The Current Summer 20

GENERATION FEAR
By Joey Warren
When I first started writing this article, I had
to do a lot of research on the boundaries
of generations and the events that took
place within those boundaries. At the time,
I assumed that those events would only
strongly affect those who were born in those
generations and would only partially affect
those from other generations. I was wrong.
People claim ownership of large generational
events (e.g. war or social movements) in
an attempt to somehow prove they had it
worse than the generations before or after
them, but the aftermath of an event can rock
generations long after it took place. This
brawl over who had it worse creates hostility
between generations when we should be
coming together instead. Ultimately, we have
all been affected by the events of the past
and the present. As I researched and talked
to people, I learned that events cannot and
should not belong to only one generation.
The time spans that define generations
are themselves not set in stone, and they
often change depending on what website
you visit or which historian you ask. Also,
people born at the beginning or end of these
generations might feel like they belong or
relate more to the one before or after them.
It’s all very subjective, which is why much of
what is presented in this article could also be
considered subjective.
I had to limit myself to only looking at
American generations and how they were
affected by events. There was simply too
much history to examine, and I couldn’t
possibly cover everything from America here,
either. Therefore, this article investigates only
American Generations, going forth with the
knowledge that even those boundaries are
fragile and subjective. Every generation and
individual person has gone through some
kind of traumatic experience at some point,
whether it was caused by a world event or a
personal one.
In order to gain a more complete
understanding of generations, I had to talk
to a variety of people from as many
generations as I could. My time was spent
digging into the experiences of these people
and learning about what they feared and
how that affected not only them, but
everyone around them.
While interviewing and talking to people
from older generations such as the Baby
Boomers or even those who were born
within the Silent Generation, an interesting
theme appeared. When asked what they
were afraid of, they often replied simply
with “nothing.” For example, when I spoke
to ex-Army medic Woody Baird about
what his fears were during his time in the
service, he simply gave me an odd look
as though it were preposterous that he
would fear anything. I received the same
response from several veterans that I talked
to. They didn’t want to talk about their fears —
they wanted to talk about how great the past
had been. My primary suspicion is that the
trauma that they faced was either something
that they genuinely forgot as a form of
self-preservation, or they just didn’t want to
remember what had happened in any capacity.
This response is the opposite of the response
I got from Generation X, those born between
1965-1979, Millennials, born 1980-1995,
and Gen Z, born 1996-present. They were
more than willing to give me a list of every
fear they had ever felt in their lives. In today’s
world, society considers therapy and mental
health an important part of our lives, but this
is a relatively new thing. People from older
generations were horrified at the idea of
having to go to a therapist or psychiatrist;
the stigma around it was a powerful
deterrent. Admitting you went to therapy
was considered shameful amongst your
community. Their silence about their mental
health and their fears reflect how much of that
they have brought with them into the present,
despite the more mental-health-conscious
environment that currently exists in America.
The Greatest Generation, who were born
around 1910 to 1924, and Baby Boomers
both carried the weight of history-changing
wars in very different ways. World War II
shook the world to its core in 1939. Every
child grew up knowing that WWII happened,
THECURRENTMSU.COM 39