“For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900. When you are 14, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.
When you’re 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.
When you’re 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts and five million perish.
At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict. Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.
As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.
Perspective is an amazing art. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, and we will get through all of this. In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. This too, shall pass.”
Saying this to myself about some things is a really great feeling. It’s especially nice when I feel very sincere and confident about saying this about something important.
Most children are born at a very young age. Girls or boys, few of them know how to walk, talk, chew or use a bathroom so that means their parents will have to teach them how to do these and other basic things. It may be annoying but it is still necessary.
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bg ed: this story will have to continue until either these children of their parents grow up enough to handle themselves AND until I get sufficiently enlightened to finish this story (bgbg).
Join the fun! And Admit what you think you might be to whatever part of the rest of your world you are comfortable with.
Charter member list:
Bill G (that’s ME!), seventysomethin@gmail.com 610-662-5658
This COULD be YOU!
We will need to invent procedures, elected officials, budgets, goals and objectives, and community service commitments. And, I would prefer to do this with a dedicated, committed group of members who will enjoy this with me rather than doing some or most of this by myself.
On the other hand, as the first of many Aß-oles, I might find myself noodling away at this organization until some others of YOU find me and agree to make the admission, join the chaos (but not necessarily required that you leave your own chaos very far behind), and contribute your own 2¢’s.
What I think this gets down to are the following particulars:
I will only ever have one body …for this time around
I will have the opportunity to learn some lessons …which ones I choose to learn from are “up for grabs”
Everything I choose to do, cannot be un-done …Once done is done, deal with it
Lessons get repeated …Until they are learned OR Else
Learning does not end …Until You Do
Here is where you are …”There” only looks better ’cause you are not as close to it as “Here”
“They” are not any better off than you are …You only think so ’cause you are NOT “Them”
You are what you make of yourself …It Is What It Is
Look deep inside for the really good, perhaps only right ideas …Look, Listen, Trust
You will forget …But you won’t remember that you forgot
You will remember only what you choose to remember …But it may not actually be the way things happened, ……just the way you would have wanted them to happen
Will we, as a country, stand by, again and allow this removal of personal rights to become our new truth as we are doing about gun control and voting rights?
Can the Democrats actually take some cohesive action against these anti-democratic laws and actions of the Republicans or will we, once again, shrink into the background and wait for “someone else” to take action?
Roe V Wade was overturned by the United States’ Supreme Court on Friday Jun 24 2022.
This is disgraceful. There are no words – BUT VOTES COUNT!
The SCOTUS, apparently, thinks that women have no personal rights. But they can be sexually assaulted and can be forced to carry these babies full term – maybe its for punishment for allowing themselves to be assaulted.
Can a Supreme Court Justice be impeached?
Oh! And the Second Amendment is still in place. I wonder how much security the Supreme Court Justices will want / have now?
BG's Opinions 