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A Lesson Learned from the Lost Generation By Gord Hotchkiss (Edited for Language) vents that were negative, they were 9/11,...
A Lesson Learned from the Lost Generation By Gord Hotchkiss (Edited for Language) vents that were negative, they were 9/11, e the JFK assassination and the Vietnam War. I wasn’t around for Y2K. Was it like this?” “ Thequestionwasposedtomebyayoungman yheartbrokeon9/11,justlikeallofyours. M namedJeremy–about18or19–whobrought That day would change my perspective on the online order of groceries to my car. He many things. But inrealterms,itdidn’tshift hadjustbeentellingmehowstoreemployees my life in any significant ways. There was had been scrambling to stay ahead of items tightened security when I travelled, but that people were starting to hoard so they could was about it. This in no way minimizes the post limits to prevent the shelves being tragedy of the event. I know it was stripped bare. On this day, it was bread. He excruciatingly real for some of you reading this. I’m just putting it in perspective for shook his head, unable to wrap it around myself. people’s panic. He was trying to relate it to something that could serve as a baseline. his will be different. There is a ton of T y initial reaction to his question was to M uncertainty about what lies ahead, but I’m pretty sure all our lives are going to change laugh. Y2K was...nothing... We panicked, we nervously rang in the New Year of 2000, and significantlyforthenext18monthsto2years at least. And it will impact everyone in the then welaughedsheepishlyandwentonwith life. world. The vast majority of us have never been through anything like this before. But others have. In fact, a wholegenerationhas. his is different. On so many levels. I told T Unfortunately, none of them are around to that to Jeremy. “I have been around for talk to. They were called the Lost almost 60 years. I have never experienced Generation. anything like this before.” y Grandfather was part of this generation. M I’ve been thinking about that conversation a Officially, those belonging to the Lost lot since. In Jeremy’s short time here onthe Generation were born between 1883 and planet, he probably has never experienced 1900. Charles Edward Hotchkiss was born in true hardship. But then, neither have I. Not Herefordshire, England in 1888. He died in really. Not like what we’re about to Ontario,Canadain1955,attheageof67.He experience. was just 8 yearsolderthanIamtoday.Given whatwe’regoingthroughcurrently,Istopped Ifyouweretoplotatrendlineofmylifeover to think about what “Charlie”experiencedin thelast6decades...it’sbeenaprettygood60 his lifetime. years. For me, hardship has been defined by puttingoffatripbecauseIcouldn’taffordit. In1910,heboardedtheSSLakeChamplainin Or buying a used car when I wanted a new Liverpool and came to Canada. He was 21. one. Poor me. Events like this. Fouryearslater,hevolunteeredforservicein World War I. In the next 4 years, 9 million he Pew Research Center askedAmericansto T soldiers would die, 21 million would be rank the most significant events of their wounded (my grandfather was one of them), 7 lifetimes in 2016. If we just look at those A Lesson Learned from the Lost Generation By Gord Hotchkiss (Edited for Language) illion would be left permanently disabled. m S ometimes, when you can’t see forward, it’s 10 million civilians also died. helpful to look back. When I did that, I realized we’re a pretty resilient species.The hose numbers are staggering, but an even T Lost Generation laid the foundation for the deadlier and more significant event was just world we live in today. They weathered storm getting started in 1917. Today, we remember it as the Spanish Flu. By the time the fter storm after storm. They made it a epidemic subsided in 1920, somewhere through. They raised families, started between50and100millionpeoplewoulddie. businesses and survived. It had infected 500 million people, a quarter of the world’s population. It will get hard for us. Really hard. It’s a definition of hardship many of us will be his was the reality when my grandfather T dealingwithforthefirsttimeinourlives.But was 31 years old. wegointothiswithtechnologicalandsocietal advantages the Lost Generation never had or harlie married my grandmother, Rose, in C couldevendreamof.Weshouldbeabletodo 1926.Threeyearslater,theworldslippedinto thiswithoutfallingapart.Wecomefromgood theGreatDepression.Halfofallbanksinthe stock. US failed. Unemployment spiked to 25%. Internationaltradecollapsed.Millionsbecame homeless. And it would continue like this for thenext10years.Inthemiddleofallthis–in 1935–CharlieandRosehadababy.Itwasmy father, William Francis Hotchkiss. hen my dad was just 4, World War II W started. Mygrandfather,whowas50,wastoo old to actively serve but the impact of the war was stillimmenseonhisfamily.Overthe next 6 years, 100 million people would be directly impacted from more than 30 countries. It is estimated 20 million military personneland40millioncivilianswoulddiein those 6 years. hese events, any one of which would be T staggering to us, were packed into just 3 decades. I tried to imagine myself going through that from 1990 to today. I couldn’t.
