BIRTHDAY

Tomorrow will be my 88th birthday. I’m a one percenter, that sliver of the population born between 1930 and 1946 who are still enjoying life. Strong ancestors, healthy eating, exercise and medical care help us continue, but physical and mental impairments can reduce us to climbing molehills instead of mountains.

We’ve been dubbed the Silent Generation sandwiched between the Greatest (1901 – 1927) who fought World War II and their children, the Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964) but many of us have been outstanding. To name a few: Elvis Presley, the king of rock n’ roll; Sandra Day O’Conner, the first female to serve on the Supreme Court; Eldridge Cleaver, Black Power advocate, changed politics; Ralph Nader became a voice for consumers with his book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” that focused on the Chevrolet Corvair and resulted in the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 establishing safety standards for new cars; and Gail Henion Sheehy whose publication, “The Silent Passage: Menopause,” cracked the last taboo.

We were a small group to begin with. Only 24.4 million birth cries were heard in the U.S. during the decade following the stock market crash of 1929, less than any other ten-year-period in the 20th century. This compares to 31.7 million in the forties and 40.3 million in the fifties. We are unique–conceived during the Great Depression and shaped by World War II. We were born before radar, credit cards, television, penicillin, polio shots and air conditioners.

Ninety-six percent of our females married and at a younger age than any other age group. Only 7% of the wives remained childless, the lowest proportion of any generation in American history. In 1960, ladies’ lives were revolutionized by The Pill. Spouses, who had sacrificed their own career aspirations for their husbands, went back to school and to work. Women’s new independence led to our being the first generation to have more than one-quarter of our marriages terminated by divorce.

Which generation are you?