Several weekends ago, my Cranford High School class held a 52-year reunion where we also collectively celebrated our 70th birthdays. While we had a large graduating class of nearly 500 people in 1972, many of us have remained close over the years and wanted to continue reconnecting after our 50th reunion two years ago. It was an amazing weekend with lots of pictures and shared lessons from growing up in a time different from today.
I was part of the executive team planning the event, which started off with a dinner and get-together at the Deutscher Club. In coordination with the school's Booster Club, we scored our own seating section at the football game. At the game, the 1972 captains of the football team were acknowledged on the field and our class’s marching band members played with the present-day band. We had many other activities, too, including a memorial service for the classmates we have lost over the years. It was a special time with long-time friends…and an opportunity to step back, discuss, and reflect on how times have changed over the years—and how they’ve in many ways remained the same. People complain about how tough life is now. But it wasn’t exactly all roses and rainbows “back in the day,” either—and we got through it.
My classmates and I not only grew up in the same New Jersey town, we grew up at the same time in history. During our reunion, we recalled some positive and not-so-positive memories of growing up when we did.
We literally played in the streets, rode our bikes wherever we wanted to, and felt safe while doing those things (as long as we were home by dark, we stayed in our parents’ good graces). We spent more time becoming friends because we had no social media drama distracting us and diminishing our self-confidence. And the political climate was more civil and less polarizing than it is now.
On the flip side, we dealt with a lot of uncertainty and stress—and fewer conveniences. Most of us walked to school because there was very little bussing. The only organized sports were Little League Baseball and Pop Warner Football. When we were in fourth grade, JFK was assassinated—and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated when we were in eighth grade. When we were juniors in high school, we used slide rules in chemistry class because we didn’t have calculators back then.
College riots in protest of the Vietnam War (including the infamous and deadly Kent State University riot) broke out across the country during our junior year when we were doing college tours. There was the Vietnam War draft from 1964 to 1973—and young men were required to sign up for selective service (I drew lottery number “13”), and many were coming back from the war in body bags. My Mom suggested that I move to Canada as she was scared to death (given my less-than-auspicious lottery number) that I would be sent to Vietnam to fight a senseless war and die. Whatever anyone says about Richard Nixon, he abolished the draft in January 1973 and likely saved my life.
And the economy was arguably worse than it is now, as we faced double-digit inflation in the 70s.
Many people complain about how terrible things are now, but they should know EVERY generation has faced difficulties—many worse than those we’re experiencing today. We’ll get through it. And no matter who wins the upcoming Presidential election this year, it won’t be the end of the world. We’re still going to be here…and our lives will go on.
