you are 20 years old. Then at the age of 29 you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange causing inflation, unemployment and hunger. Nazis come to power at 33. You are 39 when world war 2. begins and it ends when you are 45 during the Holocaust (Shoah), 6 million Jews die. There will be a total of more than 60 million dead. When your 52th Korean war begins. When you are 64, the Vietnam war begins and ends when you are 75. A baby born in 1985 believes that his grandparents have no idea how hard life is, and survived several wars and disasters. A boy born in 1995 and 26 today believes that it is the end of the world when his Amazon package takes more than three days to arrive or if he doesn't exceed 15 likes for his posted photo on Facebook or Instagram... In 2021, many of us live in comfort, have access to various sources of entertainment at home and often have more than needed. But people complain about everything.

Re: Some perspective - D (29th Dec 2021 - 09:19:43) Hear hear. The age group you refer to were my teachers and grandparents, I never heard any of them complain once.

Re: Some perspective - BD (29th Dec 2021 - 09:31:46) Couldn't have put it better myself.

Re: Some perspective - Slimetime (29th Dec 2021 - 10:08:32) Goodness, this hyperthetical person is extremely fortunate; to be too young then too old to be drafted for both WW1 and WW2. I hope they realise just how fortunate they truly are to see both wars unfold in front of their eyes from the comfort of their home instead of witnesses it first hand.

Re: Some perspective - Oldie (29th Dec 2021 - 10:09:45) Spot on .

Re: Some perspective - Don (29th Dec 2021 - 10:28:46) @ Slimebrain - no doubt this hypothetical person nevertherless endured bereavement and hardship on a scale most of us couldn't even comprehend

Re: Some perspective - I (29th Dec 2021 - 11:35:02) They would also have endured malnutrition during the First World War, rationing during and immediately after the Second World War, economic depravation and unemployment in the 1930’s! Very fortunate indeed??? That generation really did live through some hell

Re: Some perspective - Penny Williamson (29th Dec 2021 - 11:40:20) Slimetime, what a very ignorant, pointless and unnecessary post or perhaps you are just trying to wind people up. There was conscription in January 1916 for people between the age 18 and 40 and conscription at the beginning of WW2 in 1939 so you are obviously referring to people who were either too young, too old or people who were exempt on medical grounds. The vast majority of these people either did war work or kept all the essential services running. They were not lucky as you put it languishing in comfort. They worked long hours in very dangerous times and sometimes in very uncomfortable conditions – families were separated – there was no internet so communication was very difficult. My grandparents lived through the WW2 and I never heard them or anyone else complain – they just got on with it. Don is so right in his post and at least he can spell hypothetical.

Re: Some perspective - Joe (29th Dec 2021 - 11:52:12) I, What exactly are you offering the perspective of? The war? Surely we should be thankful that a lot of young people are no longer traumatised and or killed by war. I hate it when people fetish war like it's an achievement, it's not. Young people still have it incredibly hard. 57% have felt so stressed because of fear of making mistakes they have felt unable to cope, 39% said they had experienced suicidal feelings because of stress, and 29% self-harmed because of high levels of stress. A young person has to do 3+ A-levels, find a job, learn to drive and fit in a social life somewhere in that. A 20-year-old struggles to get a mortgage or rent a flat to move out because he only gets £6.56 an hour. So they have to live with their parents while they save. Why do we fetish the past so much? The past was cruel and deadly, this even includes the past 40 years, thinking of Section 28, the AIDS Pandemic where thousands of gay people died. We can look at the recent terrorist attacks, Manchester Arena, that directly impacted young people. That traumatised them for life. We can look at now during this COVID Pandemic, schools have been shut, teachers have been sick, their peers have also been sick and worse of all their own family have been sick and died. My point is, stop fetishising the war and the past. Surely it's a good thing that young people now don't have those troubles? Let's focus on fixing the issues at hand and progressing this country to a better place to live. We don't need people just dismissing other persons trauma because it's not the trauma their grandfather had, we need understanding, we need compassion.

Re: Some perspective - Pete (29th Dec 2021 - 15:00:00) Joe- What an eloquent post, well written and totally agreed with here. While we mustn't forget the past and the lessons learned but nor should we belittle the problems people experience in modern life. Trying to compare is pointless and meaningless, todays world is a very different place with very different problems.

Re: Some perspective - D (29th Dec 2021 - 15:51:03) Is this the same Joe whom ranted about World War Two on the "Village being ruined" thread? All the "points of stress" Joe refers to are things we have always had to do and not got "stressed" over at all. I agree with the original poster, what people get stressed over now is nothing compared to what previous generations have endured. Stressed over learning to drive? I loved it.

Re: Some perspective - passfield resident (29th Dec 2021 - 16:13:34) One thing that is different now is that our environment is being destroyed very quickly. We aren't suffering badly yet the way people in some countries are but the next few generations may look back at our generation as the one that knew what was happening but didn't do enough to stop it

Re: Some perspective - I (29th Dec 2021 - 16:44:16) Pete, you have completely missed my point, which ironically highlights my point!!

Re: Some perspective - John (29th Dec 2021 - 16:54:46) This is a very eloquent post.... its also all over the internet for the last few years, am not complaining :) its a fantastic bit of copy and paste. Also its about time we give up on stories of the War and these youngsters don't know they are born etc. If your lucky enough to be a baby boomer born post war you could purchase a 5 bed house for 6 months wages that's now millions (accepted some of you sold out for a few hundred k in the 80's) and you are lucky enough to be able to enrich yourself into a directors role with 3 GSE's etc, (accepted your not all directors as you didn't keep friends in high places) The whole Baby boomer generation are the lucky ones unlike todays kids and this post mocks the kids by saying oh you have internet now, your fine we had to entertain ourselves blah blah etc. The perspective in this post is the same sounding perspective always dished out to the young.

Re: Some perspective - D (29th Dec 2021 - 17:11:57) A five bedroom house for six months' wages? I don't think so, they wouldn't have built all those council houses after the war otherwise.

Re: Some perspective - I (29th Dec 2021 - 17:41:12) Just to clarify the point! If you were born in 1900 by the time you were 50 your life would have endured many more challenges than if you were born in 1971. I am 50 and despite the inconvenience of having to wear a mask on some occasions during the last couple of years and queuing for petrol for a week have not had that many significant challenges to my overall happiness. However I do appreciate that for many, their perspective of life at the moment is that it is unbearably tough, especially when the Internet goes down for an hour or so or Sainsburys have run out of their favourite tonic water!

Re: Some perspective - Joe (29th Dec 2021 - 17:44:39) Thank you Pete. We must remember the past. D more than one person can be called Joe. The Mod is more than welcome to compare my email address with other Joe. I know you like to stir things so I'm not going to reply to you any further. John I agree, the OP, D and others fetish the past and the trauma and damage that occurred in that time. It's a good thing we no longer have to focus on it in this country, I don't understand why some like to gatekeep people's stress and trauma in today's generations.

Re: Some perspective - Penny Williamson (29th Dec 2021 - 17:59:27) I think, and I use the word advisedly as I cannot get inside I's head, that the point she/he was making is that every generation has deprivations and difficulties and it is way we deal with them that is important.

Re: Some perspective - D (29th Dec 2021 - 20:30:37) Joe, your use of the word "fetish" (which you've used four times) makes it hard to understand exactly what your point is. Maybe it's just a means of demonising something you don't agree with.

Re: Some perspective - Dollypops (29th Dec 2021 - 21:07:41) fetish /ˈfɛtɪʃ/ noun 1. a form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc. "a man with a fetish for surgical masks" I've had the same problem trying to understand the use of the word "fetish" in this thread. The mind boggles.

Re: Some perspective - Joe (29th Dec 2021 - 22:32:31) Dollypops, Fetish also means: "an activity or object that you are so interested in that you spend an unreasonable amount of time thinking about it or doing it", that activity is comparing todays generation of young people to the older generations. For example, some people have a fetish in cleaning or cooking etc. It's a good thing that todays generation don't have to worry about past, but they have to worry about the present. Young people are more stressed than they were 30/40 years ago, we need to remember the past but not dismiss one persons discomfort or trauma because of it. The post from the OP is directed towards the younger generations the OP clearly doesn't understand the inequalities and struggles young people still face. I hope that answers your question.

Re: Some perspective - Rachel Rabbit (29th Dec 2021 - 23:07:58) My father was born 07/05/1918, he fought in world war two and worked very hard all his life. I used to love listening to his stories of when he was in west Africa and Burma. Dad always made the best of things. I do miss him.

Re: Some perspective - John (29th Dec 2021 - 23:45:13) The key point is this, baby boomers (whom existed inside this copied and pasted original post) have had it better than any other generation by a country mile, therefore if your currently aged 57-66 (Boomer II) or 67-75 (Boomer I) then don't drivel over this post like it makes loads of sense to you as you are the lucky generation and have little understanding of the hardships that occurred both prior to, post and currently in society. Your age groups are the irrelevant lucky ones whereby the world (am not talking specifically and personally) but you had an AWESOME deal in history therefore speaking to the rest of us it would be better if you just shut your faces, as you have NO clue at ALL on this subject.

Re: Some perspective - I (30th Dec 2021 - 08:02:03) John, you make a valid point about those born roughly between 1945 and 1965, they certainly are the lucky generations but why are you so aggressive, your rage and bitterness is obvious, you must really be chewed up with resentment. However I don’t think you can compare the problems todays generations have with those lived through by the age group in my original post. Yes today there are of course challenges and who knows what tomorrow may bring but is racism, sexism, prejudice and poverty to name just a few worse now than it was in the first half of the 20th century? The Internet and digital forums have fuelled peoples perception of feeling hard done by to the point we are becoming a nation of self obsessed and neurotic messes. All you hear on telly are people whinging on about their mental health and bemoaning any challenges to their personal happiness. Everyone is offended or being bullied or harassed to the point that genuine adversity is lost in a sea of drivel, so to a point we are living in very challenging times. But really, life in 2021 for the majority in the UK is not that bad.

Re: Some perspective - Bernard (30th Dec 2021 - 09:00:24) Things have improved because we are not prepared to accept prejudice, racism and sexism any more. It was not a natural progression, better education and the legal system will hopefully eradicate those. Poverty is something more difficult to solve. You cannot legislate on that one.

Re: Some perspective - Lyndon (30th Dec 2021 - 09:35:46) Unfortunately I have a pessimistic view of the future. Since 1945 there has been lots of conflict, hardship and adversity but nothing approaching the global devastation and upheaval during the first half of the last century. However I think those that have been born in the last decade or so are perhaps going to see and endure a far bleaker world. Nationalism has taken root again across the world, at the moment this is quite benign but I fear will grow in intolerance and antagonism. The wave of immigration from poor nations to wealthy nations is already causing tensions. The world is less unified and the balance of power is shifting. Rising Chinese dominance will clash with the US dragging the world down. Terrorists will inevitably obtain a nuclear bomb of some kind which they will use. We have seen what this pandemic has done in recent years to human society, imagine a pandemic disease of crops or livestock and the starvation that will follow!

Re: Some perspective - er (30th Dec 2021 - 11:58:28) No generation lives without stress, many people do, loving the 'now' others struggle with stress, mental health, if you are one of the lucky ones, great, if you have stress, maybe it's no-ones fault, or your own fault or blame the government, the previous generation, immigrants, the Chinese.... No era was better or worse, just better or worse for some people even in war, many people claim to have lived their best lives ever 'the blitz spirit that is missing today', but when things are all sort of ok, it becomes bland and stressful too, like suburbia, not nice, but yet very pleasant on the outside, Mrs Bouquet loves it, yet her kids are climbing the walls with boredom! Houses were cheap in my day, with hindsight, although they didn't seem cheap at the time, had single pane, wooden windows and doors (usually semi rotting when you bought them), no central heating, 3 channels on the black and white TV and you had to wait a week to find out if the hero had escaped from the burning wreck (yes he had jumped out 10 seconds earlier), petrol was full of lead destroying our kids brains, so we're the water pipes, the telephone was in a red a box 2 streets away and stank of urine, had a queue outside and everyone listened in, because the window panes were all smashed and you had to keep the door open for the smell anyway, all the bus stops were regularly smashed too (no CCTV then), old ladies were mugged for their pensions the second they stepped out of the post office (having queued for half an hour),sure there was no immigration and the cities were so sparsely populated that whole streets were just empty, boarded up, rotting, you could buy a whole terrace in Notting Hill of stucco mansions for £50,000 because there was no competition, but also there were few if any Indian, Chinese restaurants, no kebab vans, sure there were Italian and French restaurants, but only for the wealthy or a very special occasion, the pubs were full and had dart boards and pool tables not restaurants back then, but they were filled in a thick cloud of carcinogenic smoke, an exotic once in a lifetime holiday was a concrete prefab hut on Hayling Island, with fish and chips and grandad wearing a kiss me quick hat, your winter school coat had been your sisters last year, and cousin Jane's 'when she was growing up', knockdown ginger was a game, not a hate crime, playing football in the road meant you were a kid, not a gang, mum made a fresh dinner every night and dad got back from the factory covered in grease, but his weekly bath wasn't till Saturday, mum wasn't fully liberated, but on the plus side she would live to be 90 on average while dad would die in his sixties, worn out and broken, dirt poor but we were happy! 😂

Re: Some perspective - D (31st Dec 2021 - 08:51:39) I recognize a lot of what er refers to, especially the bit about we were happy even though we had nothing. Everyone goes through a decade or so of lean years when all your wage goes on the mortgage, and your other halfs' wage pays for everything else. Remember, interest was in double figures at one time, not the paltry half a percent or less it is now, it's never been cheaper to buy a house. Looking back now I am proud of my poor years when I was working twelve hour night shifts six nights a week to make ends meet. Like everyone I started with nothing, but put the hours in so that in ten or twenty years time I could take it easy. I did not moan or whine that I was poor, people seem to expect the nice years handed to them on a plate these days without going through the hard bit. We have turned into a nation of whingers, always bemoaning our circumstances and blaming others without offering any ideas of how to improve things, expecting immediate success and wealth without having to work for it. Given how more young people now go to university than ever before, they should be in very well paid jobs by the time they are forty so a mortgage etc should be well within their means. Stress should be seen in a positive light, in the army we called it "character building". I wish everyone a happy new year, stop moaning, be positive and work hard.

Re: Some perspective - r (31st Dec 2021 - 10:56:35) The amount of debt young people leave college/university education with is eye watering and that is even before rent or mortgage. This countries obsession with our youth going onto further education is so damaging. For a start, you have many with "worthless" paper qualifications that do not open doors to good careers and earning potential yet burden the recipients with huge debts that have to be paid off. More 16 year olds need to have opportunities to get into jobs or apprenticeships so they can start earning and building their lives without the state pressure to go to college.

Re: Some perspective - er (31st Dec 2021 - 15:00:25) Thanks D, at least someone had some recollection of what I was going on about, these are just a few memories, there are so many more! 😁

Re: Some perspective - Oldie (31st Dec 2021 - 18:44:54) Great post er . Remember all of it . When i managed to buy my first home before I moved in the interest rate went to 15% the only thing to do was to find a second job evening’s and weekends . And of course they shot the poor men in the military with mental problems as deserter’s. But saying all that I still think the time from the second war was the best. Let’s hope the new year is much better and we can all get going again and prosper.

Re: Some perspective - Bernard (1st Jan 2022 - 09:07:44) There is a site on Facebook called Liphook nostalgia. Most threads on here seem to either start out that way or end up that way.

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