Friday, May 22, 2020

Perspective....





“It’s a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria. For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.

“On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

“On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy.
’When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet. And don’t try to catch your breath. On your 41st birthday, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.

″ Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40′s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime.

“At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish. From your birth, until you are 55 you dealt with the fear of Polio epidemics each summer. You experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or die.

“At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict. During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation. On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended. When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends.

“Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How did they endure all of that? If you were a kid in 1985 you may have thought your 85-year-old grandparent did not understand how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was. Yet they survived everything listed above. Perspective is an amazing and valuable gift. Refined and enlightening as time goes on. Let us try to keep things in perspective. Your parents and/or grandparents were called upon to endure all of the above – today we are being called upon to stay home and sit on the couch.”

 Author unknown





Irish says  "I have only been able to trace this post back to a forum on April 29th"
>here<
 

11 comments:

  1. Funny, I thought the last sentence about sitting on the couch seemed out of place. I left that part out when I copied and posted to another forum on MeWe. Then when I looked at your link, I see it wasn't in the original post anyway.

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    Replies
    1. This was the version I found originally. I also noticed it as well. I’m sure if it gains traction there will be edits to it.

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  2. I don't know if it originated at Black Pigeon Speaks, but that's where I heard it.

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  3. I went to the site at the jump and read some of the posts. seriously crazy bunch of blokes posting there. Unlike here! ;^))

    Nemo

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  4. My father was born in 1900 (I was a late in life baby). I never once heard him complain about what he lived through. You didn't do that back then.

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  5. Sit on the couch for how long? Should we sit on the couch and create a depression larger than the great depression? Should we create new wars that will come from economic collapse of nations? How long do we sit on the couch for? Who is going to be the Guinea pigs for a new vaccine that may never come.
    - Rumson

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  6. My grandfather was born in 1901. He was an engineer on a tugboat during the Depression. The company got sold so he went along with the boat to New York Harbor moving the family to Hoboken for a time. Because of his licenses he joined the Coast Guard rather than be drafted and was commissioned in August, 1942 at the age of 42. Sometime during the war he had a heart attack while serving aboard a ship in the North Atlantic. He survived with only bed rest and lived to 84. Oh yeah, and all that other stuff mentioned in the article.

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  7. My grandparents were born in the late 1800's. Grandma lived to be 98 years old. She lived through all of that, and she was the sweetest, most kind lady you can imagine. I remember as a kid, promising to buy her an oil well... that's how much I cared about her. My dad, her son, was born in 1920 and also lived through most of that. Fought in WWII. Never spoke about it. He wasn't quite as kind as her, but he never complained - he just got things done. That was the most important lesson I learned from these folks... Put your head down and get the job done. My dad always started every conversation asking me, "how's work going?" He passed a couple years ago at 96-1/2. I don't know anyone these days with that kind of fortitude. It doesn't seem to exist any more....

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  8. My father was born in 1916. He died in 1980. Somehow I can't picture being "concerned" about the Wuhan flu. It's sad how much that generation endured as we are told that becoming pansies is somehow the right direction for the human race. The surely didn't go through all of that so we can become this!

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  9. The first comment from ocopek nailed exactly my feelings. If I believed that closing the country and sitting on the couch was the real answer, I would do it. I don't believe it, and I won't do it. As often as I can say it during conversations, my response is "Real virus; Fake response". This was a real virus that was blown out of proportion as one of the last ditch efforts to take out the man who has been a thorn in their side for almost 4 years.

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  10. Add crappy vaccine figures to those too no doubt soon enough.
    DON'T be first in line!


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