Our generation lived inside a steady America and mistook it for the natural order of things. What felt as permanent as air has been lost.
We Thought It Would Always Be There |
Our generation lived inside a steady America and mistook it for the natural order of things. What felt as permanent as air has been lost. |
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News for the America we remember |
There was a time in this country when tomorrow seemed likely to resemble today, and nobody thought that was a remarkable blessing. It just felt normal. A man got up, went to work, came home tired, and expected that next Tuesday would look much the same. Stores opened when they said they would. Families gathered on Sunday. Schools taught children the country was theirs. Churches rang their bells. Main streets had a rhythm to them. Nothing about that life felt fragile while it was being lived. |
That may have been the greatest mistake, though it was an innocent one. We assumed permanence. We mistook a fortunate inheritance for the settled condition of mankind. When something surrounds you from birth, you do not think to defend it any more than you think to defend the air. You breathe it. You live in it. You only notice it after the room changes and your chest starts working harder. |
The men and women who came through the Depression and the war knew how much had been paid for ordinary stability. They knew what scarcity was. They knew what sacrifice looked like in a uniform and on a ration card and at a graveside. By the middle years of the century, many of them wanted above all else to build a life that felt dependable for their children. They did. The trouble with success is that it can hide the memory of what made it necessary. |
Children raised in that steadier America grew up inside regular patterns. Dad had a job that was not glamorous but was enough. Mom had supper going at a set hour, or if she worked too, the house still moved by known routines. Sunday dinner was not an event requiring months of planning and several apps. It was simply what happened. Grandparents lived near enough to matter. Teachers expected discipline. Neighbors noticed your conduct before your parents did. There were boundaries, and because there were boundaries, there was room to relax inside them. |
What seemed like the best of times in America has been lost… |
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They've already shipped 5 billion critical components to SpaceX. And they are the cornerstone for Elon's new endeavor I call "Project Unlimited." |
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