Summer of 1970s Photos: Smiling at the Lost Generation

Throughout 2017, I spent a year writing about the Lost Generation - those born in the early 1880s to about 1900, who endured WWI, and a pandemic. Generation X is also considered a 'lost generation' - from our formative years through adulthood there was once again, in history, one major large scale crisis after another. 

To be Generation X means your early life overlapped with the end of the lives of the Lost Generation. There was this window of time, when we still had neighbors, friends, and other loved ones in our lives from that generation. We were fortunate if we got to know our Great Grandparents, even if it was only for a short time. To go back three generations in time is to find your generational kindred spirit. 

It was America's Bicentennial year when this photo was taken. There is the red shag carpet, and the fabric is printed with the shapes of retro Christmas tree ornaments. The colors and aesthetic of this 1970s space look like the 1960s have not yet left the collective consciousness in pop culture or interior design. 

One lost generation smiles at another lost generation

Here I am as a brand new Gen Xer, Irish on my father's side, sporting red hair before it turned blond, a color that came from the other Northern European people on my maternal side. I am smiling at my Lithuanian Great Grandfather. 

And while this is just me as a baby meeting my great grandfather, this is, in a larger sense, one lost generation smiling at another. 

Every generation has an epic collective story to tell as they grow older, especially if you are a lost generation. This means your path has been harder, the road has been longer. If you use this as a chance to grow in grace, and to not become bitter, it means your connection to other people can be greater, your compassion can be deeper. At the same time, I hold enormous space for the way people who have been through a hard life can struggle to focus on the positive, who can wrestle with wondering why it all had to be so difficult. I have struggled, too. And so did the Lost Generation. Among other things, they were all detrimentally affected by WWI in some way, and like us, experienced a pandemic. They were more susceptible to this virus than those older and younger than themselves during the years of 1918-1920 due to a flu they had gotten as children - one more thing that made them different, misunderstood, or lost. The effects of such history altering events were with them for the rest of their lives, even those who never talked about it - maybe especially those who never talked about it. It appears some had 'long-flu' then, like some have long-covid now. While they called it 'shell-shock' back then, we now call it PTSD. It can be unfortunate the way history repeats itself. 

My Great Grandfather has that classic story of coming to America as an immigrant, of seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time and all the emotion that went with that. He immigrated by himself when he was only 13 years old. And then spent his life working in the boiler factory in Kewanee, Illinois. I am still piecing together details of his life, but no one crosses the Atlantic at the age of 13 if their life is easy. 

The Lost Generation watching over Generation X

Throughout history there have only been small windows of time where two lost generations got to be together. And while we can find ourselves a bit lost in this world, what we do have is each other. When we find ourselves lost on the timeline of history in which we find ourselves, we can reach back out to our kindred generation with a prayer, a word, a moment. We can hold their life's mementos in our hands, we can tell their stories. We can remind them we loved them then, and that we love them now. Those on the other side don't want to be forgotten. 

Sending gratitude from Gen X to the Lost Generation, for the days, hours, and moments you spent with us. Thank you for the ways you still watch over us. Thank you for the ways you still show up for us in distant memories, in present dreams. 

This is just one great grandfather watching over his great granddaughter's crib. And yet, in a larger sense, this is the Lost Generation watching over Generation X.    

(c) 2024 All rights reserved, Chloe Koffas