I would say the sweet spot to have been born is the early 40s. Too young for WWII and too old for Vietnam. You got to live through American dominance throughout the world. You had air travel, best health care in the world (penicillin had been discovered), rock music, two cars in every garage, a roaring economy, low interest rates, great job prospects, one income per family got the job done, the pill, and free love. When you vacationed in Europe, people still respected what our country had done for them versus the Germans. Globalization had not destroyed pensions and early retirement and American manufacturing, you had social security and medicare. We could have used statins and better blood pressure medicine, but a widow maker heart attack was quick and decisive better way to go than most.