It’s odd, in some ways, that as time passes one’s perspective tends to narrow.
I lived through a lot of “dark days,” personally. The first TV event of importance that I recall was the assassination of John Kennedy, rapidly followed by others of note. We lived with a bomb shelter in the basement of our rural home during the Cuban mussel crisis (of little worth, certainly, should either Pease AFB or the Topsfield Nike missile site be nuked). We debated everything from changing the high school dress code to Kent State while we buried neighborhood kids who died in Vietnam, as major cities burned during riots, and we learned that politicians actually had feet of clay and that some, at least, were more corrupt than others. Our favorite cartoons changed then, too, and there were veiled hints that Walt Disney wasn’t simply “doing it all” for the children. Still, it was a grand time to be alive if you were born into the “right” neighborhood and economic background.
There were the usual personal tragedies and challenges, of course, through which people had to navigate and grow and we learned (slowly) to be more able to deal with grief, divorce, ”coming out,” and a bunch of other things that sharpened the soul or dulled the heart.
It strikes me, looking back, that things really aren’t so very different today.
A good debate can be entertaining and possibly even cause someone to reflect (or even change) their own dearly-held opinions but, frankly, I’m not sure I’ve seen that very often - sadly. Mostly we want to change the minds of other people to the way we see the world and refuse the notion that it’s OUR way of thinking which better might be adjusted.
Although I have no particular reason, save the passing of time, to think of a world through which I’ll no longer wander, the fact is that most of my life now lies behind me. That simple reality tends to color the scope of any debate, however interesting, passionate or compelling it may be; hence the “narrowing“ of perspective and focus.
We have ever struggled and survived - even grown a bit (if not quickly). I believe we will continue to do so despite the struggles of our own particular age, as individuals, a society, and a Republic.
Of course, YMMV.