November 13, 2024 • 23 mins
Imagine a generation shaped by hardship and resilience, yet taught to hide their emotions behind a stoic facade. What happens when those silent struggles are passed down through the family tree? Join us on a thoughtful journey as we explore the legacy of the silent generation, born between 1928 and 1945, and the profound impact of their unaddressed traumas on subsequent generations. From the stark realities of the Great Depression to the seismic shifts of World War II, we paint a vivid picture of the societal forces that demanded stoicism and emotional suppression, setting the stage for a cycle of unresolved trauma. Our conversation emphasizes the silent generation's influence on baby boomers, highlighting the challenging balance between the values of discipline and the longing for emotional warmth.
As we unravel generational parenting patterns, we reflect on how these silent struggles often led to rebellion or conformity among baby boomers, occasionally manifesting in destructive behaviors like substance abuse. Our guest, Mama Gowan, brings invaluable insights into how millennials are courageously challenging these inherited norms to cultivate healthier emotional expressions. With anticipation, we prepare for Mama Gallen's upcoming session, where her firsthand accounts of wartime resilience will offer further clarity. We affirm our shared commitment to addressing and healing generational trauma, offering hope and encouragement to those willing to confront these challenges in search of peace and a renewed understanding of their intrinsic worth.
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Video Title Wednesdays With Watson
Project Name Wednesdays With Watson
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We talk so much these days because I have so much to
say.
Stay and listen to me closely,even though you already know.
Imagine a world in which youhave to stand in line for food.
(00:35):
Imagine wondering if, beforeyou get your turn, they run out
of food.
Imagine being in school andhearing air raid drills because
the country is potentially underattack.
Imagine being in school andhearing that the country
actually was attacked at PearlHarbor.
(00:57):
Imagine sending your husband's,sons and brothers off to war and
then being responsible tofigure things out on the home
front.
Imagine being that soldier thatwent off to a world war.
Imagine being a family memberof somebody that died at
Normandy.
Imagine living under theconstant fear that two soldiers
(01:18):
were going to come knock on thedoor indicating that someone
that you loved wasn't cominghome.
Imagine living in a time wherecommunism was a real threat.
Imagine turning on the news,because the TV was invented
during your generation, andseeing the war images of Korea,
(01:38):
vietnam and subsequent warsright in your living room.
Imagine learning about the endof the war by sitting around a
radio.
Imagine not knowing what wasgoing on with the war until you
got a letter from a loved onethat maybe took a month to get.
Imagine just not knowing whereyour next meal comes from, and
(02:03):
just about every member ofsociety is the same.
Imagine being afraid that youcan't meet your basic needs, or
imagine having experienced yourparents not being able to meet
your basic needs.
Imagine a time where you growinto your own and there's
(02:24):
another war across the world inVietnam.
Imagine going to that war too.
Imagine coming back and beingrejected after having seen so
much.
Imagine being encouraged thatyou are to be stoic and that
it's a badge of courage to putyour head down and use a go
(02:47):
along, get along mentality.
Imagine living in a world thatwas just coming into its own in
terms of technology.
Imagine, though, being a part ofthe silent generation.
Imagine your voice beingquieted.
(03:08):
Imagine being told that you areto be seen and not heard.
Imagine if you did experience apsychological crisis.
You were put out to pasture,pretty much at an insane asylum,
usually on the outskirts oftown, where you were either
given a lobotomy, electricalshock treatment or any other
(03:31):
number of things that did notserve to help.
Imagine living in a world whereyou're not allowed to have
emotions, not allowed to havefears.
You are responsible to go alongto get along.
This is the silent generation.
(03:59):
Why am I talking to you aboutthe silent generation?
Well, we are talking about howgenerational trauma is passed
from one generation to the other.
The silent generation isperhaps the oldest generation
alive, though there are somemembers of the greatest
generation still alive, butthose people would be well into
their hundreds, maybe their late90s, so we've chosen to begin
(04:20):
with the silent generation,those people born between 1928
and 1945.
As you listen, especially ifyou're a baby boomer, I hope
that you will find someinformation in this episode
about the people that raised you.
That would help you a littlebit with your upbringing and
generally understand the peoplewho raised you, because we know
(04:42):
from science and we addressedthis on the last episode is that
trauma visits the generation,and the Bible tells us to the
second and third generation.
There is hope, though, inunderstanding the history of
trauma in our own families andhow it was handled, because
(05:03):
these things the result of notaddressing trauma is a repeating
behavior, and it's thatrepeating behavior that I want
to highlight in this series.
I want us to understand howthis group of people experienced
trauma, how they handled it andwhat this generation could
teach us about resilience,respect and hope.
(05:23):
Because, see, this generationhad a parents that was coined
the greatest generation and wecan see some of the greatest
generations, fingerprints onthose still here with us for the
silent generation.
Because, you see, the greatestgeneration was called the
greatest generation for a reason, and so they in fact passed on
(05:46):
some of their traits, good andbad, to the silent generation.
Because, you see, the greatestgeneration was raised when, a
time when opportunities werescarce, and so they grew up
fiercely, selfly, reliant, andthey taught their kids to be the
same reliant, and they taughttheir kids to be the same.
(06:07):
They valued community andcountry above personal gain,
which is why we call them thegreatest generation.
This is a generation that knewwhat it was like to truly be
self-sacrificing, to delaygratification and put the
greater good ahead of individualcomfort.
It was this stoic thoughtprocess that got passed on to
the silent generation.
Both were conditioned to putaside personal difficulties to
(06:31):
focus on responsibilities.
The idea that dwelling onproblems didn't solve them was
prevalent in this time.
They had a just getting on withit mentality that they passed
on to the silent generation.
With this go along to get alongmentality, the silent generation
(06:52):
was silenced.
Their voice was silenced.
Even though their parents wereauthoritative and caring, they
still had a focus on securityand stability, teaching their
children to work hard so thatthey never would have to deal
with what they had experiencedduring the Great Depression.
There's a value of educationand hard work above all else,
(07:14):
and so the silent generation ofwas taught to work hard so that
they never had to experiencewhat they experienced for some
of them very early in theirlives with the Great Depression.
But what's it like to have yourvoice taken away?
Because that's what happenedwith this generation.
Their fears and anxieties werenot addressed.
(07:38):
This is the generation thatcoined the term keep calm and
carry on.
This generation placed highvalue on privacy and
self-reliance.
They embodied the stiff upperlip mentality and pressed on
despite the events around themand we're not even talking about
trauma in their home.
(07:59):
During this time, you see, theissue with psychology was coming
of age as well, and so whensomeone couldn't hide their
trauma or they were having fearsand anxieties and depressions,
and maybe even suicides, theywere sent off to pasture,
literally sent off to asylums,often on the outskirts of town,
(08:21):
where they were not treated well.
They were treated withlobotomies and electrical shock
therapy.
And so you can see why thisgeneration, the silent
generation, decided to just bequiet.
When they did not feel wellpsychologically, they did put
their head down and do exactlywhat the greatest generation
taught them to do is get aneducation and get a job.
(08:43):
Be quiet, go along to get along, raise your kids, think, leave
it to Beaver.
This is that generation.
Because this generation did notstop to address the effects of
the global events.
They would pay the price laterand it would be passed on to
(09:04):
their children.
The baby boomer generationBecause this generation invented
this pull yourself up by yourbootstraps mentality.
The baby boomers have thatmentality.
Generation X has that mentalityto some degree.
It's not until the millennialsthat we see this change and we
(09:24):
will track that as we continueto talk through the generations.
But for the this generation,talking about the personal pain
and hardship was viewed as anindulgent affair and it was
highly discouraged.
And, as I mentioned, peoplewould have had fears of being
institutionalized had theyexpressed at all how some of
these things were affecting them.
And we're talking.
Big time things right, we'retalking.
(09:46):
They had to stand in line forfood.
We are talking.
They would have obviously beenalive for Pearl Harbor, they
would have sent their people offto war, like we talked about.
They would have experienced asignificant economic boom after
the war.
They would have gone on tomarry and been afraid and
(10:09):
experienced fears in the age ofMacArthurism and the second Red
Scare.
And, of course, their parentshad experienced the first Red
Scare, this fear that communismand this beginning of the Cold
War.
This generation saw all of thatand all they did was internalize
it because they understood thatvulnerability was seen as a
weakness and society at largedidn't encourage this at all.
(10:32):
They didn't encourage anythingbut hard work and dedication.
They were taught to prizeproductivity and Mama Gallen,
who actually is I know I've beenpromising it for a while is
coming on in a couple weeks, andthis is something that she said
to me.
We just did, we just did, wejust did.
They were taught thatproductivity was the prize.
(10:53):
They were doers and it workedwell for them.
As they entered the workforceand began having children, they
found value in both of thesethings.
These were people that did notrock the boat.
They went to work, they workedhard, they came home to their
families.
All the while, their voiceswere silenced.
They carried their traumaquietly.
(11:13):
They swallowed it, literallyswallowed it, and kept going on,
and that would have massiveeffects on both the next
generation and their health.
You see, this generation issandwiched between two distinct
generations the greatestgeneration, which I've talked
about a little bit, because Iwanted you to understand some of
the things that got passed onfrom them, and then, of course,
(11:35):
their children, who is the babyboomers.
And so this generation, not asdistinct, they just decided to,
as I mentioned over and over, togo along, to get along.
They were quiet, productivemembers of society, but their
voices were silenced as itpertains to the things that they
had seen and experienced.
This is a generation that issometimes forgotten, and, as
(11:58):
I've mentioned, though, that allof these things made this
generation exceptionallyresilient, a trait that served
them well and one that theypassed on to their children, the
baby boomer generation, when itcome, when it comes to
parenting.
This generation somewhatbecause this is important in the
context of this podcast,because we're talking about
traits that get passed down fromgeneration to generation, and
(12:19):
so the stiff upper, this goalong to get along, this finding
identity and work and education, defines this, this generation
and these many of these people.
Mama gallon is 91 or they'renineties now and I watch her
often still play these thingsout, especially being a doer, as
a means of dealing with thethings that bother them.
(12:41):
They don't talk about thesethings.
And if you're ever as a meansof dealing with the things that
bother them, they don't talkabout these things.
And if you ever ever have thehonor of talking to one of them
about the things that weredifficult in their lives, like
I'm going to have, I hope thatyou turn off all your phones and
all your distractions, becausethere's so much that we can
learn from this generation, andwe're going to learn that from
Mama Gal.
When she comes on in a coupleweeks.
(13:03):
I'm going to ask her aboutparenting because I think when
it comes to parenting, thisgeneration somewhat mimicked the
generation of their parents,which is the greatest generation
.
There was a strong emphasis onrespect and discipline in the
home.
They taught their children thevalue of hard work Again.
So you saw that the greatestgeneration taught their children
in the silent generation thevalue of hard work and that got
(13:27):
pushed onto the baby boomers,which again really helped
society, really helped societymove forward, this commitment to
hard work.
But many of this generation'sparents overcompensated for
their own experiences and wanteda better life for their
children.
So there was this big push foreducation and job values among
(13:47):
the baby boomer generation, andmaybe this is why we saw the
rebelliousness of the.
The baby boomer generation wasbecause their parents were so
impacted by the way they wereraised.
They wanted better for theirkids.
They never wanted their kids tostand in a line and wonder
about their food, and so thisbecame when the American dream
(14:07):
became about how much can I work, how hard can I work, how high
can I go in school?
And so the silent generationwas definitely taught that by
the greatest generation, becausetheir parents wanted better for
them.
Complicating that, while notall a bad thing, their parents
were not warm or openlyaffectionate, and we find that
many of people in the silentgeneration aren't either.
(14:30):
They loved each other and itwas understood that actions
meant love, and so when we talkabout how these, how the silent
generation, parented to the nextgeneration because that is the
context of this podcast we seethat these things were passed
down to the baby boomergeneration.
Ironically, their own strictupbringing and repeating of that
(14:53):
with their own children is tiedto that rebellious nature that
we talk about in the baby boomergeneration, teaching us what we
already know aboutpsychological trauma is that it
will at some point be addressed,and I think we see that in the
baby boomer generation and wesee that in the advent of
significant substance abuse andwhat we saw with soldiers coming
(15:15):
home from Vietnam.
We see that trauma has sayingwe will not be ignored.
You have tried to do it sincethe beginning of time and it is
going to catch up with us, andwe see that beginning to happen
in the baby boomer generation.
But we will hear Mama Gowantalk about their proclivity to
bottle up their emotions andignore trauma.
(15:36):
So not only did we see themparent this, the silent
generation and their ownchildren, but research has
indicating to us that members ofthis generation went on to
experience significant healthissues related to their
psychological issues.
As we know, the body keeps thescore and we're seeing that in
(15:56):
all generations, but especiallythis particular generation.
As we think about this serieson generational trauma, we can
track down behaviors like thisgo-along, get-along mentality.
We can evaluate it and we canunderstand the damage that it
does and we can fix it, becauseeven in the generation that
we're in now, which isGeneration Alpha.
There are fingerprints of thismentality in all of us that came
(16:19):
after the silent generations.
We are seeing the millennialsturn this mentality a little bit
on its ear, in so much as thependulum has swung all the way
to the other direction and themillennials are very, very apt
to talk about all of thesethings.
They are very reluctant to maketheir life about work and
(16:41):
education, and so we see thisbig swing and it would be fun to
walk through this in the series, but for now, we know that
we're still seeing the effectsof this the greatest generation
down to the silent generationwe're talking about today, and
this complete disregard of hardthings which got passed on to
the baby boomers who, for thepart, dealt with that, with
(17:03):
substance abuse, and got passedon to Generation X, my
generation, which values hardwork and the grind, is a badge
of honor.
And so you see how people bornin 1928 to 1945 are still
affecting those of us alive in2024.
We will continue to explore thetimeline of all of this as this
(17:25):
series continues.
The most important takeaway isthat this generation was taught
not to use their voice.
This is tragic.
It is tragic when it comes tohelping them understand their
value, because they were taughtto be seen and not heard.
Because of this basic lack ofself-work, regardless of their
(17:46):
performance.
These people pass theirinsecurities on to their
children and their children'schildren, and we talk about how
this generation, these things,affect generation after
generation after generationuntil somebody stops it.
And so that's what I want forus as we talk about generational
trauma and trauma and you andhow trauma is played out, and
(18:10):
each generation differently.
This is what I want us to learn.
Today's takeaway from the silentgeneration, as we talk to mom
next week, is they were highlyencouraged to never talk about
those things that bothered themand that did one of two things.
One way is people were sentaway into asylums and treated
(18:30):
terribly.
Secondly, those people sufferedin silence, never had a voice
and sometimes even to this day,don't know their self-value and
their self-worth.
So I want all of us to take astep back, whether you are of
the silent generation, whetheryou are of the baby boomer
generation.
Especially if you're the babyboomer generation, you might be
(18:52):
cocking your head and going, huh.
That makes a lot of sense, bythe way.
My parents raised me becausethey had seen so much.
They wanted better for me, andso they were hard on me.
They often didn't tell me theyloved me, but they were hard on
me.
I hope that baby boomers canunderstand the context of how
they were raised, because theywere raised by a group of people
(19:13):
whose badge of courage wasbeing stoic and never having a
psychological weakness thatresulted from trauma.
These things get passed downfrom generation to generation
and, as I mentioned, themillennials are beginning to
figure it out, but what can wedo as we talk to Mama Gowan in
two weeks, to stop it in us now?
(19:36):
I don't care how old you are.
It is not honoring to the Lord,to your creator, to have a
stiff upper lip and to pretendthat these things don't exist.
It is not honoring to not useyour voice you are valuable, as
is your voice if you'relistening and the United States
(20:06):
and ultimately for the world, asthey saw so much happen in
their lifetime.
That included not knowing wheretheir next meal came from, and
all the way to the invention ofthe TV, where they began seeing
these things play out in theirhome.
And then we were off to theraces for consumerism and other
technology, and so thisgeneration found themselves, as
they were retired with doubt andidentity, without a way to cope
(20:30):
, without understanding of theway they were the way they were,
and so I don't want that forgenerations after.
And so the purpose of thisseries, the purpose of this
podcast, is to help usunderstand how trauma has
affected generations downthrough the ages, how it has
been passed on to many of us,and the importance of
(20:52):
remembering that trauma must bepaid attention to, because, if
not, it will pay attention toyou, as we see played out in
this generation.
Can we change the world?
Can we change the way historyis written about us, about your
generation?
Can we have a PS at the bottomof a description about us saying
(21:17):
this generation learned how tolive with trauma.
This generation understood thattrauma is, unfortunately a part
of life.
This generation decided toaddress trauma.
This generation decided to takethe stigma out of needing
psychological help.
Can that be us?
And, more importantly, can wesee that God wants us to break
(21:42):
these generational curses?
If you will, he wants us to useour voice, even if it's just to
Him, because we matter.
We are created in His image, weare image bearers and our pain
matters.
Our traumas matter, and we mustaddress them or we're going to
pay the price later.
We will be back here in twoweeks and Mama Gallen will talk
(22:03):
about some of these things.
She'll talk about sittingaround the radio and listening
to news of the war.
She'll talk about how they weretaught to bottle up their
emotions.
She'll talk about all thethings we talked about here
today, and I can't wait for herto give us a firsthand
experience of what it was liketo be alive during those times
when they did not know wheretheir next meal was coming from
(22:24):
or if a bomb was going to dropin their neighborhood.
This is generational trauma.
We're going to continue to takeswipes at it.
We're going to make everyoneaware of the importance of
addressing those things that areoutside of your capacity to
deal.
Thank you for being here withme today.
(22:45):
May you understand that you areseen, known, heard, loved and
valued.
I will see you back here in twoweeks.
You already know Everything.
(23:05):
I'm scared of Everything.
I hope you hold my tomorrow andall tomorrow holds.
You already know.
You already know.
We talk so much these days because I have so much to
say.
Stay and listen to me closely,even though you already know.
Imagine a world in which youhave to stand in line for food.
(00:35):
Imagine wondering if, beforeyou get your turn, they run out
of food.
Imagine being in school andhearing air raid drills because
the country is potentially underattack.
Imagine being in school andhearing that the country
actually was attacked at PearlHarbor.
(00:57):
Imagine sending your husband's,sons and brothers off to war and
then being responsible tofigure things out on the home
front.
Imagine being that soldier thatwent off to a world war.
Imagine being a family memberof somebody that died at
Normandy.
Imagine living under theconstant fear that two soldiers
(01:18):
were going to come knock on thedoor indicating that someone
that you loved wasn't cominghome.
Imagine living in a time wherecommunism was a real threat.
Imagine turning on the news,because the TV was invented
during your generation, andseeing the war images of Korea,
(01:38):
vietnam and subsequent warsright in your living room.
Imagine learning about the endof the war by sitting around a
radio.
Imagine not knowing what wasgoing on with the war until you
got a letter from a loved onethat maybe took a month to get.
Imagine just not knowing whereyour next meal comes from, and
(02:03):
just about every member ofsociety is the same.
Imagine being afraid that youcan't meet your basic needs, or
imagine having experienced yourparents not being able to meet
your basic needs.
Imagine a time where you growinto your own and there's
(02:24):
another war across the world inVietnam.
Imagine going to that war too.
Imagine coming back and beingrejected after having seen so
much.
Imagine being encouraged thatyou are to be stoic and that
it's a badge of courage to putyour head down and use a go
(02:47):
along, get along mentality.
Imagine living in a world thatwas just coming into its own in
terms of technology.
Imagine, though, being a part ofthe silent generation.
Imagine your voice beingquieted.
(03:08):
Imagine being told that you areto be seen and not heard.
Imagine if you did experience apsychological crisis.
You were put out to pasture,pretty much at an insane asylum,
usually on the outskirts oftown, where you were either
given a lobotomy, electricalshock treatment or any other
(03:31):
number of things that did notserve to help.
Imagine living in a world whereyou're not allowed to have
emotions, not allowed to havefears.
You are responsible to go alongto get along.
This is the silent generation.
(03:59):
Why am I talking to you aboutthe silent generation?
Well, we are talking about howgenerational trauma is passed
from one generation to the other.
The silent generation isperhaps the oldest generation
alive, though there are somemembers of the greatest
generation still alive, butthose people would be well into
their hundreds, maybe their late90s, so we've chosen to begin
(04:20):
with the silent generation,those people born between 1928
and 1945.
As you listen, especially ifyou're a baby boomer, I hope
that you will find someinformation in this episode
about the people that raised you.
That would help you a littlebit with your upbringing and
generally understand the peoplewho raised you, because we know
(04:42):
from science and we addressedthis on the last episode is that
trauma visits the generation,and the Bible tells us to the
second and third generation.
There is hope, though, inunderstanding the history of
trauma in our own families andhow it was handled, because
(05:03):
these things the result of notaddressing trauma is a repeating
behavior, and it's thatrepeating behavior that I want
to highlight in this series.
I want us to understand howthis group of people experienced
trauma, how they handled it andwhat this generation could
teach us about resilience,respect and hope.
(05:23):
Because, see, this generationhad a parents that was coined
the greatest generation and wecan see some of the greatest
generations, fingerprints onthose still here with us for the
silent generation.
Because, you see, the greatestgeneration was called the
greatest generation for a reason, and so they in fact passed on
(05:46):
some of their traits, good andbad, to the silent generation.
Because, you see, the greatestgeneration was raised when, a
time when opportunities werescarce, and so they grew up
fiercely, selfly, reliant, andthey taught their kids to be the
same reliant, and they taughttheir kids to be the same.
(06:07):
They valued community andcountry above personal gain,
which is why we call them thegreatest generation.
This is a generation that knewwhat it was like to truly be
self-sacrificing, to delaygratification and put the
greater good ahead of individualcomfort.
It was this stoic thoughtprocess that got passed on to
the silent generation.
Both were conditioned to putaside personal difficulties to
(06:31):
focus on responsibilities.
The idea that dwelling onproblems didn't solve them was
prevalent in this time.
They had a just getting on withit mentality that they passed
on to the silent generation.
With this go along to get alongmentality, the silent generation
(06:52):
was silenced.
Their voice was silenced.
Even though their parents wereauthoritative and caring, they
still had a focus on securityand stability, teaching their
children to work hard so thatthey never would have to deal
with what they had experiencedduring the Great Depression.
There's a value of educationand hard work above all else,
(07:14):
and so the silent generation ofwas taught to work hard so that
they never had to experiencewhat they experienced for some
of them very early in theirlives with the Great Depression.
But what's it like to have yourvoice taken away?
Because that's what happenedwith this generation.
Their fears and anxieties werenot addressed.
(07:38):
This is the generation thatcoined the term keep calm and
carry on.
This generation placed highvalue on privacy and
self-reliance.
They embodied the stiff upperlip mentality and pressed on
despite the events around themand we're not even talking about
trauma in their home.
(07:59):
During this time, you see, theissue with psychology was coming
of age as well, and so whensomeone couldn't hide their
trauma or they were having fearsand anxieties and depressions,
and maybe even suicides, theywere sent off to pasture,
literally sent off to asylums,often on the outskirts of town,
(08:21):
where they were not treated well.
They were treated withlobotomies and electrical shock
therapy.
And so you can see why thisgeneration, the silent
generation, decided to just bequiet.
When they did not feel wellpsychologically, they did put
their head down and do exactlywhat the greatest generation
taught them to do is get aneducation and get a job.
(08:43):
Be quiet, go along to get along, raise your kids, think, leave
it to Beaver.
This is that generation.
Because this generation did notstop to address the effects of
the global events.
They would pay the price laterand it would be passed on to
(09:04):
their children.
The baby boomer generationBecause this generation invented
this pull yourself up by yourbootstraps mentality.
The baby boomers have thatmentality.
Generation X has that mentalityto some degree.
It's not until the millennialsthat we see this change and we
(09:24):
will track that as we continueto talk through the generations.
But for the this generation,talking about the personal pain
and hardship was viewed as anindulgent affair and it was
highly discouraged.
And, as I mentioned, peoplewould have had fears of being
institutionalized had theyexpressed at all how some of
these things were affecting them.
And we're talking.
Big time things right, we'retalking.
(09:46):
They had to stand in line forfood.
We are talking.
They would have obviously beenalive for Pearl Harbor, they
would have sent their people offto war, like we talked about.
They would have experienced asignificant economic boom after
the war.
They would have gone on tomarry and been afraid and
(10:09):
experienced fears in the age ofMacArthurism and the second Red
Scare.
And, of course, their parentshad experienced the first Red
Scare, this fear that communismand this beginning of the Cold
War.
This generation saw all of thatand all they did was internalize
it because they understood thatvulnerability was seen as a
weakness and society at largedidn't encourage this at all.
(10:32):
They didn't encourage anythingbut hard work and dedication.
They were taught to prizeproductivity and Mama Gallen,
who actually is I know I've beenpromising it for a while is
coming on in a couple weeks, andthis is something that she said
to me.
We just did, we just did, wejust did.
They were taught thatproductivity was the prize.
(10:53):
They were doers and it workedwell for them.
As they entered the workforceand began having children, they
found value in both of thesethings.
These were people that did notrock the boat.
They went to work, they workedhard, they came home to their
families.
All the while, their voiceswere silenced.
They carried their traumaquietly.
(11:13):
They swallowed it, literallyswallowed it, and kept going on,
and that would have massiveeffects on both the next
generation and their health.
You see, this generation issandwiched between two distinct
generations the greatestgeneration, which I've talked
about a little bit, because Iwanted you to understand some of
the things that got passed onfrom them, and then, of course,
(11:35):
their children, who is the babyboomers.
And so this generation, not asdistinct, they just decided to,
as I mentioned over and over, togo along, to get along.
They were quiet, productivemembers of society, but their
voices were silenced as itpertains to the things that they
had seen and experienced.
This is a generation that issometimes forgotten, and, as
(11:58):
I've mentioned, though, that allof these things made this
generation exceptionallyresilient, a trait that served
them well and one that theypassed on to their children, the
baby boomer generation, when itcome, when it comes to
parenting.
This generation somewhatbecause this is important in the
context of this podcast,because we're talking about
traits that get passed down fromgeneration to generation, and
(12:19):
so the stiff upper, this goalong to get along, this finding
identity and work and education, defines this, this generation
and these many of these people.
Mama gallon is 91 or they'renineties now and I watch her
often still play these thingsout, especially being a doer, as
a means of dealing with thethings that bother them.
(12:41):
They don't talk about thesethings.
And if you're ever as a meansof dealing with the things that
bother them, they don't talkabout these things.
And if you ever ever have thehonor of talking to one of them
about the things that weredifficult in their lives, like
I'm going to have, I hope thatyou turn off all your phones and
all your distractions, becausethere's so much that we can
learn from this generation, andwe're going to learn that from
Mama Gal.
When she comes on in a coupleweeks.
(13:03):
I'm going to ask her aboutparenting because I think when
it comes to parenting, thisgeneration somewhat mimicked the
generation of their parents,which is the greatest generation
.
There was a strong emphasis onrespect and discipline in the
home.
They taught their children thevalue of hard work Again.
So you saw that the greatestgeneration taught their children
in the silent generation thevalue of hard work and that got
(13:27):
pushed onto the baby boomers,which again really helped
society, really helped societymove forward, this commitment to
hard work.
But many of this generation'sparents overcompensated for
their own experiences and wanteda better life for their
children.
So there was this big push foreducation and job values among
(13:47):
the baby boomer generation, andmaybe this is why we saw the
rebelliousness of the.
The baby boomer generation wasbecause their parents were so
impacted by the way they wereraised.
They wanted better for theirkids.
They never wanted their kids tostand in a line and wonder
about their food, and so thisbecame when the American dream
(14:07):
became about how much can I work, how hard can I work, how high
can I go in school?
And so the silent generationwas definitely taught that by
the greatest generation, becausetheir parents wanted better for
them.
Complicating that, while notall a bad thing, their parents
were not warm or openlyaffectionate, and we find that
many of people in the silentgeneration aren't either.
(14:30):
They loved each other and itwas understood that actions
meant love, and so when we talkabout how these, how the silent
generation, parented to the nextgeneration because that is the
context of this podcast we seethat these things were passed
down to the baby boomergeneration.
Ironically, their own strictupbringing and repeating of that
(14:53):
with their own children is tiedto that rebellious nature that
we talk about in the baby boomergeneration, teaching us what we
already know aboutpsychological trauma is that it
will at some point be addressed,and I think we see that in the
baby boomer generation and wesee that in the advent of
significant substance abuse andwhat we saw with soldiers coming
(15:15):
home from Vietnam.
We see that trauma has sayingwe will not be ignored.
You have tried to do it sincethe beginning of time and it is
going to catch up with us, andwe see that beginning to happen
in the baby boomer generation.
But we will hear Mama Gowantalk about their proclivity to
bottle up their emotions andignore trauma.
(15:36):
So not only did we see themparent this, the silent
generation and their ownchildren, but research has
indicating to us that members ofthis generation went on to
experience significant healthissues related to their
psychological issues.
As we know, the body keeps thescore and we're seeing that in
(15:56):
all generations, but especiallythis particular generation.
As we think about this serieson generational trauma, we can
track down behaviors like thisgo-along, get-along mentality.
We can evaluate it and we canunderstand the damage that it
does and we can fix it, becauseeven in the generation that
we're in now, which isGeneration Alpha.
There are fingerprints of thismentality in all of us that came
(16:19):
after the silent generations.
We are seeing the millennialsturn this mentality a little bit
on its ear, in so much as thependulum has swung all the way
to the other direction and themillennials are very, very apt
to talk about all of thesethings.
They are very reluctant to maketheir life about work and
(16:41):
education, and so we see thisbig swing and it would be fun to
walk through this in the series, but for now, we know that
we're still seeing the effectsof this the greatest generation
down to the silent generationwe're talking about today, and
this complete disregard of hardthings which got passed on to
the baby boomers who, for thepart, dealt with that, with
(17:03):
substance abuse, and got passedon to Generation X, my
generation, which values hardwork and the grind, is a badge
of honor.
And so you see how people bornin 1928 to 1945 are still
affecting those of us alive in2024.
We will continue to explore thetimeline of all of this as this
(17:25):
series continues.
The most important takeaway isthat this generation was taught
not to use their voice.
This is tragic.
It is tragic when it comes tohelping them understand their
value, because they were taughtto be seen and not heard.
Because of this basic lack ofself-work, regardless of their
(17:46):
performance.
These people pass theirinsecurities on to their
children and their children'schildren, and we talk about how
this generation, these things,affect generation after
generation after generationuntil somebody stops it.
And so that's what I want forus as we talk about generational
trauma and trauma and you andhow trauma is played out, and
(18:10):
each generation differently.
This is what I want us to learn.
Today's takeaway from the silentgeneration, as we talk to mom
next week, is they were highlyencouraged to never talk about
those things that bothered themand that did one of two things.
One way is people were sentaway into asylums and treated
(18:30):
terribly.
Secondly, those people sufferedin silence, never had a voice
and sometimes even to this day,don't know their self-value and
their self-worth.
So I want all of us to take astep back, whether you are of
the silent generation, whetheryou are of the baby boomer
generation.
Especially if you're the babyboomer generation, you might be
(18:52):
cocking your head and going, huh.
That makes a lot of sense, bythe way.
My parents raised me becausethey had seen so much.
They wanted better for me, andso they were hard on me.
They often didn't tell me theyloved me, but they were hard on
me.
I hope that baby boomers canunderstand the context of how
they were raised, because theywere raised by a group of people
(19:13):
whose badge of courage wasbeing stoic and never having a
psychological weakness thatresulted from trauma.
These things get passed downfrom generation to generation
and, as I mentioned, themillennials are beginning to
figure it out, but what can wedo as we talk to Mama Gowan in
two weeks, to stop it in us now?
(19:36):
I don't care how old you are.
It is not honoring to the Lord,to your creator, to have a
stiff upper lip and to pretendthat these things don't exist.
It is not honoring to not useyour voice you are valuable, as
is your voice if you'relistening and the United States
(20:06):
and ultimately for the world, asthey saw so much happen in
their lifetime.
That included not knowing wheretheir next meal came from, and
all the way to the invention ofthe TV, where they began seeing
these things play out in theirhome.
And then we were off to theraces for consumerism and other
technology, and so thisgeneration found themselves, as
they were retired with doubt andidentity, without a way to cope
(20:30):
, without understanding of theway they were the way they were,
and so I don't want that forgenerations after.
And so the purpose of thisseries, the purpose of this
podcast, is to help usunderstand how trauma has
affected generations downthrough the ages, how it has
been passed on to many of us,and the importance of
(20:52):
remembering that trauma must bepaid attention to, because, if
not, it will pay attention toyou, as we see played out in
this generation.
Can we change the world?
Can we change the way historyis written about us, about your
generation?
Can we have a PS at the bottomof a description about us saying
(21:17):
this generation learned how tolive with trauma.
This generation understood thattrauma is, unfortunately a part
of life.
This generation decided toaddress trauma.
This generation decided to takethe stigma out of needing
psychological help.
Can that be us?
And, more importantly, can wesee that God wants us to break
(21:42):
these generational curses?
If you will, he wants us to useour voice, even if it's just to
Him, because we matter.
We are created in His image, weare image bearers and our pain
matters.
Our traumas matter, and we mustaddress them or we're going to
pay the price later.
We will be back here in twoweeks and Mama Gallen will talk
(22:03):
about some of these things.
She'll talk about sittingaround the radio and listening
to news of the war.
She'll talk about how they weretaught to bottle up their
emotions.
She'll talk about all thethings we talked about here
today, and I can't wait for herto give us a firsthand
experience of what it was liketo be alive during those times
when they did not know wheretheir next meal was coming from
(22:24):
or if a bomb was going to dropin their neighborhood.
This is generational trauma.
We're going to continue to takeswipes at it.
We're going to make everyoneaware of the importance of
addressing those things that areoutside of your capacity to
deal.
Thank you for being here withme today.
(22:45):
May you understand that you areseen, known, heard, loved and
valued.
I will see you back here in twoweeks.
You already know Everything.
(23:05):
I'm scared of Everything.
I hope you hold my tomorrow andall tomorrow holds.
You already know.
You already know.
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