Recently, I ran into this particular article.
Obviously, it fascinated me enough to share it here. There is just something to a connection - a living human connection - to an era and events that seem to our collective minds so far in the distant past as to be irrelevant. These events of which I speak, largely the domain of the early 20th century, are not so distant or remote as we often imagine them to be. Yet, so much has happened and changed since then, that it sometimes feels to us like it is ancient history. Or, at least, that it might as well be ancient history, for the lack of relevance it seems to have in our modern lives.
When we see somebody who was alive and well way back in these distant events, they perhaps then do not feel nearly as far away as they once did. I am old enough to have gotten to know some people who lived through some of the major events of earlier in the 20th century. Alas, most of the World War II generation, for example, have died off. No surprise there, of course. After all, there really is no denying that World War II was a long time ago. Most of the people who were around back then - even the very youngest people, much less those old enough to have played a prominent part in those events - are basically already gone. World War II ended late in the summer of 1945, which was well over three quarters of a century ago now. Yes, most of those people are long gone, obviously.
Of course, by the very fact that most of these people are gone, it tends to make these events feel more distant, and thus irrelevant, than perhaps they really are.
So it is good to get a reminder every now and then that, in fact, they are not quite as distant or entirely irrelevant as they might appear to be on face value. I for one believe that the major events of both the 19th and 20th centuries helped to shape our modern world, and really even make it possible at all, far more than we perhaps give credit for.
That is why we should keep in mind that these events are not nearly as distant and irrelevant as we necessarily presume them to be. Seeing a living example of someone who is old enough to remember many, if not most or even all, of these events can help us keep all of that in perspective.
Perhaps that is why this particular article hit me thus when I encountered it. This woman is 119 years old as I write this. She was born in 1903, and so lived through the vast majority of the 20th century. Obviously, that means that she saw and lived through a lot of events and changes. And she is still around today to discuss these things!
Here is a little not that puts into perspective just how old she is:
Green Planet @Elizabeth_Ruler She was 11 when WWI started, 36 when WWII started, 74 when Star Wars was released, and 116 when Covid-19 started. And her name is Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest living person at age 118 years. She was born on January 2, 1903. #Tiredearth
7:00 AM · Dec 13, 2021·Twitter Web App 107 Retweets 6 Quote Tweets 418 Likes
There are other markers, as well. Air conditioners had just been invented the year before she was born, and the Wright Brothers would become the first to succeed in flying later in the year when she was born. She was nine when the Titanic sank, and the British Empire was still the dominant power in the world, although Germany was rising and seen increasingly as a threat in Europe. Motion pictures were still in their infancy, and movie theaters had not yet come into being. She was 11 when the Archduke was assassinated, the event which began World War I. She around before radar had been invented by the British during World War II) and was 42 when the two bombs were dropped on her country, and 60 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, 66 when the first men walked on the moon, and 86 when the Berlin Wall fell. She was already 97 years old (or just about to be) when we reached the year 2000, 113 years old when Trump was elected president in 2016, and as mentioned above, she was 116 years old when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Obviously, she's lived through a lot.
Here below is the link to this fascinating article!
Oldest Living Person in the World Celebrates 119th Birthday By Madeleine Muzdakis on January 5, 2022
https://mymodernmet.com/kane-takana-oldest-person/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=partnerships&utm_content=atlasobscura&fbclid=IwAR0p3uM7pjJ-C3owk1gr_zeCZmxmgQ4ZwEzj28c5N5UTZc0TKzJNVpc8hIo
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