Written by Paul Siluch
March 20^th, 2024

It always happens in the dead of night. In the Witching Hour, when everything stops. Between midnight and 3 a.m.

Your body hurts. Is it serious or will it go away? Darkness magnifies your fears, especially if it won’t go away.

In most developed countries, we have options when you are in pain. You can call your doctor’s night line. You can go to the hospital emergency room to get assessed and treated if necessary.

Except, as most Canadians know, you often can’t. My community hospital once treated me for a fast-spreading infection in my hand in the middle of the night. Two bags of intravenous antibiotics later, I was fine. If I had had to wait a day, I might not have been.

The Silent generation was a small group compared to previous generations. Life was hard. They struggled for food and for jobs. Those who made up the Silents – those born between 1928 and 1945 – grew up in the shadow of the Depression and through the maelstrom of world war. Because of these trials, they came to prize stability and conformity.

Don’t make waves. Be dependable.

When WW2 ended, they did their duty by having babies, and lots of them. The Baby Boom generation, which was loosely defined as the period between 1946 and 1964 when an average of 4 million children were born every year, was the largest in history. Canada mirrored the U.S. experience with close to 400,000 babies born per year over that stretch.

I arrived at the tail end of this generation.