If you could be born in....

[An Ol Timer]

As Denzagrad put it, "if you can remember the 60s, your wern't there." I remember them very well. My wife and I had 3 daughters during the 60s while maintaining respectable lifestyles and holding good jobs with major companies. I was born in the early 30s and grew up on the wrong (POOR) side of the tracks. During the recovery years of the depression I stood with mom waiting for handouts of flour, cheese, ect. The government didn't give us welfare but rather food. I was there with my wagon, as we didn't have a family car. I also watched friends and family members go off to WW2 and never return. Then when my turn came, I was off to the Korean conflict. Three friends from my class never came back. Another thing we never came back crying about being forgotten. I can't remember any drug addicts, drunkards or homeless amongst my friends. We didn't have time for all this, as we were raising children, working and helping to make this a better country, and a better world. Was it a better time? You tell me!

[Sarge]

I grew up in the Sixties on San Francisco in the definite WRONG side of town. Does anyone remember the Zebra killings (not Zodiac)? For about a year or so black Muslims were shooting and killing white people in the S.F. Bay Area. They killed an old man as he was walking down my street on his way home from work. Gunned him down for no other reason except that he was caucasion. After that, all the kids in my neighborhood would dive behind cars or into our homes whenever a car drove down the block. Not many fond memories of those times.

Then I spent 20 years in law enforcement. Saw the introduction of crack into society. Survived the Rodney King riots, the anti-Desert Storm riots, and numerous other riots (I worked in Berkeley, CA.). Witnessed the effects of failed social programs first hand.

Through it all, I can't say that I would change all that much if I could. Don't necessarily want my kids to share similar experiences, but the events in my past have definitely influenced the person I am today.

No, I'd want to live right here and now...my only wish would be that instead of companies treating employee benefits as liabilities to compete in the world marketplace, the rest of the world would come up to our standards and the average person would have a brighter future which included defined benefit pensions and health care. Seems like we're headed in the opposite direction. That's a scarier future for my children than what I suffered through in the past.

-Sarge

[Sarge]

Not that anyone would think that I'm lying, but here is a reference to what I was talking about earlier with the Zebra killings http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=3693

I don't know what a great reference the guy writing the article is, but he does mention,

Zebra (1979) was written by crime writer Clark Howard and remains the definitive book on the murders

which is a non-fiction account of the crimes.

-Sarge

[len19070]

I'd go for about 1951, Early into the baby boomers. I could have seen Teardrops at there hay day. Would have graduated HS in about 1969, gone right to Woodstock then come home to see the men land on the moon, A few years in the military. Then just drive around the country on a Harley. Maybe buy some ground, start building Houses, who knows you could make some money in the building game, or so I've heard. Would have met a nice girl from say...Williamsport Pa. got married, had a few kids. Yep that would have been a good year to be born in.

Happy Trails

Len
8/17/51

[madjack]

...Len, not a bad life, huh
madjack ...10/27/53

[doug hodder]

Hey Madjack!!!!! I got you beat by 1 day!!! 10/26/53. I like being born there. I share a birthday with Jacqlyn Smith, and unfortunately Hillary Clinton, the shoot out at the OK corral and the ex Shah of Iran. When I was 16 you could still get cars out of the 40's relatively cheap, gas was cheap and for me, living in Alaska, only had to be 13 for a motorcycle liscence under 100cc. I could go out in the woods with a .22, rode a snowmobile to High School and ice fish on the way home. For me, I thought it was a great time.....Doug Hodder

[madjack]

Hey Madjack!!!!! I got you beat by 1 day!!! 10/26/53. I like being born there. I share a birthday with Jacqlyn Smith, and unfortunately Hillary Clinton, the shoot out at the OK corral and the ex Shah of Iran. When I was 16 you could still get cars out of the 40's relatively cheap, gas was cheap and for me, living in Alaska, only had to be 13 for a motorcycle liscence under 100cc. I could go out in the woods with a .22, rode a snowmobile to High School and ice fish on the way home. For me, I thought it was a great time.....Doug Hodder

...wotta deal, wotta deal Dad gave me a .22 when I was 8, allowed to take it out alone by 10, lived in a tar paper shack on stilts next to the river and didn't think we were poor because we had indoor plumbing,put in when I was around 7 or 8, had my own boat, a 10" row boat at 10...bought my first car at 14, a 58 Chevy Biscayne with a 283 and 2 sp powerglide with maypops for $50, would pull into low and floor it and blast thru the woods splashing out mudholes and bouncing off trees at 16 I got a 14"bateau with a 9.5 Evinrude...man what a life, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer had nothing on me
madjack

[asianflava]

My pop customized a .22 cricket for my brother and I. I was in first grade and my brother 3rd. My dad took a few inches off the barrel and a few inches taken off the butt. My mom and dad still have it, it looks so tiny in the rifle case. It doesn't reach the cradle that the other rifles sit in.

These days, people would be shocked if they heard you took first and third graders out shooting. Back then in VA it was no big deal. Oh and we did have a Daisy Red Rider that we took out by ourselves. Got good enough to sit on the porch and shoot the powerlines.

[doug hodder]

My only restriction was that I was only allowed a box of 50 rounds a week. At least that is what dad thought. Remember when you could go in and buy them for next to nothing? no registration, no parental approval, we used to buy bricks of them.... How about M 80's or cherry bombs? 5-10 cents apiece, and trading in pop bottles to finance your fireworks. Funny, I never blew off a finger, or shot any of my friends, also never had to wear a helmet on a bicycle..., got plenty of cuts on my fingers from .049 engines on my airplanes though.....I'd still grow up through those years. I'm still doing it. How is it possible that I'm still alive? Doug Hodder

[asianflava]

Yeah It's amazing that we made it thru childhood, relatively intact. Later when we moved to FL, we used to play in ditches and creeks catching crawdads and fishing. It was a haven for snakes and aligators. I drove by one time and happened to look over. I thought, "We used to play in there all summer, now you couldn't pay me to go down there!"

[Larwyn]

Yeah It's amazing that we made it thru childhood, relatively intact. Later when we moved to FL, we used to play in ditches and creeks catching crawdads and fishing. It was a haven for snakes and aligators. I drove by one time and happened to look over. I thought, "We used to play in there all summer, now you couldn't pay me to go down there!"

8/3/49. Grew up on a East Texas farm, milking cows and training horses.
Had an old Winchester pump .22 by the time I was 10. I'd take that rifle to the woods and be gone for hours. I too was limited to 50 shots a week, you learn to "make em count" that way. Got my Texas drivers liscense at 14 and sold a one eyed mare for 50 bucks to pay that same 50 for a 48 Chevy Business Coupe. Learned about air conditiong, idle time, liquor and boredom only after leaving that farm and joining the Air Force at 18. That's when I learned that everybody who was not born in Texas was not ashamed of that fact. List could go on but gotta get to work. I would change nothing, all of it is what got me where I am today.

[purplepickup]

Dad came back from WWII, married mom and I was born a year later. I’m very blessed to have had a good life. We were poor but I was taught to be responsible, respectful, and my life was like many of you that were born in the late 40’s or early 50's. I survived a wonderful childhood, watched as man walked on the moon for the first time, saw the rock & roll revolution, was drafted in 1968, have a reasonably well adjusted life, and so on. And like most old farts (of most any era), I am somewhat uncomfortable about where the world is headed.

Like Andrew said, we all tend to think that the time we are alive is the best because that’s all we really know and our own experiences are near and dear to our souls. I do think that being born into a society that gives us opportunities such as we have in the US, has made many of our lives more full and meaningful.

I’m just thankful that I wasn’t born under some of the oppressive or extremely unbearable conditions that have existed during mankind’s presence on this planet.

Life is good and I thank God every day for the life I have.

[An Ol Timer]

I posted to this question before, but after reading a lot of the posts from guys born in the 40s and 50s they made me think of some of the younger guys that I had working for me in the 70s. A number of them were young, single vets and they were a squirrely bunch. Although I was about 15 to 20 years older that most of them, I used to hunt, fish, ride bike and drink a few beers with them. To get to my story our hometown was experiencing a series of explosions high up in the sky in the late evning. It was blamed on everything from sonic booms to thunder on clear nites. The local police, state police and eventually even the FBI were investigating the explosions. It was on the nearby TV stations news. One nite I went back to the plant which produced ignitions for jet and rocket engines and had a lot of exotic things around. As I approached the back door I saw several of the guys and they had what appeared to be a small blimp. They were releasing it so I stayed back and watched. About 10 minutes later there was an explosion 2-1/2" miles away over a nearby resort lake. We had all kinds of gas cylinders used for our welders and furnaces. They were taking big garbage bags from the janitor's room, filling them with gas, taping them together with duct tape and placing a dynamite fuse in one of the Hydrogen bags. They had gotten so they knew just how many bags of Helium and how many of Hydrogen that it took to get it up and how long a fuse that it took to clear the area before the explosion. I only said to them "It's all over or you're all over". Nobody ever figured out what it was, or why it stopped so suddenly.

[len19070]

Ya know If we're going to ponder about changing History, here's a few Things I would have changed.

I would have:
Never gone out on the second date with Carolyn Myers.
Kept the T-Bird.
Not volunteered for extra duty and went up river 3/7/70.
Kept the Desoto.
Stuck to my guns and Told Mike McGraul I didn't want to go out with his sister,
Never married Mike McGrauls Sister.
Kept the Yellow 49 Harley.
Bought the property in the Pocono's in 1975, 1979 and 1986.
Bought the 49 Willys.
Used the Weed & Feed instead of the Weed Killer.
Closed the cover before striking.
I wished I hadn't folded, spindled and mutilated.
Kept my tray in the upright position and extinguished all smoking materials.
Listened to the rules of the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness.

Happy Trails

Len

[DestinDave]

Dang! MadJack and Doug Hodder - you guys are Old! DestinDave (12-30-54)

If I had to live another time and place I wish I had been around during WWII. What a great and important time in world history. I really think the Greatest Generation is just that. However, I wouldn't change a thing about my life as it has unfolded. I've made mistakes (a lot of 'em) but I have no regrets. Like my signature used to say when I die I want to regret the things I didn't do, not the things I did. Everything in my past and present has molded me into who I am and I can honestly look in the mirror and say "I'm OK with that".
And, yes, much of the 60's and 70's are a blur. Or maybe a blackout is a better word.....