Photograph: Jay Muhlin

Dear Old Schooler: Which decade has been the most schocking?
—Jane, 20, Staten Island

Alexander Turney, 89, Upper West Side
World War II was the most shocking in terms of human loss. And for me as a Jewish person, the Holocaust was appalling. How could a society that used to read Goethe and listen to Brahms destroy people who had never done anything to them? It's beyond my comprehension. The Vietnam period was also tragic- I don't even remember why that war was fought. And now there's this whole Middle Eastern problem. In my generation, we just lived day to day and thanked whatever gods there are for waking us up in the morning. I don't participate in rebellion, but the young people that are rallying around Obama seem to be in a rebellious mood. They've had enough of the falsehoods!

—Interviewed by Fareed Mostoufi