Life 50 years ago.. for better or worse

[LDAHL]

It wouldn't be the first time Doomsday needed to be rescheduled.

[heatmiser]

Very nice. Thanks for helping to put things in perspective!

[happystuff]

1968 - I was 10 years old, a kid. I was enjoying all the things kids did - played outside with friends, road bikes way further from home than my kids were allowed at that age, walking down the "back road" to the creek for fishing and a swim, etc. All the innocence of youth and none of the responsibilities of adulthood, so - yes - I think it was better back then! LOL. But that's just for me personally and at THAT specific time in my life. Was the world in general a better place back then? Maybe for some and not so much for others. Whatever the time and place - change will occur.

[nswef]

1968 I was in college, clueless about the world, 6 day war was in '67, I paid attention, Vietnam....pretty insulated, Bobby Kennedy and MLK- shocked and became more aware of injustice...moon walk- didn't care at all thought it was a huge waste of money, Democratic Convention- sort of paid attention, couldn't vote. Was the world better...I was naive and became less so. I'm still insulated and angry that the rest of the world cannot be in a peaceful place.

[mschrisgo2]

Summer 1968. I was about to start my senior year of high school, grumpy and resentful because, being a girl, I was NOT allowed to take the mechanical drawing class. (Later I discovered that omission blocked me from pursuing architecture classes in college, and then I was really angry) Shortly before, my mother had inherited $10,200 from her grandmother, and my parents paid cash for a big 2200 sq ft house in the suburbs east of San Francisco. Having been a city kid for the previous 10 years, and allowed free rein, the suburban life was pure torture- there literally was Nowhere to go and Nothing to do!! Not even a public library to go to!

The school year was full of anxiety and concern for the future. The Vietnam war raged on, and protests were many. Most of the boys either went into the military or fled to Canada, the girls went to college. There were not a lot of deep friendships built because we all knew we would soon be separated. There was very little of that getting married right after high school that had been the norm in the adjacent community where the high school was located. Interestingly, most of my graduating class has never married, and of few that did, almost all divorced.

The next 4 years- College was still affordable in California: tuition at the state colleges was $120 a YEAR.
Minimum wage went from $1.35 to $1.65 in 1970, and a gallon of gas held steady at 27 cents. Then the war ended, the men who survived came home, there were not enough jobs, prices started to rise, and -- the rest is history, as they say.
I would say that 1968 was a pivotal point in the history of the US.