Another decade is coming to a close. That's about half a generation, an in-between time. Of course that all depends upon when your time started. I was born three years into the decade of the 1950's. It wasn't until the 1960's that I started to become aware of the larger society beyond home, family, school and church. Yeah I'd say it took a decade for that to happen. It was then I began to question, why not? The argument began with, other people are doing this, why shouldn't I? I had discovered outside my little world, my community, some things were different. There were strange goings on in the world for sure. By the mid 60's you had these long haired fellows from England singing strange songs and it was being called a British invasion. I didn't like the sound of that much, still not a big fan of the Beatles to tell you the truth. But the larger picture was being revealed to me at that time. By the end of that decade there were those protesting the war in Vietnam, draft dodgers, hippies, commies! I figured they were communists! They wanted to live in communes, everybody sharing everything. Yeah, well sharing everything seemed like a fine idea but I suspected even then that it wouldn't work. I was aware of people and how they acted. I had two brothers and a sister and they weren't always willing to share everything, so I figured that is the way it was, I was right about that.
In 1970, the start of the new decade I was a junior in high school. I would graduate in June of '71, the decade was about to change for me. I had joined the Navy on the delayed enlistment program and on August the 9th of 1971 I boarded a train headed west to New York City, heading for the induction center at Ft. Hamilton. By that evening I was in Great Lakes Naval Training Facility. Life had changed! Standing at attention, being barked at by strangers, there was no turning back! I spent the first half of that decade in the Navy, was honorably discharged in '75 having completed four years of service. I was there when the war was " ended. " Before the decade would end I would be back in the Navy, married with one child.
The following decades have become all blurred together. I did spend two of those decades in the Navy. Sounds like a lot when you put it that way but I have discovered that two decades really isn't much time at all. I suppose that is why when we get on, as the saying goes, we speak in terms of decades. In the 90's I was there for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm among other minor conflicts and actions. That all seems long ago now and I'd have to say unsettled. The Korean conflict ended in July of 1953, sorta, no peace treaty ever having been signed, and that is the month and year I was born. What are we hearing about in the news today? North Korea. Well it has only been six decades, not so very long ago. At the end of the twentieth century, 1999, the big concern was that all the computers would crash! Would the computers that had now taken such control of financial markets, banking and daily activities recognize the year 2000? Y2K is was called and for a great many people so concerned back then, forgotten today. That was only a decade ago.
So what will the new decade bring us? First up I suppose is all this impeachment stuff. A trial in the Senate to decide whether the president is to be removed from office. If successful it will the first time in our history as a nation. That's what, over 22 decades worth of history. Yes, others where impeached but none have been removed. I'll go on record here and say that it won't happen. I will say it isn't out of the question that it could happen before the end of the decade though. What other milestones may be reached? Self driving cars? All green energy? Changing the climate? Changing the world from a binary concept to a more fluid one? One in which we just identify as whatever we choose to be? Certainly a change in the view of morality, ethics and religious beliefs.
Well I hope that I'm around to sum up this new decade. I've been posting these blogs of mine for nearly a decade, perhaps I should just go back in review. I'm thinking I wouldn't find all that much that has changed in any drastic fashion. I'm writing about the same stuff I was writing about nine years ago. A decade isn't all that long. I did survive the Mayan apocalypse. Remember that? It was in 2012, only seven years ago, but forgotten by most. Just a blip, a dot on the radar screen.
You know, when I was small television was in black and white and so was most everything else. There was right and wrong, good and bad. If you wanted to change the channel, I only had two choices channel 8 or 3, you had to get up and turn the knob. Now the television is in living color, with surround sound, and if I want to change the channel, over a hundred possible choices, all I have to do is tell the remote to do that!
Progress they call it. It's been six decades and I'd say things are getting confused. Doesn't seem so black and white anymore. Confusing to say the least, so confusing perhaps we are losing our way. Maybe in this new decade we will find our path back. I think that life is nothing more than the journey back home. For now, I'm content just to visit every now and again.
In 1970, the start of the new decade I was a junior in high school. I would graduate in June of '71, the decade was about to change for me. I had joined the Navy on the delayed enlistment program and on August the 9th of 1971 I boarded a train headed west to New York City, heading for the induction center at Ft. Hamilton. By that evening I was in Great Lakes Naval Training Facility. Life had changed! Standing at attention, being barked at by strangers, there was no turning back! I spent the first half of that decade in the Navy, was honorably discharged in '75 having completed four years of service. I was there when the war was " ended. " Before the decade would end I would be back in the Navy, married with one child.
The following decades have become all blurred together. I did spend two of those decades in the Navy. Sounds like a lot when you put it that way but I have discovered that two decades really isn't much time at all. I suppose that is why when we get on, as the saying goes, we speak in terms of decades. In the 90's I was there for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm among other minor conflicts and actions. That all seems long ago now and I'd have to say unsettled. The Korean conflict ended in July of 1953, sorta, no peace treaty ever having been signed, and that is the month and year I was born. What are we hearing about in the news today? North Korea. Well it has only been six decades, not so very long ago. At the end of the twentieth century, 1999, the big concern was that all the computers would crash! Would the computers that had now taken such control of financial markets, banking and daily activities recognize the year 2000? Y2K is was called and for a great many people so concerned back then, forgotten today. That was only a decade ago.
So what will the new decade bring us? First up I suppose is all this impeachment stuff. A trial in the Senate to decide whether the president is to be removed from office. If successful it will the first time in our history as a nation. That's what, over 22 decades worth of history. Yes, others where impeached but none have been removed. I'll go on record here and say that it won't happen. I will say it isn't out of the question that it could happen before the end of the decade though. What other milestones may be reached? Self driving cars? All green energy? Changing the climate? Changing the world from a binary concept to a more fluid one? One in which we just identify as whatever we choose to be? Certainly a change in the view of morality, ethics and religious beliefs.
Well I hope that I'm around to sum up this new decade. I've been posting these blogs of mine for nearly a decade, perhaps I should just go back in review. I'm thinking I wouldn't find all that much that has changed in any drastic fashion. I'm writing about the same stuff I was writing about nine years ago. A decade isn't all that long. I did survive the Mayan apocalypse. Remember that? It was in 2012, only seven years ago, but forgotten by most. Just a blip, a dot on the radar screen.
You know, when I was small television was in black and white and so was most everything else. There was right and wrong, good and bad. If you wanted to change the channel, I only had two choices channel 8 or 3, you had to get up and turn the knob. Now the television is in living color, with surround sound, and if I want to change the channel, over a hundred possible choices, all I have to do is tell the remote to do that!
Progress they call it. It's been six decades and I'd say things are getting confused. Doesn't seem so black and white anymore. Confusing to say the least, so confusing perhaps we are losing our way. Maybe in this new decade we will find our path back. I think that life is nothing more than the journey back home. For now, I'm content just to visit every now and again.
No comments:
Post a Comment