Two 'Booms' occurred in 1945 : which was more important ?
It was the year 1945, all historians seem to agree , that ushered out the Modern age and ushered in the post Modern age : and ushered it in with some sort of a bang.
But what sort of bang : was it the secretive Manhattan Project's Atom Bomb big Boom !!! ?
Or was it the smallest Manhattan Project's inclusive vision of penicillin priced and available for all , a vision that encouraged women all over the world to see a brighter future ahead and gave them reason to want to get pregnant ?
Was it then the penicillin-and-good-health fueled Baby Boom that really ushered in our current age ?
Was an old age ushered out by a newborn baby's contented whimper ?
That's sort of my take : yes, revulsion against yesterday's exclusionary values that gave us Auschwitz.
But also gratitude for today's inclusionary values that gave us 'cheap and abundant penicillin for all' , with its promise of a healthy childhood ahead for most newborn children.....
