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As a child, it seemed my every complaint was answered by my parents saying, "When I was your age, I had to walk ten miles through six feet of snow to get to school!" Of course, whichever parent or grandparent was telling me this finished by telling me how they walked twenty miles through ten feet of snow on their way home from school that same day. They then had to do their chores, finish their homework, and by the time they finished at sundown, they were too tired to do anything other than go to bed.

In our modern society, there are four major generations, though only three of them have official "names". These generations are the pre-baby boomers, the "baby boomers", "gen-X", and "gen-Y". I happen to be a part of generation "X", and I do not think that I ever really believed the stories of my parents about walking through six feet of snow to get to school.

However, the differences we perceive in the suffering and deprivations of previous generations compared with our future generations has created a significant impact on our own culture and how other cultures perception of our culture.

Isolationist tendencies, but a global economic influence characterized the pre-baby boomer America. However, after two "war to end all wars" and the Wall Street crash of 1929, the national attitude of "leave me alone and we'll leave you alone" was forced to end. Isolationism and independence was not an answer.

After the end of World War II, the baby boomer generation started. Baby boomers grew up in the era of the cold war, the fledgling United Nations (and more conflicts in Korea and Vietnam to boot), and the specter imminent global thermonuclear war. Though marked by fear, this generation also was the generation of flower children, Woodstock, and free love. The desire for peace and global unity led many Americans of this generation into generally peaceful rebellion against their perceived warmongering government. This global view and the rising clamor of voices among minorities helped push the United States into recognizing and ratifying the natural rights of all men and women to be equal regardless of their race.

Then came generation "X". Gen-X grew up in the remnants of the Vietnam War and the anti-war protests, a President who claimed he was not a crook, a President who had previously been a peanut farmer, and finally the end of the cold war brought about by the President who had previously been a Hollywood actor. Despite the embarrassment of Vietnam, American patriotism and

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