Time is relative ...

Big Man · Feb 13, 2015

As I was winding my grandfather’s old pocket watch this morning, it struck me as to how time is relative. Let me explain: My grandmother bought the watch for my grandfather for Christmas, 1923. I have a pocket watch that my parents gave me for my 18[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday in 1972 that I carry every day. When I got MY watch in 1973, my GRANDFATHER’s watch was 50 years old. Now, my watch is almost as old as my grandfather’s watch was when I got mine. This got me to thinking about historical events and their relative “distance to the past” during what we like to call the Golden Era and today. Here are just a few that came to mind:

In 1935, the end of the Civil War was 70 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the end of WW II is 70 years in the past. In 1935, the Wright Brother’s first airplane flight was 32 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the first moon landing is 46 years in the past. In 1935, the end of the American Revolution was 154 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the end of the Civil War is 150 years in the past. And what seems worse is, when I was born 1935 was only 20 years in the past. Today, 1995 is 20 years in the past.

[FONT=&quot]Time really is relative, and our concept of “how long ago” things were is interesting when you stop and think about it in this kind of context. [/FONT]

sheeplady · Feb 13, 2015

Big Man said:
As I was winding my grandfather’s old pocket watch this morning, it struck me as to how time is relative. Let me explain: My grandmother bought the watch for my grandfather for Christmas, 1923. I have a pocket watch that my parents gave me for my 18[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday in 1972 that I carry every day. When I got MY watch in 1973, my GRANDFATHER’s watch was 50 years old. Now, my watch is almost as old as my grandfather’s watch was when I got mine. This got me to thinking about historical events and their relative “distance to the past” during what we like to call the Golden Era and today. Here are just a few that came to mind:

In 1935, the end of the Civil War was 70 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the end of WW II is 70 years in the past. In 1935, the Wright Brother’s first airplane flight was 32 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the first moon landing is 46 years in the past. In 1935, the end of the American Revolution was 154 years in the past. Today, in 2015, the end of the Civil War is 150 years in the past. And what seems worse is, when I was born 1935 was only 20 years in the past. Today, 1995 is 20 years in the past.

[FONT="]Time really is relative, and our concept of “how long ago” things were is interesting when you stop and think about it in this kind of context. [/FONT]

It is interesting. I like to think of my older set of grandparents, who lived to see the rise of the automobile, the transition from horses to tractors on their family farms, the changing views on smoking (full circle), two World Wars, the Great Depression, numerous epidemics, the rise of vaccinations, men on the moon, nuclear escalation, etc. But those, as amazing as they were, were everyday events. With the exception of a few, it was life as usual and advancements.

While I haven't lived the same amount of time (I hope to) I've also seen dramatic events- the rise of HIV, the ending of the shuttle program, fall of the Berlin Wall, the Challenger and Columbia disasters, 9/11; etc., but I don't sit back and say, "wow, that's a amazing-" much the same way my grandparents never sat back and thought, "wow, that's amazing" unless someone brought it up. It's just stuff that happened while I was alive- some good, some horrific. I think it is an entirely different to have something be a major historical event that happened before you were born versus a lived event.

I always liked this quote by C.S. Lewis:
"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different..."

jamespowers · Feb 13, 2015

Definitely one of the reasons why I have to ask my wife exactly how old I am. I don't want to know.

Big Man · Feb 13, 2015

When I stop and think about it, there's one more thing that boggles my mind concerning "relative" time. When my last grandchild was born, WW I was further in the past to him than the Civil War was to me.

jamespowers · Feb 14, 2015

Big Man said:
When I stop and think about it, there's one more thing that boggles my mind concerning "relative" time. When my last grandchild was born, WW I was further in the past to him than the Civil War was to me.

:eeek: Now you are encroaching on the You know you are getting old when thread

Big Man · Feb 14, 2015

jamespowers said:
:eeek: Now you are encroaching on the You know you are getting old when thread

Hey, cut me some slack. I didn't say I was IN the Civil War.

HoosierDaddy · Feb 14, 2015

Hey if you can still lead groups of people up and down mountains for days..I don't think the 'You know you are getting old when' thread even pertains..
HD

Big Man · Feb 14, 2015

HoosierDaddy said:
Hey if you can still lead groups of people up and down mountains for days..I don't think the 'You know you are getting old when' thread even pertains..
HD

Thanks for the support.

Stearmen · Feb 14, 2015

Big Man said:
When I stop and think about it, there's one more thing that boggles my mind concerning "relative" time. When my last grandchild was born, WW I was further in the past to him than the Civil War was to me.

A while back I was thinking, I never knew any Civil War Veterans. But I did know three of my Grandparents, and they were all Grandchildren of Civil War Veterans.

Stearmen · Feb 14, 2015

sheeplady said:
It is interesting. I like to think of my older set of grandparents, who lived to see the rise of the automobile, the transition from horses to tractors on their family farms, the changing views on smoking (full circle), two World Wars, the Great Depression, numerous epidemics, the rise of vaccinations, men on the moon, nuclear escalation, etc. But those, as amazing as they were, were everyday events. With the exception of a few, it was life as usual and advancements.

While I haven't lived the same amount of time (I hope to) I've also seen dramatic events- the rise of HIV, the ending of the shuttle program, fall of the Berlin Wall, the Challenger and Columbia disasters, 9/11; etc., but I don't sit back and say, "wow, that's a amazing-" much the same way my grandparents never sat back and thought, "wow, that's amazing" unless someone brought it up. It's just stuff that happened while I was alive- some good, some horrific. I think it is an entirely different to have something be a major historical event that happened before you were born versus a lived event.

I always liked this quote by C.S. Lewis:
"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different..."

"Eat drink and be marry, for tomorrow, today will be yesterday!"

jamespowers · Feb 14, 2015

Big Man said:
Hey, cut me some slack. I didn't say I was IN the Civil War.

:rofl: I said getting-----not already here.

LizzieMaine · Feb 14, 2015

I think about this all the time, in part because I spend most of my work day with people who are more than half my age. I'm old enough to be the mother of most of the people I work with, and you can't help but be acutely aware of how differently time passes when you're older. I've been in my current job going on ten years now, and that's less than a fifth of my life. But it's half the lifespan for some of these kids -- when I started doing this, already into middle age, they were little kids in grammar school. They came to awareness in the 21st Century -- only the oldest of them have any real sense of life in the 1990s, and none of them can remember a time before the Internet. I am at all times acutely aware of the fact that I was born into an entirely different world than they were.

My closest friend among the staff is twenty-five years younger than I am, and I've learned as much about the 21st Century from her as she's learned about the 20th from me.

Big Man · Feb 14, 2015

jamespowers said:
:rofl: I said getting-----not already here.

OK. I'll give you credit for that much.

ChiTownScion · Feb 15, 2015

Big Man said:
Hey, cut me some slack. I didn't say I was IN the Civil War.

Well, I was.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Gray Ghost · Feb 15, 2015

I have been with the Rocky Mount Police Department for 20 years. When I started, I had several officers that were my Sergeants that are now retired and I am training their sons who have now become officers. I am 45 getting ready to turn 46. My Grandfather served in WWI and my Father in WWII. My Grandfather is the grandson of Confederate Veterans. I am a Confederate Reenactor myself and have been for 30 years. I will be able to retire from RMPD in 5 years at 50 years old and with 25 years into the system. I may become a PI at that point. I ought to change my name to Eric Marlowe but I am too proud of my given name due to my Father and our Ancestors. I remember watching tv with only 4 channels and my father had a remote. It was me. No computers, no cell phones, and I played outside and in the woods. I enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons. I loved watching Superman with George Reeves, Batman with Adam West and the Lone Ranger with Clayton Moore after I got out of school every evening. They were reruns then but not by too many years. Hard to believe that I have friends that I graduated with that their kids have graduated from the same school and now attending college. I even have friends that I am close to that are young enough to be my kids. Time flies.

ChiTownScion · Feb 22, 2015

My reenacting days are over. It got to the point where I looked a bit silly playing a 28 year old Federal regimental surgeon in my mid 50's. I'd occasionally galvanize and don my grey Secesh uniform if the event called for it, but around here, the Rebs tended to be - and I can't think of any way to diplomatically state this- authenticity challenged, especially in the medical impression category.

Many great memories from those days in the Hobby.... but it was time to bow out gracefully. Too many tubby old geezers portraying soldiers in a war that was, for the most part, fought by men in their teens and twenties, and too many beer bellies for armies supposedly subsisting on parched corn and hard rations. Did meet some fine people, however, and made a lot of lasting friendships.

Benny Holiday · Feb 24, 2015

Interesting thread. My first awareness of this concept came when I was in my early teens. My Dad was about to turn 45 a month after I was born in 1969. While most of my peers' dads were 39 or 40 years old in our early-mid teens, or even younger, my Dad was 60. He was a WWII veteran and thus, for me, the Second World War has always seemed as recent as Vietnam; it seemed to have happened only a decade and a half before for me as a teenager because my Dad had served in it.

Big Man · Feb 24, 2015

Benny Holiday said:
... for me, the Second World War has always seemed as recent as Vietnam ...

That's the point of my original post. The war in Vietnam is further in the past for my grandchildren than World War I was to me when I was my grandchildren's age. That's why I think it's interesting to think about how younger people view "the past."

Mid-fogey · Feb 24, 2015

Too true. My dad was very close to his grandfather. His grandfather's dad was in the Civil War. WWII seems far away, but my middle aged high school teachers fought in it.

Big Man · Mar 1, 2015

I had a Dentist appointment this past Friday. It was late in the afternoon, so I was the last patient to be seen. As I was getting ready to leave, my Dentist told me that this was his last day at work (he's retiring and another Dentist will be taking over his practice). My Dad, who was the Principal of a rural school, was instrumental in starting a dental clinic in the school for children who otherwise wouldn't have access to dental care. The young man, right out of dental school, who became our family Dentist, got his start that way and soon opened his own practice. He's been the Dentist for my Dad and Mother, me, my children, and my grandchildren. Four generations of the same family. My Dad was his first patient when he started his practice in 1974, and, quite by coincidence, I was his last patient when he ended his practice this past Friday.

Time is relative ...

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