My grandfathers had lots of brothers, this is one my father's father's brothers, a great uncle of mine. He was born early enough to have survived two World Wars, the 1919 flu epidemic, and the great depression. It changed him. My father described how he would turn a tea cup around and drink out of the spot by the handle, because no one else drank from there. Thinking about living through what he had lived through, that was not such strange behaviour, it was an attempt at self preservation in the era that he was a young man.
The experiences of this year, will change us, 100 years from now our descendants will talk about how strange we were, unless they understand the experiences that we have lived through.
I really hope that in a couple of years people are talking about that awful year 2020, in 2022 just a bad memory.
ReplyDelete2022 sounds about right, but having lived through this will I ever going to a massive crowd without thinking, these people are too close to one another?
DeleteThat is so true. I remember how my grandfather used to stretch his food out and how he didn't trust banks. He lost a lot of money in the great depression and he always encouraged my dad to keep cash available.
ReplyDeleteI am a child, of children raised during the depression. My mother's parents distrusted banks, they lost $27 in a bank closure, it was their life savings as a young couple.
DeleteWe are all shaped by our times, it's true. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in bad.
ReplyDeleteAnd we will survive
DeleteI predict people will no longer wear masks for Halloween or Mardi Gras.
ReplyDeleteNow that is scary
Deleteindeed
ReplyDelete