Thursday, July 09, 2020

The Most Unfortunate Year

Mom 90.3 has seen it all.

I was talking to Eli 18.10 about the worst year to be born in--in the last century or so--and at first, he said his year (2001) was a strong contender.

The financial crash of 2008, the pandemic, staggering systemic racism in the U.S.--it's a strong case.

I told him, though, that another year had primacy.

1930. That's the year my Mom was born.

She grew up during the Depression. In her teenage years, she was living through WWII. In her twenties and thirties she lived through the terrifying racist white response to the civil rights movement (particularly where she lived during those times, which was Arkansas and Texas).

The Cuban Missile Crisis. The nightmare of Richard Nixon and and George Wallace (Trump is the 21st century incarnation of George Wallace).

THEN add 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic.

I mean, damn. I didn't even list everything.

She lived through it all, and she's still feisty and forward thinking (love you, Mom).

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