FIFTY THREE TODAY!
Today I join the Smoking Christian in the ranks of those who have recently turned fifty three years old. My spirit still feels 33. I’d love to hit the waves at Huntington pier this afternoon. Of course, sometimes my body feels 73; usually in the morning when I step out of bed and my feet and ankles hurt so bad I think I might fall over.
The entire Moorhead Manse is all atwitter over the birthday celebrations. My lovely wife went out and bought me ten (count ‘em, ten!) of the cutest little finches you have ever seen. They are tan, brown, and black and have bright orange beaks. She also bought a giant cage that will go in the corner of my study (where Mariah Carey usually sits). These birds are the most ADHD animals in the history of the world. They never sit still or shut up. Back and forth, flitting and squeaking and chirping. I think I’ll get used to them pretty soon.
I was talking with one of the Shiloh elders yesterday about how much we have seen in our lifetimes. It’s a sobering thought. My grandparents went from horse and buggy to space flight. I actually believe we have seen much more. It seems to multiply exponentially from generation to generation.
Speaking of generations…I was talking to another friend the other day about Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation.” I don’t know about that. What do you think? If people say our generation was the most messed up generation in the history of American generations, whose fault is that? Who raised this generation to be so self-centered and materialistic? (My parents are of course excluded from this. We were taught not to be selfish or materialistic.) We are the first American generation to lose a war and we’ve survived. Isn’t it tougher to lose a war and come back than to win a war and come back to cheers and celebrations?
As I celebrate this birthday, once again our soldiers are fighting and dying thousands of miles away. It’s the war against terror. In two days we will observe the fifth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil. We will watch the towers come down again and again. I will probably have tears in my eyes again. But are we doing what needs to be done to try to avoid such things in the future?
This is an election year. The two parties are attacking each other in what has become an American tradition. The effort is only to gain power, not to do what is right for the American people. I’m feeling disenchanted. To think I once wanted to go into politics!
Enough ravings of a doddering 53-year-old! Somebody bring in my milquetoast and tea. I’m going out to the garage to celebrate!
6 Comments:
Happy Birthday! And a great post to boot; you didn't quote George Bernard Shaw once. Congratulations!
You raise an interesting point. I’ve thought many times that Brokaw was presumptuous to crown one American generation as the greatest. What about the founding generation who laid their lives, their fortunes and their “sacred honor” on the line for a very doubtful outcome? What of the civil war generation that marched and died in line-abreast for a great moral cause they believed in? And what about the generations of the Westward Expansion who endured countless hardships and death, taming the wilderness and giving this country its character and identity. We can’t forget the generation of the Great War either for they persevered on the battlefields of Europe—where so many others had failed—and turned the tide of history. In that struggle they proved to the world the grit and strength of the character passed down from their fathers.
I’m not so sure our generation has failed either. When one considers the outcome of the cold war—the triumph over communism—and the electronic revolution, it doesn’t look so bleak. As you can tell, I’m optimistic that the coming generations will show their greatness as well. Perhaps they will be remembered for wining the long and bloody Arab Wars or something else, I don’t know. But the American experiment is not over.
I think I’m all misty-eyed now. Good bye and Happy Birthday!
Thank you for the birthday wishes and the great comment to boot! I think you said what I wanted to say better than ever could! Yeah! That's what I meant!
One other thing...my paternal grandparents both lived to be nearly 100. They covered about three or four of these generations. Shouldn't they get some credit too? I think so!
Dear Shilohman- As usual I'm off by a day or more! I thought today was the ninth. Only when I got my bulletin at church this AM with the date on it did I realize your birthday was yesterday.So sorry. Your youngest sister will turn 50 in January!
Yak, your comment kicks boot!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Brother
Shiloman,
I can't believe you have to have the rest of your birthdays on 9/11! Do something about getting that date moved my friend!
Still, look at my birth date, Aug. 8. I always have to think about the dropping of the last atomic bomb on a city! Somehow, I feel personally responsible for the death of nearly 74,000 Japanese civilians! These dead haunt me constantly, even during the day!! (WAIT ONE LOUSY SECOND! These aren't ghosts of dead Japanese men, women and children! These are my neighbors here in Fullerton!
"Hi there!" (What is wrong with me?!!)
(Oh look, one of the cute little Japanese girls from next door is handing me something to read? Let's see what it is, shall we?)
"On the morning of August 6, 1945 the United States Army Air Forces dropped the nuclear weapon "Little Boy" on the city of Hiroshima, followed three days later by the detonation of the "Fat Man" bomb over Nagasaki, Japan during World War II in war against the Empire of Japan, part of the Axis Powers alliance.
In estimating the death toll from the attacks, there are several factors that make it difficult to arrive at reliable figures: inadequacies in the records given the confusion of the times, the many victims who died months or years after the bombing as a result of radiation exposure, and the pressure to either exaggerate or minimize the numbers, depending upon political agenda. That said, it is estimated that by December 1945, as many as 140,000 had died in Hiroshima by the bomb and its associated effects.[1][2] In Nagasaki, roughly 74,000 people died of the bomb and its after-effects with the death toll from two bombings around 214,000 people.[3][4] In both cities, most of the casualties were civilians."
"GO AWAY CUTE LITTLE JAPANESE SCHOOL GIRL, AKA, CIVILIAN! I ALREADY KNOW!"
Well Shiloman, as you can see, I have my own issues to deal with. As for you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
-SC
PS: Please remind me to rename my two goldfish here in the garage. I'm thinking "FAT MAN" and "LITTLE BOY" are the wrong names for me to keep yelling here in my garage. "Good morning FAT MAN and LITTLE BOY!" No wonder they look at me so strangely.
Hello? SC? Check the date of the post. Shilohdude's birthday is September 9th, not the 11th. Are your black outs causing you to lose days at time?
As mentioned on one of these blogs previously..."does anybody really know what day it is?"
Oh, and Shilohdude - HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY Pastor!
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