Recently one of our staff here in Cobble Hill, Aaron Spotts, welcomed into the world their first child Coco. I started thinking about how different her life will be compared to my life as I turn 50 this year, and my father’s life as he turns 90 in May.
My father lived through the Great Depression, which makes the Great Recession of 2008 look like a picnic. He was an officer in the Canadian Air Force during World War II having joined at the age of 17 ½ years old, and flew as a tailgunner on many dangerous missions in Europe. By the age of 20 he had had more harrowing, life changing experiences than most of us ever have our entire life, but he will tell you to this day that those were the most exciting years of his life. He later started a family, worked in logging and construction before starting the business that has become Pacific Homes and Pacific Truss in 1959 at the relatively old age of 34.
My parents were fortunate to never have to experience the panic that their parent’s generation must have felt in the Depression when there was not enough food to feed the family. At one point my Grandparents had 4 sons serving in the military during World War II. As parents now we worry about our children away at university and the choices they might make, and we can text them anytime. When I think of my Grandparents not hearing from their sons for months at a time and dreading the official telegram that they are missing or dead, I realize they truly were remarkable generations that came before us.
I was able to graduate high school, which would have still been unusual in my parent’s generation. I was also able to enter the University of my choice (mostly due to lower academic standards than today) and graduate by paying my whole way through summer jobs. Jobs in my field were plentiful and I had a rewarding career in the forest industry before moving back to Vancouver Island and joining the family business.
It seems every generation has made it easier for the next generation to succeed. While we often lament about the lack of drive of the younger generation or that they don’t seem to want what we coveted like a steady career path or a home with a white picket fence, I think they will make their way just fine in the world today. They will have an entirely different skill set and life expectations. They will be very adaptive and comfortable with the increasing speed of technology change. By the time little Coco is an adult she will have seen more change in her years than most of us will see in our lifetime.
