My parents were born in 1896 and 1909. They were 16 and 3 when the Titanic sank. When they were 18 and 5 World War I began. My dad was in the Army in WWI. When it ended in 1918, 22 million people were dead.
The year the War ended a global pandemic (the ‘Spanish Flu’) struck and by the time it had run its course it had killed 50 million people world-wide. My parents survived. They were 22 and 9. They lived through a global economic crisis started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange causing inflation, unemployment, and hunger.
Four years later (1933), the Nazis came to power. Six years after that World War II
began and by the time it ended, six million Jews had died in the Holocaust with over 60
million total deaths world-wide.
Next was the War in Korea began in 1950. I was born in 1951. When the Vietnam War began, my father had been dead for three years. I joined the Navy and went on to serve over 20 years.
Children born in 1985 (now 35) may believe their grand-parents had no idea how difficult life could be, but they survived wars and medical and economic disasters.
Children born in 1995 (now 25) think it the end of the world if an Amazon package takes over three days to arrive, they don’t get more than 15 likes for a photo posted on Facebook or Instagram, or, heaven forbid, they forget a password.
Today most of us (there are exceptions) live comfortably, often with more than we need, and have access to a wide variety of home entertainment even while in “quarantine.”
But people complain about everything despite the fact they have electricity, cellphones, food, hot water, a roof over their heads, Facetime, NetFlix and more.
Items such as telephones (the first patent was filed in 1876), light bulbs (patented in 1879) and automobiles (the first Model T rolled out in 1908) existed when my parents
were young – great technology for the time – but what we think of as technology was a long way in the future.
I’m 69, so add a few more wars and the COVID pandemic to things I’ve experienced. Mankind has survived far more disastrous circumstances than we are now going through and never lost the joy of living. It’s time to be less self-centered, to stop whining and complaining, to eliminate biases and prejudices and look forward to a better tomorrow.
And this one came over the transom from the mil-email string…
– The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.
– I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.
– In 2019 we said stay away from negative people.
– In 2020 it changed to stay away from positive people.
– The world turned upside down. Old folks began sneaking out of the house and their kids yelled at them to stay indoors.
– One day I saw a neighbor talking to her dog. It was obvious she thought her dog understood her. I went into my house and told my cats. We had a good laugh.
– Every few days we’d try on jeans just to make sure they fit.
– Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?
– This virus did what no woman has been able to do; cancel sports, shut down bars and keep men at home!
– I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him with a 6-foot pole”, would become a national policy.
– I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.
– I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the backyard. I’m getting tired of the living room.
– Appropriate analogy: “The curve is flattening so we can start lifting restrictions now”, is like saying, “The parachute has slowed our rate of descent, so we can take it off now.”
– I never could have imagined I would go into a bank wearing a mask and ask for money.
I’ve heard the last one a bit differently – “I never thought I’d go into a bank carrying a gun and wearing a mask and only be allowed to withdraw my own money.”
My biggest concern these days isn’t the damn virus, it’s the politicians and government bureaucrats who are using it as an excuse to increase their power and hamstring their opponents, all the while restricting our freedom.
Yeah… going to a bank wearing a mask and asking for money does feel a bit odd!
Two things, though. First, about the current crop (1995 and younger) — everything to them is a video game — which they can reboot if they don’t like the way it’s going. Life isn’t a video game, and there are no reboots. Second, not really on topic, but… I had a most unpleasant conversation — if you can call it that — with a “liberal” fellow the other day. Age perhaps 60, but had never served the country (been a state government employee, west coast, now retired on a VERY handsome pension). What struck me was the extraordinary level of intolerance for anyone who thought differently — and the equally extraordinary drive for vengeance on those who though differently. Not justice — though those were the words he used — but vengeance. Really frightening.
Sorry. End rant. But I had to tell someone… !
I once commented on how great the 1980’s were after the miserable 1970’s and was told I had it backwards. I was stunned… then I realized who was telling me that. Someone who had never worked or had to work in the private sector. Makes me think term limits are a Good Idea and NOT just for officeholders.
Ian – if you don’t believe in a reboot ya never ticked off a drill sergeant a second time 🙂
Otherwise you were pretty much spot, especially the part about vengeance.
Pingback: Thanks to “Nobody asked me” – Grumpy old curmudgeon
Related to Ian’s thought. I think we’d be better off if a four-leg like Vito was in Congress while some two-leg gets to drink from a toilet instead. All right, cats get outlawed, but …
It’s all odd, out of place, it’s like living in the Jim Curtis CALEXIT novel.
What LL said.
Jim ,we need another Calexit..as an instruction manual.
Nailed it. Thanks for putting my thoughts to words
Orvan, I liked the ’70s. Admittedly, I spent most of it in 33 holes in the ground, but I met my first love, and later, my first wife while doing that (above ground, though).
One family gathering at the old family homestead some 45 miles West of Craig, CO I explained to some young relatives their great uncles slept in the dugout we were standing in front of summer and winter. Then a cousin asked them if they had a bedroom. I do believe the point was made.
All- Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the sentiments!
Posted from my iPhone.
Stated intents of those on the left may point to Calexit, but I think that we are more likely to stumble into some perverse amalgam of Kratmans’ “A State of Disobedience” and Ringos’ “Centurion”.
Keep and teach the ideals of what it is to be an American. Many have never learned them.
John in Indy
The parachute analogy falls flat because with a parachute, you know you will eventually touch down and very soon, and THEN you can take the thing off. With the covid restrictions – not so much.
“…everything to them is a video game…” – That’s a very popular notion from those of us of an “older” generation, but fortunately it’s not true. I work with young people – tweens, teens, and twenty somethings – and none of them believe life is a video game. They all know the difference. Do they do stupid stuff on occasion? Oh yeah, they sure do. Show me any generation that didn’t do stupid stuff in their younger years. I am of the boomer generation – born 1954 – and trust me, if video games had existed when I was a kid, I would have played the hell out of them – and been excoriated by the older folks for it as well. (Can you say “Pin Ball Wizard”?) Every generation is disappointed in the ones that comes after. I think it’s a law of nature.
“My parents were born in 1896 and 1909.” – …and you were born in 1951? Wow! That means that your Dad was 55 when you were born. That’s almost like John Tyler. I was born in 54 and my father was 27. All four of my *grandparents* were born in the aughts.
WRT the curve/restrictions and descent/parachute analogy, no.
On another site, forecasts of hazardous weather were mentioned in regard to vaccine, contagion warning and tradeoff discussions. There’s an imperfection in this comparison, weather is a lot easier for me to verify the existence of.
I’ve seen flattened rubble that I’m persuaded was the result of a tornado. Haven’t touched it, but I have seen it.
In principle, I could learn meteorology, and design sensors that would let me observe tornadic damage from a safe distance. In practice, I probably am not smart enough to detect a fraud concealed within the sensor design literature.
So the important difference is the level of cost I’m encouraged to pay for tornado precautions, and claim patterns of people saying that tornados exist.
Some of the claim patterns I’m seeing with Winnie’s Achoo speak to malice, and some speak to what all the information I had previously trusted suggests is ignorance.
The costs are fairly significant.
Physical consequences of the vaccine, including negatives, I can only assess via statistics collected by medical experts. Physical consequences of leaving the spread of the disease entirely unchecked, statistics from medical experts.
Once I am persuaded that the incentives are such that I don’t trust those experts, or the statistics, I basically have no information.
At that point, I don’t know that the disease exists, and everything could simply be the result of a massive PR campaign.
If it is only a PR campaign, then the public health costs could be entirely mitigated by euthanizing Democratic activists. (And significant economic costs are not that qualitatively different from killing people.)
If you want trust, or more than forced compliance, I need to be persuaded of several things. 1. That this isn’t simply white collar workers demanding policies that only put blue collar workers out of business. 2. That there isn’t a coordinated information campaign. 3. That the policies aren’t basically futile at what they purport to do. 4. That this isn’t a matter of inflicting costs on American workers to the benefit of the Chinese economy.
If the ChiComs were willing to fulfill the obligations of a nation not at war with the US, they would not have suggested that the contagion originated at Fort Detrick.
This suggests that they may be at biological war with us. If they are, they won’t stop until we stop them. And the people domestically who are willing collaborators are also legitimate military targets.
If I were a life scientist, habit would have accustomed me to trusting some sources of authority within the life sciences, and I could potentially be less concerned about all of this. If I were a life scientist, I would also be in a better position to retaliate against germ warfare with germ warfare.
As long as the restrictions are in place, the stakes are kept escalated. Once trust is lost, you can’t simply get it back by demanding. So the distrust stays a part of the correct policy tradeoff calculations. Once you get a significant level of distrust related risk, policies dependent on trust (like restrictions) had better be really important, or it no longer makes sense to keep them.
Damn Jim, I didn’t realize you were just a little kid!! 69? I think I can remember all the way back there 15 years ago.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a slightly inebriated New Year!
Got through the first 2 tales around the table. Interesting to say the least!
Regards, Ev
John- Yeah, if THAT happens, they REALLY won’t like it!
Roy- Good points! And yes, I was a late baby. My parents raised my cousins before I came along.
Bob- Good points all! I follow Nitay Arbel’s blog out of Israel. He is a scientist and has a lot of good info. https://spinstrangenesscharm.wordpress.com/
Ev- Gonna try… And compared to you, yes I’m a kid! 🙂 You do the same!
Part of things is that I’m slow to warm up to trusting people. I can think of a situation where it took decades to become comfortable sharing a thought with someone, instead of keeping my own counsel.
Another is that I’ve been burned recently. You may recall that I started out quite anti-Trump. I continued trusting a fair number of NeverTrump information sources for some time. I’m fairly disenchanted with them, and with the establishment GOP. At least some of them were successfully fooling me with a long con.
One thing that became more obvious is how much of someone’s reliability can be tied up in their social circles. If you don’t know that someone is unusual, and you don’t know their social circles, you don’t have everything you need to judge reliability. The utility test is expert, trustworthy on verifiable issues in the past, uses a plausible process, /and/ their social circles haven’t just gone crazy in a way that will impact their future work. The exceptions are the rare few people broken enough that company never changes their thinking or behavior.
Lastly, I may not be entirely civilized. As in, not accustomed to accepting bullshit from people, keeping quiet, and continuing to do business with them. So I’m pissed off about the stuff I’m forcing myself to comply with, and not seeing much reason to hold back where those circumstances do not apply. Here I’m only trying to restrict myself to tact and to truth.
Beyond the rage, there is a bunch of things involved that I find fascinating.
This is a really complicated situation, and any consensus policy has to account for a lack of complete agreement. We all have different information, different ways of processing it, and emotions are running high. We aren’t going to suddenly fall into lockstep thought.
Bob- Nope, and I think you’re not the only one going through those machinations right now… sigh
My in-laws had 2 kids in their 20s, 2 in their 30s, and 2 in their 40s. Your dad was 54 when you were born – now that’s impressive! 🙂
How many people know what a transom is?