Life Lessons From Memaw
I am a big fan of TV and movies. In the past couple of weeks, Rob Reiner was murdered, and it was a great loss for all of us. Most people know him as a fabulous director of many, many wonderful movies. But he also started out as an actor. He is mostly known for his role in All in the Family as Meathead, or Mike Stivic.
All in the Family was a sitcom based in the 1970s on a couple named Archie and Edith Bunker. In the show, Archie was very racist, sexist, and believed in all stereotypes. Most people believe that he was an accurate portrayal of a lot of white, male adults during that time.
Edith, as his wife, was the typical housewife. She stayed home, made dinner, made sure the house was clean, and everything was ready for when Archie came home from work. Edith was treated as a bubble head, but in actuality, she was pretty smart and acute to a lot of things that were going on in life. She judged people by who they were, not what they were. So she had friends that were white and black. She had friends that were male and female. She even had friends that were gay. One of the many reasons I loved this show so much was because my Memaw was exactly like Edith. She had the same mannerisms, same outlook on life, and even looked like her. However, my grandpa was not like Archie at all:)
Archie and Edith had one daughter, Gloria. Gloria was married at the time the sitcom started. She was married to Meathead or Mike. Between the two of them, they represented the next generation, the younger generation. They were more tolerant of people. They were non-judgmental. They also had friends that were black, white, and brown. They had friends that were gay and straight. They were accepting of everyone.
The sitcom was about how Archie was more of the older generation and believed in things that weren't correct, politically or otherwise. Mike and Gloria, the new generation, believed that things needed to change and there needed to be more acceptance in society. Throughout the show, this younger generation tried to teach the older generation about these changes that needed to be made to make the world a better place.
Because of this younger generation, this new generation, things have changed. Not as far as they should have gone, but in 2025, things are much better than they were back in the 1970s. That's what this sitcom tried to show, that change was good. And now in 2025, we are seeing the results of that change.
All In The Family is called classic TV because it is old. But I think it is classic TV because it represented the 1970’s and the clash between generations. Because of this clash, it showed us things to believe in, morals to adopt, and questions that needed answers. It showed us that we need to listen to the next generations.
This is especially true of today. I am considered Generation X (born between 1965-1980). I think our generation tried to be better than the Baby Boomers (1946-1964). We tried to be more educated, graduate from high school and attend college. We tried to have better jobs and make more money than our parents. We tried to raise our children similar to the way we were raised but maybe not so strict.
However, I think we screwed up in many ways.
We didn’t save our money--we were very materialistic. We may have had better jobs in terms of pay, but we didn’t necessarily like our jobs. We stayed in them because of the pay, not because we felt we had a purpose or felt fulfilled. Our children (Millennials 1981-1996 and Gen Z 1997-2012) seem to have a higher incidence of mental health issues. I don’t know if that is because of us as parents or because it is better diagnosed and more open--or a combination of both. I think we were horrible to the environment and wrongly still had a bad taste in our mouth for the military from Vietnam. Politically, we stood up for nothing. We didn’t rally for issues or had any demonstrations. We were accepting of the way things were.
Many times, I hear people comment that “young people don’t know anything”; “they are too self-absorbed”; “they have no experience and therefore, should not have any opinions”. I think this is totally wrong.
Every generation makes society better, in major ways. Our children are doing a lot to make our lives great. First, they are correcting our mistakes. They are taking a stand on politics, issues, and the environment. Look how many electric cars are now on the roads than before. We are recycling more, watching our energy consumption, and finding ways to reuse our trash.
Look how much they respect the military, especially after 9/11. We are finally seeing how military personnel are getting the respect that they deserve. The Millennials are fixing our faulty thinking.
Young people are taking jobs that have a purpose, not because of money. Statistically, this might be the first generation who does not outperform their parents in terms of money in the job market. They are working for non-profits, for companies that are morally just, or working for themselves to better our world. They are still educated but are seeing that a college education may not be worth it anymore, with the high cost of tuition. Most employers are looking beyond education and looking for those candidates who have people skills--can work with others, have communication skills, are responsible, and self motivated.
This younger generation is smarter about money--they are saving more and sooner for retirement, they are buying second hand clothing and furniture (to save money and help the environment), and they are getting side jobs like dog walking to supplement their income.
They are also teaching us a lot about technology. There are apps for everything to make our lives better and they are being developed by this younger generation. Don’t know how to change a tire? There is a YouTube video on that. Why is my plant dying? There is an app for that. And don’t even get me started on ChatGPT and A.I. In my opinion, best inventions ever.
The younger generation is also teaching us about acceptance. Acceptance of people, no matter who they are. Acceptance of different walks of life. Acceptance of people of different religions, different backgrounds, different views, different sexual orientations, and different genetics. Yes, there are still some bad apples, who judge, condemn, and pass sentencing on others. But every society, every generation has that.
Like Archie, we need to listen to Mike and Gloria. We need to question what we think is true. We need to allow the next generations to teach us. We need to respect the next generations and be vulnerable enough to say “Boy, I don’t know everything. Maybe the younguns have something to teach me.”
It’s ok. We would have loved for our parents to be that accepting of us and our views. Let’s be a role model for the next generations.
