I’m reading Andrew Marr’s ‘A History of Modern Britain’. Here’s an extract from the prologue:
If, by an act of science or magic, a small platoon of British people from 1945 could be time-travelled sixty or so years into the future, what would they make of us? They would be nudging one another and trying not to laugh. They would be shocked by the different colours of skin. They would be surprised by the crammed and busy roads, the garish shops, the lack of smoke in the air. They would be amazed at how big so many of us are, not just tall but shamefully fat. They would be impressed by the clean hair, the new-looking clothes and the youthful faces of the new British. But they would feel shock and revulsion at the gross wastefulness, the food flown here from Zambia or Peru then promptly thrown out of houses and supermarkets uneaten, the mountains of intricately designed and hurriedly discarded music players, television sets and fridges, clothes and furniture; the ugly marks of painted, distorted words on walls and the litter everywhere of plastic and coloured paper. They would wonder at our lack of church-going, our flagrant openness about sex, our divorce habit, alongside our amazingly warm and comfortable houses. They would then discuss it all in voices that might make us in turn laugh at them – insufferably posh or quaintly regional.
They are us. The cropped-haired urchins of the forties are our pensioners now. The impatient lean young adults of 1947 with their imperial convictions or socialist beliefs are around us still in wheelchairs or hidden in care homes. It was their lives and the choices they made which led to here and now. So although they might stare at us and ask, ‘Who are these alien people?’ we could reply, ‘We are you, what you chose to become.’
If, by an act of science or magic, a small platoon of British people from 1945 could be time-travelled sixty or so years into the future, what would they make of us? They would be nudging one another and trying not to laugh. They would be shocked by the different colours of skin. They would be surprised by the crammed and busy roads, the garish shops, the lack of smoke in the air. They would be amazed at how big so many of us are, not just tall but shamefully fat. They would be impressed by the clean hair, the new-looking clothes and the youthful faces of the new British. But they would feel shock and revulsion at the gross wastefulness, the food flown here from Zambia or Peru then promptly thrown out of houses and supermarkets uneaten, the mountains of intricately designed and hurriedly discarded music players, television sets and fridges, clothes and furniture; the ugly marks of painted, distorted words on walls and the litter everywhere of plastic and coloured paper. They would wonder at our lack of church-going, our flagrant openness about sex, our divorce habit, alongside our amazingly warm and comfortable houses. They would then discuss it all in voices that might make us in turn laugh at them – insufferably posh or quaintly regional. 
They are us. The cropped-haired urchins of the forties are our pensioners now. The impatient lean young adults of 1947 with their imperial convictions or socialist beliefs are around us still in wheelchairs or hidden in care homes. It was their lives and the choices they made which led to here and now. So although they might stare at us and ask, ‘Who are these alien people?’ we could reply, ‘We are you, what you chose to become.’
5 comments:
You know, I've often felt this way about the elderly in the U.S. They deride the Baby Boomers often (speaking in generalities). While there is more than a grain of truth in what they're saying, I keep coming back to the fact that these are THEIR children. The Baby Boomers weren't alien spawn, they were raised by these people. They can't dissociate themselves from the results NOW, just because they don't like it...
And the babies born right at the very end of the War are our most senior politicians!
"Shamefully" fat?
What is the shame of being fat?
I don't think he means that it is shameful to be fat: I think he means fat to a degree that is shameful. Like obese. But then whether shameful is the right adjective to describe that is a matter of debate. I don't think I'd call it shameful. It depends who it is, I suppose. You have to remember that Andrew Marr is a Scotsman, and they have a bit of a puritanical tradition!
Also fat is a loaded issue these days because being skinny is seen as such a virtue, particularly if you are female, and being fat to any degree is a sin and 'shameful'. Personally I think a bit of fat is quite a good thing!
I remember being a kid in the 1970's in london(i now live in the US) Our schoolteachers really came from the pre-boomer generation. I have such respect for knowing them and those memories. Many of them were able to talk about World War 2and experienced such monumental historical events that make the Iraq war look like a trifling matter. I had a teacher from Poland that had PTSD from being a child in Poland during WW2. My children will not be exposed to adults that can bring that richness of experience. I mean c'mon-the baby boomers?!
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