JIGSAW GENS

Traditionalists — A Legacy of Loyalty & Perseverance

The Silent Generation (“Safe-Builders” or “Traditionalists”) has laid down infrastructure embodying grit and protection

Photo by Assad Tanoli on Unsplash

If you’ve never heard of intergenerational literacy, listen up! It’s a recognition of how every generational cohort is diverse and complex. None of them are a monolith. Every generation has reasons to be angry and disgruntled. My ongoing “Jigsaw Gens” series is an effort to foster such compassion.

My first two installments profiled the “Hemingrebels” (aka “the Lost Generation”) and the “GI-Gens” (aka “the Greatest Generation”). Hemingrebels shaped the Roaring Twenties, while GI-Gens kept America afloat during World War II.

Next up: the “Traditionalists” (aka “the Silent Generation”).

Who They Are

Traditionalists were born approximately between 1930 to 1943 — give or take a few years on either end. Although the first major reference to them as the “Silent Generation” was made by Time magazine in December of 1951, that nickname had been floating around within the zeitgeist for awhile at that point. Military veteran Anthony Stolz prefers the term “Depression Babies” for his generation, which he memorializes…