Mad Men farewell

      I am sure that today's blog will not resonate with anyone under the age of 50.  With the last episode of Mad Men this past weekend we have an end to reliving the events of the 1960's through the eyes of New York advertising executives.  While we may not have been able to relate to the advertising business we could relate to how the world was changing from the world our parents knew.  They had experienced the Depression and World War II and they events defined their generation.  For that generation having a job that gave you a secure financial future and allowed you to buy a house and raise a family was enough to satisfy them.  We baby boomers came along and knew little financial hardship. We decided that life should be more than just working to make a living.  We wanted a life that was meaningful on a personal and societal level in a very different way than our parents.  We were defined by what happened in the 1960's.  We watched in disbelief as civil rights marchers were brutalized, remember the national mourning with JFK's assassination and were thrilled with the space program and the landing on the moon.  

      Our idealism was developed out of the civil rights, woman's rights and anti war movements.  Injustice needed to be addressed.  Poverty shouldn't exist in our wealthy country.  Sending young men off to die in a war was insanity.  While many of our generation eventually followed career paths that paralleled our parents some of us followed a different path.

     One of the most interesting parts of the show was the changing roles of the women characters.  No matter how bright they were the men in the show had trouble accepting them as equals.  When I grew up girls didn't participate in sports except in the band and as cheerleaders.  Girls, no matter how smart, were channeled in "commercial" tracks that led to clerical jobs.  That was just the way the world worked in the 1960's.   Even though we hear politicians talking about wanting to take the country back to the way it was when they grew up many of us know how our country is better today, not worse, because of what happened in the 1960's.

     I loved the way the show ended with the Coke song from 1971 and the Paul Anka song that is one of my favorites.