What's the Defining Moment of Your Generation?

[MULTIZ321]

What's the Defining Moment of Your Generation? - by Tasnim Shamma/NPR.org


Richard

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

For me, the defining moment of my generation would be the Kennedy assassination, (President), reinforced with the subsequent assassinations, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X. It was at that moment that doubt began for many of us. Another defining moment, the Cuban Missile Crisis, "Would I be alive in the morning?"
Liz

 

[ausman]

I would agree with all of those.

Adding some others:

Man on the Moon.

Going through S bends outside Gosford, 110 mph in a minnie Copper S, with a drunken driver in 1967.

Not having to go to Viet-nam, knowing those who did.

Woodstock, and the music from it.

John Lennon's death.

And a lot of other personal things, puppies, kids, cars, houses, that happened.

 

[26weeker]

9/11/2001.

 

[ScoopKona]

Fall of the Berlin Wall, followed by 9/11. I much preferred the late '80s and early '90s to the sad state we're in now.

 

[Mel]

Challenger explosion, fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11

 

[pedro47]

The assasination John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Vietnam and 9-11-2001.

 

[jackio]

Definitely 9/11/01.

 

[Big Matt]

Good defining moments/movements:

Man on the moon
Smoking being banned in most places
the Internet
mapping the human genome (this will shape the next 500 years)

Not so good:

9/11
AIDS

 

[vacationhopeful]

By the decades ...

Vietnam.

1975 gas shortage (government rewriting the oil companies as evil).

1982 recession (and changing the pension rules and creating 401Ks).

1990's new mortgage regulations (or lack there of).

9/11 attack in 2001 (and every world wide event after).

this decade, the lack of ability for most babyboomers to retire.

 

[spirits]

I just lost two students

Two of my former students, one 22 and one 18 were killed this week. One(22) in a traffic accident on a country road, one on a job site (18). Both wonderful young men.
Please, safety in everything should be job one. Throw away those cell phones while driving and please quit thinking life is a video game with no consequences.
That goes for me too. I was going to learn Spanish listening to my ipod while driving to work. (1/2 my drive is in the country) Saw nothing wrong with it. My DH asked me not to. He said it might distract me from driving and I needed to pay attention more to the road than learning Spanish. He is absolutely right. I think this mindset of instant gratification is the one defining us right now and I am not comfortable with it.

 

[bogey21]

The elimination of the military draft. [Political statement deleted - DeniseM Moderator]
George

 

[vacationhopeful]

The elimination of the military draft. [deleted]
George

[Response to deleted posted edited - DeniseM Moderator]

The draft brought many diverse persons into a common culture. It took youth who had no direction and taught them discipline and order. It provided a goal of "for the common good" which lead the way for many to go that extra step on their own for their families and communities for the rest of their lives. Through the GI Bill, draftees completed college and trade schools verses having student loans which have choked the life out of many young people who got conned into "trade/technical" schools of little value or college degrees without a future.

 

[DeniseM]

Folks - No politics please.

 

[Passepartout]

Vietnam (and my participation therein) did more to change the direction of MY life more than any other event.

Followed perhaps by 'Ask Not......'

Woodstock

Early death of my parents

The invention and ultimately universal popularity of the Internet has affected my life more than anything else in perhaps 20 years.

9/11/01 was a horrific event, but didn't define my generation.

 

[ace2000]

9/11/01 was a horrific event, but didn't define my generation.

Guess it depends on what your definition of define means? If you live in the USA, it has had a major impact... economically, politically, and psychologically. I sure can't think of any moment that could overtake that event.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Unless you lived as a late teenager and early 20's yo during Vietnam, you would NOT understand.

Just my personal experience ...

 

[ace2000]

I was a teenager during Vietnam. The question was about a defining moment... I see Vietnam as more of an era.

I'm sure the bombing of Pearl Harbor would be THE defining moment of the last 100 years, if we want to get technical. However, the question was asked about your generation. Not as many around here to vote for that one.

 

[bogey21]

[Per TUG posting rules, if you have any questions about why your post was edited, please contact me, or TUGBrian privately. As far as your post - comments about the Govt's military policies are political, and one political comment invites more political comments. - Denise M Moderator]

In addition, do not enter complaints about moderation into BBS messages. Such posts will be considered off-topic and will be removed. Any such complaints or discussion should be communicated to the bbs staff directly via email or personal message.

 

[Mosca]

May 4, 1970 is the moment that had the most impact.

 

[DeniseM]

May 4, 1970 is the moment that had the most impact.

Were you attending Kent State?

 

[ace2000]

May 4, 1970 is the moment that had the most impact.

And I lived just 10 minutes away from that one (Silver Lake, OH)...

 

[Mosca]

Were you attending Kent State?

No. I was 15. It had a tremendous impact on me though. It's influenced my views for the last 40 years. I'm just answering the question from my perspective, not trying to extrapolate it to others.

 

[ampaholic]

December 2 1964 - Mario Savio's speech on the Sproul Hall Steps, at Berkeley


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhFvZRT7Ds0&feature=related


A re-birth of the notion of freedom from the ruminations of the machine.

 

[scrapngen]

I remember my parents making me watch the first man on the moon on our black and white TV when I was 4. It wasn't until years later that I realised the significance.

Geraldine Ferraro running for the vice presidency was another major defining moment for me, and I believe, my generation. (or at least for the women of my generation)

computers and the Internet
HIV changed the way the world looked at viruses, groups of people, behaviors, etc...
The Berlin Wall falling...
The first Gulf War
9/11

All of these events made a shift in the way people viewed the world, IMHO.