‘We Never Walked Alone’

Through memories of growing up in the 1960s and ’70s – one TV and three stations, adapting to reality, pushing ahead with a competitive spirit – Gregory Meece notes that “we never walked alone.”

For those born in 1957 – the peak of the baby boom – standing out among millions came with its challenges. But it also brought advantages. Like menhaden schooling together, we improved our chances of survival. In many, we were one. But as we navigated a crowded landscape, we also developed the skills that would define our success – adaptability, perseverance, and the ability to carve out our own identities. In work, relationships, and life, our formative years as apex boomers shaped us into a resilient force.

In 1957, the average American household size peaked at 3.77 children. With four kids in my family, we rounded up. As families grew, sharing was more than a virtue – it became a necessity. At Sunday night spaghetti dinners, we quickly learned that hogging the meatballs came with consequences. The lessons we absorbed around the dinner table shaped us immeasurably.

With the invention of the Sony Walkman in 1979 and, later, portable media devices, people could finally listen to their own music and watch their own shows. But baby boomers grew up in a different era – one television per home, just three stations. We had to negotiate, reason, charm, and strategize our way to screen time. Strong persuasion skills could mean the difference between watching “The Wild Wild West” and “The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.”

As children, we learned to make informed trade-offs rooted in fundamental economic concepts like opportunity cost and supply and demand. The scarcity of resources to meet unlimited needs required cooperation, compromise, and consideration. We didn’t know business terms such as “lean management” and “operational efficiency,” but we knew how to do it. We had no choice.

Riding the bus to grade school, we were instructed to sit two up and two back. This uncomfortable geometry permitted four to sit in a seat designed for three. Nobody complained. Sitting was better than standing.

As a high school administrator, I’ve noticed that young people have become less flexible and adaptable in recent decades. Try explaining to them that even a computer scheduling program using NASA-developed algorithms and artificial intelligence won’t let you take both Advanced Placement History and Aquatic Biology when they meet at the same time.

My high school experience in the ’70s was quite different. There were 500 students in my class. By comparison, my alma mater now has 170 students per grade. For history, I was placed in one class on Mondays and Tuesdays, and a different class on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Friday was “independent study” because neither class fit my schedule. There were different kids, different teachers, and even different textbooks. I may not have excelled in history, but I gained twice the perspectives – and twice the friends.

By the end of the ’70s, people of my vintage began entering the job market. We found ourselves standing in line with a herd of fellow ’57ers, competing for entry-level positions. To get noticed, one quickly learned to distinguish oneself from the crowd. Successful businesspeople call this “differentiation,” “branding,” and “marketing.” We had to fight for our place, starting at the bottom and proving our worth. Through perseverance, hard work, and determination, we rose. We referred to this as “The American Way.”

The competition was not only domestic; it extended beyond our borders. The year 1957 signaled a more competitive world. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, igniting the Space Race. Even at age 6, we were groomed to compete, not only with the burgeoning population of American youth but also with children from around the world. After all, one of us could be the next John Glenn.

Decades before STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) became popular in school curricula, we asked our parents for help with something called New Math. They didn’t have a clue, so we figured it out on our own. We not only learned set theory, number bases, and abstract thinking, but we also learned self-reliance.

The year 1957 marked other significant changes in public education. School desegregation began that year when the Little Rock Nine enrolled in a previously segregated public school, thanks to efforts that reached as high as President Eisenhower. Baby boomer children of all races were challenged to demonstrate to the adult world what integration looked like. As a society, we still have room for improvement in this area, but at least my generation got the ball rolling.

We tried to teach our children and our grandchildren the lessons we learned as one among many, but that’s much harder to pull off today. It’s difficult to teach grit (if it even can be taught) when so much comes easily to the generations that followed us.

Today, children are told they are special. That’s nice. In many ways, those of us born in 1957 were unspecial. Like the fellow in the Where’s Waldo illustrations, our identities were easily hidden by so many lookalikes. Undaunted, we vied for space, refused to be pushed aside, and forged our paths forward.

We benefited from being born in a unique year. Today, our numbers represent a powerful political and economic constituency.

With heartfelt gratitude to the 4.3 million children I literally rubbed shoulders with – thank you!

Gregory Meece is a retired educator and short fiction author residing in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He holds degrees in English, communication, and educational leadership. Gregory’s stories have been published in more than two dozen anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. Visit his website at MeeceTales.com.

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