The 20th Century is behind all of us. Looking back at the 10 decades, we can be happy and even proud that our century's 5th decade our fullest education life, and a head start for our adulthood, either college education, military service, jobs, marriage, parenthood.
Think about those other decades: 1900-10 was poor, national weakness. 1910-20 was the nation's first world war. 1920-30 was a wild party period, the Jazz Age, the nation's worst presidents and the beginning of the Great Depression. The entire 4th decade, 1930-40 was the Great Depression. Of course, the decade of our birth, the 40s, was the biggest and 2d World War, a loss of many American lives. The 60s were a time of riots, drugs, assassinations, hippy-ism, sexism, strong racism and the Vietnam War. The 70s had a president, Richard Nixon, who was impeached and had to quit. It was also and the worst part of the Vietnam war. That was also a serious drug problem decade. The 80s and 90s were not as bad as the ones mentioned, but there wasn't anything of a high nature: presidents who made errors and had a scandal...and another war, entered by a president, George W. Bush, for a poor reason.
A historian, David Bellm, wrote "the postwar period in the 1950s in particular, as America's Classic Era, a utopia to be admired and emulted forever more...Many Americans have adopted this unique, colorful era as the touchstone for the course of the nation. They see this as a time when 'everything was right' in America, a period in which the United States really fulfilled its destiny as the leader of the world in all respects that mattered."
In the 50s, the US was the technological world leader. No other nations produced more cars, airplanes, locomotives, medicines, bombs or bridges. The Rock and Roll started in that decade, too, and it was a new musical form that induced excitement among the masses. The 50s was a period of national optimism and desire to lead good lives.
So, we were born in the World War decade of the 40s, of military participation age of the 60s or bad cultural things: drugs, bad music, deaths of leaders and potential leaders. All the years of the rest of the century may have been good for many, but not so good for many, and not good at all for many. Going to school the entire 50s decade, when there was good education, movies, music, lifestyles, strong families, allows many of us to look back with happiness. Do so at our Graduation Reunion!