Imagine you were born in 1900

The Coffee Shop
1

For a quick moment, imagine you were born in 1900. When you are 14, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

When you’re 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global 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.

When you’re 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts and five million perish.

At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict. Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.

As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A child in 1985 didn’t think their 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents survived through everything listed above.

Perspective is an amazing thing. With so much happening right now and as 2023 ends, let’s try to keep things in perspective, knowing that we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted forever. This too shall pass.

In the interest of proper attribution:

https://twitter.com/.../1741506450688442764

Thought that was an interesting tweet. I’m sure there are many such examples throughout history of conflict and strife running through a person’s life cycle.

2

That was my maternal grandmother, she lived to be over 100 by a couple of years, although completely demented by those last years and no longer aware of what was going on. She never learned to drive.

While that focuses on the political/social stuff, I think it’s fairly certain to say she witnessed nearly unprecedented technological innovations. She went from horse and buggies to space stations.

3

For a quick moment, imagine you were born in 1900. When you are 14, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

When you’re 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global 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.

When you’re 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts and five million perish.

At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict. Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.

As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A child in 1985 didn’t think their 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents survived through everything listed above.

Perspective is an amazing thing. With so much happening right now and as 2023 ends, let’s try to keep things in perspective, knowing that we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted forever. This too shall pass.

In the interest of proper attribution:

https://twitter.com/.../1741506450688442764

Thought that was an interesting tweet. I’m sure there are many such examples throughout history of conflict and strife running through a person’s life cycle.

My father and I had a similar conversation to this about his mother. She was born in 1900. She lost her first two children as infants. She then lost her husband as a mother of 5 and ended up homeless until someone allowed them to occupy a barn. Shortly after that, she lost her youngest to scarlet fever.

WWII actually saved her. It opened up an opportunity to work in a wire harness factory where she stayed on after the war. She spent two decades acquiring farm land that I recently inherited a piece of. I owe a ton of the opportunity I’ve had in my life to her. Thanks grandma Velma.

4

But then think about it another way.

You are born in 1901.
You’re 13, you don’t GAF about WW1, it’s all the way in Europe. You’re 13, you’ve already left school to work on the family farm. You live on a farm without a radio, you never even hear about WW1. You are too young for a draft that starts in 1917 - it was 21+. In September 1918, 18 year olds are drafted, but you are 17, so it doesn’t matter to you.
You are 21, blissfully toiling on a farm, neither the spanish flu nor the roaring 20s reach you. You don’t have a radio!
You are 28 and the depression starts. You don’t live in Oklahoma so it doesn’t effect you that much.
You are 40, WW2 starts. Way too old for the draft. But at least you have a radio by now!

But what would matter to you:
You’ve gone from horse and ox pulling plows to steam tractors to gas tractors to post-war combines and corporate farming.
You’ve gone from candles and mail to electricity, radio, television, color television.
You’ve gone from 6 or your 12 siblings dying before 5, to a couple of your kids dying before 5, to all your grandkids being old enough to die in Vietnam.
You’ve gone from horse and buggy to Model Ts to Chevy Nomads to owning a Toyota Corolla in retirement.

5

But then think about it another way.

You are born in 1901.
You’re 13, you don’t GAF about WW1, it’s all the way in Europe. You’re 13, you’ve already left school to work on the family farm. You live on a farm without a radio, you never even hear about WW1. You are too young for a draft that starts in 1917 - it was 21+. In September 1918, 18 year olds are drafted, but you are 17, so it doesn’t matter to you.
You are 21, blissfully toiling on a farm, neither the spanish flu nor the roaring 20s reach you. You don’t have a radio!
You are 28 and the depression starts. You don’t live in Oklahoma so it doesn’t effect you that much.
You are 40, WW2 starts. Way too old for the draft. But at least you have a radio by now!

But what would matter to you:
You’ve gone from horse and ox pulling plows to steam tractors to gas tractors to post-war combines and corporate farming.
You’ve gone from candles and mail to electricity, radio, television, color television.
You’ve gone from 6 or your 12 siblings dying before 5, to a couple of your kids dying before 5, to all your grandkids being old enough to die in Vietnam.
You’ve gone from horse and buggy to Model Ts to Chevy Nomads to owning a Toyota Corolla in retirement.

My grandmother had her first husband commit suicide and had remarried to my grandfather by WWII. He was already too old for overseas and I think served in some sort of home guard.

She worked for a number of years as switchboard operator, a proper old timey job.

6

My grandfather was born in 1901. Too young for WW1, too old for WW2 - although he was an air raid warden.

I remember interviewing him for a school project - some interesting insights into the Great Depression.

My other grandfather was older, and was a stretcher bearer in WW1. Although I never knew him, as he died before I was born.

7

Grandfather was born in 1896. Not involved in WW1 he was in Holland. WW2 was too old to fight and Holland was overrun in no time anyway. Lived through the War in strained circumstances some kids sent out to the countryside as there was more food. After the war Grandmother ruled out immigrating to NZ, Australia. Ruled out US because she was worried kids would get drafted for another war (she was right). Immigrated with ten kids to Canada at just over 50 with nothing but manual job skills. Died at 94

IMHO the 20th century kinda sucked in terms of progress compared to the 19th century. The 19th century really was the time of mass industrialization, rising agricultural productivity, sanitation rising living standards and relative peace. Post Waterloo there was not much in terms of major wars. I guess the US had the civil war but it wasn’t a world war. The 20th century saw the rise of two major political organizing theories those being nationalism and Marxism/communism both courtesy of the Germans who were the most advanced civilization in the late 19th, early 20th century. Both these forces were disasters.

8

But then think about it another way.

You are born in 1901.
You’re 13, you don’t GAF about WW1, it’s all the way in Europe. You’re 13, you’ve already left school to work on the family farm. You live on a farm without a radio, you never even hear about WW1. You are too young for a draft that starts in 1917 - it was 21+. In September 1918, 18 year olds are drafted, but you are 17, so it doesn’t matter to you.
You are 21, blissfully toiling on a farm, neither the spanish flu nor the roaring 20s reach you. You don’t have a radio!
You are 28 and the depression starts. You don’t live in Oklahoma so it doesn’t effect you that much.
You are 40, WW2 starts. Way too old for the draft. But at least you have a radio by now!

But what would matter to you:
You’ve gone from horse and ox pulling plows to steam tractors to gas tractors to post-war combines and corporate farming.
You’ve gone from candles and mail to electricity, radio, television, color television.
You’ve gone from 6 or your 12 siblings dying before 5, to a couple of your kids dying before 5, to all your grandkids being old enough to die in Vietnam.
You’ve gone from horse and buggy to Model Ts to Chevy Nomads to owning a Toyota Corolla in retirement.

Yeah, followed along what I was thinking reading it… Most people don’t care / comprehend / or get impacted by how many people died on the other side of the country in 1900 let alone the other side of the world.

The one other thing missed, if you born in 1900 US, your life expectancy was 44.6 yrs old if white, 32.5 if your were black.

And an infinte mortality rate just over 15% .

So you were most likely dead by the time WWII ended. And if you were Black, you probably didn’t make it to the start of ww2

9

I like the perspective and sentiment. Whenever someone says, “We’ve never seen this level of partisan hatred in our entire history! We’re doomed!,” I like to point out things like…the Civil War and the Lincoln assassination, the Burr-Hamilton gun duel which was a symptom of the uttery toxic and hate-ridden battled between the federalists and anti-federalists, McCarthyism, Kent State and the 60’s-early 70’s. in general. I could go on.

We’re not special. We’re just not.

10

There are many times that I’ve been “disappointed” I was a History major (mainly due to post-grad career tracks). But for the most part I am glad that was my major. History is a good teacher. Although I would encourage my son to pursue a more practical education…

11

I have some books from my grandpop that were printed around the very beginning of the 20th Century; specifically, a collection of science books that were published in 1910, where almost everything in them is out of date now

Examples: there are only 8 planets, Jupiter has only 12 moons, Saturn has just 9, and is the only planet with rings

No mention that I could recall of Einstein, relativity, speed of light, black holes, and so on
.

12

I like the perspective and sentiment. Whenever someone says, “We’ve never seen this level of partisan hatred in our entire history! We’re doomed!,” I like to point out things like…the Civil War and the Lincoln assassination, the Burr-Hamilton gun duel which was a symptom of the uttery toxic and hate-ridden battled between the federalists and anti-federalists, McCarthyism, Kent State and the 60’s-early 70’s. in general. I could go on.

We’re not special. We’re just not.

I think the previous generations were special, and I love to read about how my people endured terrible conditions and lost people along the way as they moved across the world.

I also think we’re special. Looking at what we endure as we struggle through life—

Why must we say one is more special than the other? What’s the point of saying that?

13

I have always said that those born around the time I was (mid 70’s) live in the sweet spot of humanity. We haven’t had any major wars, ( the cold war was a little duck and cover movies and some tension) but nothing too serious. We were not drafted for any wars. The middle east stuff was all voluntary and didn’t’ have a huge effect on those not there.

The US has lived mainly at peace since the late 70’s and with only one major threat to our homeland. 911 caused a blip in our peaceful lifestyle and was followed by some years of fear over what might happen, but overall, it was not like the early 1900’s.

We have seen so many technological advances you could not catalogue all of them. In 1980, we were playing Atari on a huge TV built into a large piece of furniture with cords attached to the controller, and now almost everyone has the power of hundreds of Atari’s in their hand at all times. News is instantaneous and we have so many forms of entertainment and good food that life is gluttonous in many respects.

If AI takes away our jobs in twenty years or so, we may all be sitting in a bed, stuffing our faces, coming in and out of sleep all day while we stare at phones and monitors.

We seem to be on a downward trajectory in terms of fulfillment and personal peace however.

14

That was my maternal grandmother, she lived to be over 100 by a couple of years, although completely demented by those last years and no longer aware of what was going on. She never learned to drive.

While that focuses on the political/social stuff, I think it’s fairly certain to say she witnessed nearly unprecedented technological innovations. She went from horse and buggies to space stations.
It is fascinating to see the great epochs of advancements. I know there are plenty of people who study this, but I think you can lump an epoch of mechanical advancements starting with the Industrial Revolution and the transcontinental railroads and ending with Apollo. That ran parallel to an epoch of energy advancements starting with adoption of residential electricity and ending with nuclear power and the atomic bomb. There are still advances in mechanical and energy technologies, but not at the rapid pace we saw in the early 20th.

We are now in an epoch of information and computational advancements that started with the personal computer and will probably end with true AI. If we survive that, I think we will see a biomedical epoch that started with CRISPR and possibly ends with cures for cancer and true aging reversal. That will probably also come with some potentially Armageddon enabling inventions like the other epochs.

15

I have always said that those born around the time I was (mid 70’s) live in the sweet spot of humanity. We haven’t had any major wars, ( the cold war was a little duck and cover movies and some tension) but nothing too serious. We were not drafted for any wars. The middle east stuff was all voluntary and didn’t’ have a huge effect on those not there.

The US has lived mainly at peace since the late 70’s and with only one major threat to our homeland. 911 caused a blip in our peaceful lifestyle and was followed by some years of fear over what might happen, but overall, it was not like the early 1900’s.

We have seen so many technological advances you could not catalogue all of them. In 1980, we were playing Atari on a huge TV built into a large piece of furniture with cords attached to the controller, and now almost everyone has the power of hundreds of Atari’s in their hand at all times. News is instantaneous and we have so many forms of entertainment and good food that life is gluttonous in many respects.

If AI takes away our jobs in twenty years or so, we may all be sitting in a bed, stuffing our faces, coming in and out of sleep all day while we stare at phones and monitors.

We seem to be on a downward trajectory in terms of fulfillment and personal peace however.

Wait, I was born in 67… I never / ever did a duck a cover drill. I mean I wasn’t in school till 72 or 73. Pretty sure duck and cover drills were a thing in the 60’s not 70’s or in your case most definitely not late 70s early 80s.

Yup pretty much have to agree with you… But shhh we are Gen X we hide in the shadows. Left in the morning, came back when the street lights came on. Our parents had no clue where we were, until we showed up at a house for lunch. No bike helmets, but Wicked ramps made from what ever we could find. Had my own pc in the early 80’s.

Don’t need to worry about losing my job, retired, AI can drive me in my old age though.

16

I have always said that those born around the time I was (mid 70’s) live in the sweet spot of humanity. We haven’t had any major wars, ( the cold war was a little duck and cover movies and some tension) but nothing too serious. We were not drafted for any wars. The middle east stuff was all voluntary and didn’t’ have a huge effect on those not there.

The US has lived mainly at peace since the late 70’s and with only one major threat to our homeland. 911 caused a blip in our peaceful lifestyle and was followed by some years of fear over what might happen, but overall, it was not like the early 1900’s.

You bet. Cause we’re on a 100 year kick: 1970-2024 vs 1870-1924

Since Vietnam, we’ve invaded Lebanon and Grenada and Panama and Iraq and Somalia and Iraq and Afghanistan. Bombed Libya and Iran and Haiti and Kosovo and Yemen

Between reconstruction and the roaring 20s: we invaded Apache, Comanche, Modoc, Cheyenne, Sioux, Nez Perce, Crow, Yaqui and Cayuse nations, invaded Korea, Egypt, fought Germany in the Samoans, invaded Cuba, the Philippines and Guam, fought the Boxers in China, invaded Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, WW1

17

i was born in 1957 and i think i hit the sweet spot. i did participate in duck and cover drills. i remember all the assassinations in the 60s. i saw almost the entire history of rock and roll as it happened, and the summer of love, woodstock and the vietnam era. i missed getting drafted into the vietnam war by 1 year. i remember the first human in space, and watching the first man stand on the moon, all of which happened in the same decade.

i saw the excess of the 80s (and participated); the very beginnings of the internet; and this site you’re reading was the very first bike manufacturing company to have a website (to the best of my knowledge), which i build in 1993. and maybe the first wetsuit company. (same website.)

the tech improvements i’ve seen have been astounding. i remember our first really modern TV, black and white, with a remote control! that had a big cord leading from the big, boxy remote to the TV. i remember the first cell phone. heck, i remember the first cordless phone. when i was a kid the thing to have was a transistor radio. i have purchased neil young’s harvest album as vinyl, cassette, 8 track, CD, and digitally. so, neil, for all your complaining about the state of today’s music industry, how many times should i have to purchase your music?

what i also remember is what we had then that we’ve lost now. drive in theaters. the ability to play outside every day, unsupervised. which we all did. walking (and then riding my bike) to school, by myself, from the age of 7. the ability to make social mistakes without getting creamed on social media. graduating college, with virtually no help from parents, and with an astounding school debt of $4,400. affordable rents as a young adult. affordable used cars as a young adult.

i started bike racing at 5 rear gears and we’re at 12 now (or 13).

and i’ll be dead before the planet becomes unlivable, to be recycled into something that can hopefully prevail in whatever climate we bequeath to future generations.

18

But then think about it another way.

You are born in 1901.
You’re 13, you don’t GAF about WW1, it’s all the way in Europe. You’re 13, you’ve already left school to work on the family farm. You live on a farm without a radio, you never even hear about WW1. You are too young for a draft that starts in 1917 - it was 21+. In September 1918, 18 year olds are drafted, but you are 17, so it doesn’t matter to you.
You are 21, blissfully toiling on a farm, neither the spanish flu nor the roaring 20s reach you. You don’t have a radio!
You are 28 and the depression starts. You don’t live in Oklahoma so it doesn’t effect you that much.
You are 40, WW2 starts. Way too old for the draft. But at least you have a radio by now!

But what would matter to you:
You’ve gone from horse and ox pulling plows to steam tractors to gas tractors to post-war combines and corporate farming.
You’ve gone from candles and mail to electricity, radio, television, color television.
You’ve gone from 6 or your 12 siblings dying before 5, to a couple of your kids dying before 5, to all your grandkids being old enough to die in Vietnam.
You’ve gone from horse and buggy to Model Ts to Chevy Nomads to owning a Toyota Corolla in retirement.

That was basically my grandparents experience as German speaking Russian Mennonites farming in central Kansas. They were vaguely aware of war in Europe and all of the other things but it was not something that concerned them. They had cows to milk and cheese to make.

19

The key is not the level of suffering/worry at a given point in time; it’s the trend. If you’re used to a car, then a horse feels slow. Conversely, it feels fast if you’re used to walking. The belief that things are getting better is very comforting and the belief that things are getting worse is deeply worrying.

My grandparents were born around 1900, but given where they or their parents immigrated from, they were optimistic that things were getting better. And they did get better, despite all the bumps along the way. One of the things driving our current political strife is the belief of many people that things are getting worse. Whether they are really getting worse is debatable and depends a lot on where you sit.

20

History is a good teacher. Although I would encourage my son to pursue a more practical education…

Fortunately education is not a zero-sum game. I did engineering major / and two minors of econ/English lit. I don’t regret it for one instant. I think everyone should do a technical/humanities split, regardless of which one is the major.