For someone in her early 20s, forty years ago feels like a different era. After all, it was a time before cell phones, before laptops, before Twitter and Facebook. Did such a world even exist, I sometimes find myself wondering?
Apparently, I’m not alone in my lack of concern for or even knowledge of the world of the 1970s. A recent poll found that among those under the age of 30, only 44% know that Roe v. Wade, the landmark court case, even dealt with abortion. This is not to say that when questioned, “millenials” (those ages 18-29) disagree with Roe’s legalization of abortion – 68% of us think that at least some health care professionals should provide legal abortions, and an overwhelming 60% think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. However, our striking lack of knowledge about our past can be dangerous for as Jews keenly understand, not forgetting the past is essential to the maintenance of justice and progress in the present.
