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I feel this living in London and seeing my parents having achieved a measure of success at a younger age far greater than my own. But not every country has seen

I feel this living in London and seeing my parents having achieved a measure of success at a younger age far greater than my own. But not every country has seen this level of affluence for the generation before ours and indeed not every race. Minorities in the US in particular might argue otherwise about whether the previous few decades were better than the current ones. Whenever I feel tempted to look at the past with rose tinted glasses I only have to look at infant mortality rates which were horrifically high in even affluent countries like the US: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6487507/figure/F2/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6487507/figure/... We are indeed in troubling times, but the Cold War wasn't so long ago and I recall a commentator speaking about how they'd read the newspaper each morning with a knot in their stomach, wondering if a nuclear mishap had occurred somewhere in the world.

heurisko 5y ago
> I recall a commentator speaking about how they'd read the newspaper each morning with a knot in their stomach, wondering if a nuclear mishap had occurred somewhere in the world. Given the Russia, Ukraine, Chernobyl situation, I think my generation also has claim to worry about nuclear mishaps caused by geopolitical wars.
FWKevents 5y ago
Yes, I'm named "Faith" because the Cuban Missile Crisis put such existential dread in everyone. Bomb shelters were built in all sorts of public buildings, and people dug underground bunkers in their backyards. They imagined they'd survive the nuclear winter like an underground rat, eating canned food and hoping their water didn't run out before it was safe to go outside again. It wasn't until the SALT treaty signed by Pres. Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev in 1972 - 10 years after the Cuban Missle Crisis - that tensions eased. It's hard for younger people to realize how dire this felt. The modern corollary is the threat of annihilation due to climate change. Some people wonder today why they are bringing children into a world that may be doomed, but that feeling is not new. It's just that older generations were more stoic. Most didn't talk about their feelings with each other, they just got on with life despite their dread. I'm so glad that stoicism is mostly a thing of the past.

heurisko 5y ago

> I recall a commentator speaking about how they'd read the newspaper each morning with a knot in their stomach, wondering if a nuclear mishap had occurred somewhere in the world. Given the Russia, Ukraine, Chernobyl situation, I think my generation also has claim to worry about nuclear mishaps caused by geopolitical wars.

FWKevents 5y ago

Yes, I'm named "Faith" because the Cuban Missile Crisis put such existential dread in everyone. Bomb shelters were built in all sorts of public buildings, and people dug underground bunkers in their backyards. They imagined they'd survive the nuclear winter like an underground rat, eating canned food and hoping their water didn't run out before it was safe to go outside again. It wasn't until the SALT treaty signed by Pres. Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev in 1972 - 10 years after the Cuban Missle Crisis - that tensions eased. It's hard for younger people to realize how dire this felt. The modern corollary is the threat of annihilation due to climate change. Some people wonder today why they are bringing children into a world that may be doomed, but that feeling is not new. It's just that older generations were more stoic. Most didn't talk about their feelings with each other, they just got on with life despite their dread. I'm so glad that stoicism is mostly a thing of the past.