Living through post-war American history and into the current chaos of trumpism, christian nationalism, and the far right.

As my 82nd birthday approached on June 8th, I became conscious of the US and World history that I have lived through and am living right now. I was born in 1942, during WWII, and grew up after the end of the war in 1945. I am a member of the so-called Silent Generation.

My childhood was safe and my parents, relieved that the deprivation of the war years was behind us, gave us kids love, not fear, protected and encouraged us, got us through high school and into college, and turned us over to our own consciences.

From age 10-18, I lived with my Baptist preacher family in the small town of Athena, Oregon, population about 750 on a good day. My dad was well liked in our town and, though we kids grew up with the strictures of no dancing, no playing cards, no movies---at least for the preacher's kids---we were not particularly resentful of those strictures, as the other preacher's family had the same rules, so we were accepted as normal, just with a little tighter set of rules than the other kids.

We Ketcham kids were good students and busy with extracurricular activities---sports, school newspaper and yearbook, choir and speech and drama, even in our tiny high school. School was fun and we had a good record in interscholastic sports.

Our parents were active in local groups and our dad had the distinction of being 6'6" and having a friendly, warm nature. He was on good terms with other city leaders and was willing to take on small and large tasks to help out here and there. I remember his helping neighbors with electrical repairs on occasion and I remember his kindness and understanding when he encountered transients and migrants looking for jobs in the summer harvests.

One thing that stands out in my mind was his driving the bus full of transients, migrants, and us high school kids out to the pea fields in summer, at 6 a.m. for a day of driving our heavily laden trucks back and forth between the swathers and loaders as we kids loaded our pea trucks for delivery to the pea viners, a 12 hour a day job for less than $1 an hour.

More Later.