Home » MURRAY RUBIN…..b. Jan. 1, 1931 A partial description of the times in which I lived

MURRAY RUBIN…..b. Jan. 1, 1931 A partial description of the times in which I lived

I received this email from Mickey Spiegel.  I could not believe how my life fit into this description of the 1% group   (.I was the first baby boy in Toronto in 1931, and have been chasing the girls ever since. )

This special group was born between 1930 & 1946 = 16 years  ( I was born in 1931 )

In 2022 the age range is between 76 & 92.     Are you, or do you know, someone “still here?”  I do “ME”      I am 91 1/2

Interesting Facts for You……

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the “milk box” on the porch.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV until the 1950’s, you spent your childhood “playing outside.”  There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

“Internet” and “Google” were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.  ( No 11 widened and the #401 built.)

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The shadow knows” FM radio

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren’t neglected, but you weren’t today’s all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves. ( I did)   volleyball, softball, shot marbles or allys

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing, plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed ourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.  ( We got a Polio vaccine )

You came of age in the ’50s and ’60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

The second world was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only your generation can remember both a time of great war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better…..

You are “The Last Ones.”

More than 99% of you are either retired, and you feel privileged to have “lived in the best of times!”   Amen!

It’s great being part of the 1%!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name of author

Name: Murray Rubin

Short Bio: I was born in Toronto in 1931 to a wonderful mother who divorced shortly before my birth. I owe a great deal of my success to her. I am Jewish but not at all religious, yet my culture plays an important part of my personality. I attended Harbord Collegiate and U. of T. Faculty of Pharmacy. A unique mail-order pharmacy was the first of my endeavours in the profession, followed by many stores throughout Ontario. I have a loving wife, 3 children and grand-children and I am now retired from pharmacy. But what do I write about? Everything! My topics are funny, serious, whimsical, timely, outrageous, inspiring, and inventive. I promise that if you take the time to read any one of these topics – you will not be sorry.

2 thoughts on “MURRAY RUBIN…..b. Jan. 1, 1931 A partial description of the times in which I lived

  • Dinah Kerzner

    Murray, Thanks for the memories. I remember everything that you talked about. The only addition was that I worked for Connaught Labs in Toronto and we did some of the research for Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. Our pipettes were glass cylinders with cotton batten at the top. At one point, I sucked too hard on the pipette and swallowed some virus. The only antidote at the time was gamma globulin that was injected into my hip. Fun, fun, fun.

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