25567 Day
In 1946, the world was a different place.
There was no Google yet or Yahoo.
In 1946, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Song of the South. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.
Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.
In the year 1946, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was The King's General by Daphne du Maurier. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it?
In 1946... A revised and streamlined revival of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat opens on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre. The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor. Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes 6 constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The Soviet Union and Switzerland resume diplomatic relations. In Japan, women vote for the first time, during elections for the House of Representatives of the 90th Imperial Diet. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates, and is succeeded by his son Humbert II. Laurence Olivier's Henry V opens in the United States nearly 2 years after its release in England. It is the first Shakespeare film in color, and critics hail it as the finest film of a Shakespeare play ever made. The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.
That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.
The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Hermann Hesse. The Nobel Peace prize went to Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott. The Nobel prize for physics went to Percy Williams Bridgman from the United States for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made there within the field of high pressure physics. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?
The 1940s were indeed a special decade. World War II continued, affecting people in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. The post war world encouraged decolonization, new states and governments emerged, while others declared independence, often not without bloodshed. The dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is published, picturing a totalitarian Big Brother regime controllings its citizens. The NATO gets established. Iceland declares independence Denmark. Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party is victorious in the Chinese Civil War. Mathematics sees the invention of cryptography. Ballistic missiles are created.
Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15? Blue Hawaii. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was Tossin' and Turnin' by Bobby Lewis. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?
In 1946, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Oh! What It Seemed to Be by Frankie Carle topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.
It was just a neighborhood dance
That's all that it was
But, oh, what it seemed to be
It was like a masquerade ball
With costumes and all
'Cause you were at the dance with me
...
There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.
When you were 9, the movie A Kid for Two Farthings was playing. When you were 8, there was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1946. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Mobile Telephone Service. The Bikini.
In 1946, a new character entered the world of comic books: Rocky and Murph. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1946, Laura Bush was born. And Cher. Donald Trump, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2017.
The world is a different place.
What path have you taken?
25567 Day
In 1946, the world was a different place.
There was no Google yet or Yahoo.
In 1946, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Song of the South. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.
Remember, that was before there were DVDs. Heck, even before there was VHS. People were indeed watching movies in the cinema, and not downloading them online. Imagine the packed seats, the laughter, the excitement, the novelty. And mostly all of that without 3D computer effects.
In the year 1946, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was The King's General by Daphne du Maurier. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it?
In 1946... A revised and streamlined revival of Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat opens on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre. The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor. Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes 6 constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. The Soviet Union and Switzerland resume diplomatic relations. In Japan, women vote for the first time, during elections for the House of Representatives of the 90th Imperial Diet. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates, and is succeeded by his son Humbert II. Laurence Olivier's Henry V opens in the United States nearly 2 years after its release in England. It is the first Shakespeare film in color, and critics hail it as the finest film of a Shakespeare play ever made. The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.
That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.
The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Hermann Hesse. The Nobel Peace prize went to Emily Greene Balch and John Raleigh Mott. The Nobel prize for physics went to Percy Williams Bridgman from the United States for the invention of an apparatus to produce extremely high pressures, and for the discoveries he made there within the field of high pressure physics. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?
The 1940s were indeed a special decade. World War II continued, affecting people in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. The post war world encouraged decolonization, new states and governments emerged, while others declared independence, often not without bloodshed. The dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is published, picturing a totalitarian Big Brother regime controllings its citizens. The NATO gets established. Iceland declares independence Denmark. Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party is victorious in the Chinese Civil War. Mathematics sees the invention of cryptography. Ballistic missiles are created.
Do you remember the movie that was all the rage when you were 15? Blue Hawaii. Do you still remember the songs playing on the radio when you were 15? Maybe it was Tossin' and Turnin' by Bobby Lewis. Were you in love? Who were you in love with, do you remember?
In 1946, 15 years earlier, a long time ago, the year when you were born, the song Oh! What It Seemed to Be by Frankie Carle topped the US charts. Do you know the lyrics? Do you know the tune? Sing along.
It was just a neighborhood dance
That's all that it was
But, oh, what it seemed to be
It was like a masquerade ball
With costumes and all
'Cause you were at the dance with me
...
There's a kid outside, shouting, playing. It doesn't care about time. It doesn't know about time. It shouts and it plays and thinks time is forever. You were once that kid.
When you were 9, the movie A Kid for Two Farthings was playing. When you were 8, there was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards? The technology available today would have blown your mind in 1946. Do you know what was invented in the year you were born? The Mobile Telephone Service. The Bikini.
In 1946, a new character entered the world of comic books: Rocky and Murph. Bang! Boom! But that's just fiction, right? In the real world, in 1946, Laura Bush was born. And Cher. Donald Trump, too. And you, of course. Everyone an individual. Everyone special. Everyone taking a different path through life.
It's 2017.
The world is a different place.
What path have you taken?