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What Can the Silent Generation from 1925 Teach Us About Values and Survival in 2021
“Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch. You can do this.”
I asked a friend once if he knew who the silent generation was. Without hesitation, he said they must be the young people walking by with their faces glued to their cell phones, not looking or talking. How very wrong…in fact, they are the opposite end of the spectrum. They have a lot to teach us about perseverance in tough times to believing in yourself as a good and worthy person with a better tomorrow. They deserve our respect.
Who Are the Silent Generation?
They were born roughly between 1925 and 1945, now range in age from 75 to 95 years old. These years span from the beginning of the Great Depression to the end of World War II and they are sometimes called “Radio Babies” or “Traditionalists.”
They came of age after the war in a post-crisis social order that needed co-dependent systems and mutual respect. They weren’t interested to “change the system,” but instead wanted to “work within the system.” They didn’t like to take chances. They were taught to play by the rules that worked well for them. They married young at a median age of 21, purchased a house and car and secured their pension plans.
Some demographers have called their economic timing after the war as Lucky or Fortunate because they were able to join a booming economy right out of school.
“One feature of the Sputnik era was how the typical young man could earn more by age 30 than the average wage for men of all ages in his profession — and could certainly live better than most “retired” elders. Richard Easterlin
That’s how, with hard work and positive motivation and principles, they amassed material good fortune becoming the healthiest, the wealthiest and most educated generation of elders that ever lived.
In many ways these Silent elders have become economic harbingers in the new recourse to multigenerational family living. Many help to subsidize their grown Boomer or Xer kids. Many can set up college trust funds for their grandchildren and sometimes they may…
