There
is always something to be happy about if you work at it. Right now, it seems
especially hard. I could list all the things that we are worried about and that list is not inconsequential. We have good reason to be worried about many things.
But then it
occurred to me that while worries go through cycles with highs and lows, there is always room
for worry if not outright fear. I remember a lot of those times and wonder about
your experiences.
I recall:
- being a young boy in the 1950s who regularly participated in nuclear attack exercises at Coconut Grove Elementary School wherein we had to sit under our school desks after the alarm sounded.
- being a teenager at Ponce De Leon Junior High School in Miami when Kennedy faced down a Russian ship with missiles headed to Cuba.
- getting drafted in 1968 and then being shipped to Vietnam in 1972.
- leaving the military only to experience Nixon’s Wage and Price Controls and the resulting high inflation of the early 1970s.
- sitting in long lines hoping to buy 5 gallons of gasoline during the energy crises in 1974 and then 1979.
- my dissertation committee at the University of North Carolina not accepting my dissertation in 1976 right before I went to Indiana to be a professor.
- watching inflation rise in the latter 1970s and getting a mortgage on my first home with an interest rate of 14%.
- a world recession and stock market collapse right before I retired from teaching at Indiana University.
Somehow I
lived through all that and life went on. Things seem really crappy today but I
am guessing we will waddle through as always. JD helps a bit so keep that in mind as well.
So I am
wondering, what is your list? What did you endure in your lifetime? How did
you get through the bad stuff?
Now don't you feel better? :-)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Ditto on your memory timeline, except Vietnam. I got lucky in the lottery. No doubt we've had rough times in the past, and predictably we'll have them in the future. What I've never experienced however is the widespread divide among our fellow Americans. Disagreement is one thing, but I cant remember a time when bullying, insulting, and hateful rhetoric was the way to bring people together and achieve results. What would Peter Drucker think? Yes, in time this too will pass. JD will help in moments of crisis, but strong doses of intravenous civility may be necessary for the long term. Let's start the treatment in 2019!
ReplyDeleteWell said Carlos. I'd love to see it but somehow with the Ds taking the House I imagine things getting a lot worse before they get better. I guess we can start one friend at a time...Hope to see you soon.
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