Boomers . . . and How They Got That Way
Epistle 7 – Sputnik
I recently learned the remarkable fact that Sputnik, the Russian missile that was the first to orbit the earth, was launched on the same day as Leave It To Beaver. Surely that couldn’t be a coincidence. It must have been all part of the diabolical scheme by the Evil Empire, to “bury us”, as Nikita Khrushchev so delicately put it when he wasn’t pounding his shoe on a poor, unsuspecting UN table. What a classy guy.
Anyway, as the Russians were rocketing into space while we launched several mighty missiles into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida–or worse yet, just had them tip over without ever making it to the beach–the Boomers of America were taught that every other family except theirs behaved like the Cleavers or the Andersons in Father Knows Best. Ward Cleaver’s casual Friday attire was a sweater and a tie.
He smoked a pipe and gave sage advice on everything to his sons, Wally and the Beaver, while June Cleaver toiled away in the kitchen with a flouncy dress, high heels and a lacy apron that never got stained. Wally and the Beaver had neat rooms and actually communicated with each other despite their age difference. They even talked about life with their parents, for God’s sake! If that wasn’t a subversive Russian plot to destroy the fabric of the American family, I don’t know what is.
Well, none of that nonsense in my family, no sir. Children were meant to be seen and not heard, and the seeing part was kept to a bare minimum. If my mother had a flouncy dress, which I doubt, it was carefully stored away for Easter and Christmas, and my father smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes.
My brother was not put on this earth to help guide me through life like Wally did for the Beaver. He was put on this earth to torment me beyond human endurance. For the first several years, my brother and I slept in bunk beds, him on top and me on the bottom so he could accidentally step on me as he climbed up.
I suppose there are still doubters who fail to accept that our idyllic version of the American family was a worthy target for Communist propaganda. Okay, maybe the Beaver wasn’t a Cold War pawn. Maybe every other family really did live like that. Ozzie and Harriett and David and Ricky were the normal ones.
It’s a shame Khrushchev didn’t have more shoes.
We Will Win
I LOVE your story about Baby-boomers and how we got this way! Please pardon the language, but my saying is; \"the baby-boomers are one f***** up generation\"! Think about it for a minute. Most all of us were brought up in what I call the \"Harriette & Ozzie world, or the \"Cleavers\" world, where all little girls would grow up to be \"Mommy\’s\" and have kids and take care of the house, and cook and bake, and clean, and smile all day, and kiss boo-boo\’s, while \"Daddy\’s\" went to work all day, made the money, and came home to dinner and \"play time\" and \"advice time\" with the kiddies, and everyone lived happily ever after. Now, how many people do you know that, that actually happened to? We\’ve seen so much, maybe more than any other generation take place, with all the good/happiness, and inventions, and the ugly, wars/ protests/riots/murdered President/another one shot/terrorist attacks in our own country/divorce, etc. What other generation has seen so much change, and been caught in the \"middle\" between what we were taught as children, and the real world now? Wow what a generation we are! And, the \"stories\" we will have to tell our Grandchildren! Real history lessons to be learned. How many women really expected to have to work? Probably not many, because we were told we needed nothing more than a high school education! That\’s why I was a \"late bloomer\" in becoming a Nurse.
My ex convinced me to go to school and learn Nursing if that\’s what I wanted to do, so I did! Never regreted it. Only wish I coud have done it at age 18.
Thank-you for let me express myself, and I look forward to reading more from you!
Sincerely,
Kate Oliver