Dear Editor,
Well well, baby boomers, the 60s have a different meaning now and the ride’s getting a little rougher. But it’s been an interesting ride, both technically and culturally. Slide rules were still being used when I started college and calculators were barely affordable. Our poor parents didn’t know what the hey to think. Going from Lawrence Welk to the Rolling Stones. From beer to LSD. The generation gap was immense. “Our” kids are still listening to our music. Don’t know too many of us still listening to Lawrence Welk.
Sadly, most of us have now experienced the passing of friends, enough to awaken the reality of aging and death. I know of approximately 20 friends or acquaintances who have died over the last ten years, still in their 50s or 60s. Once past 50 definite signs of aging start appearing and looking at pictures we might wonder, “who is that.” At least it’s easy to delete pictures these days. Mirrors are becoming less friendly too, especially in the morning and getting our beauty sleep has greater meaning. Just glad all of us in the same age group are going through this together. Nobody escapes. I figure that, when seeing someone I haven’t seen in 10 or 20 years and they still recognize me, well I must not be doin’ too bad, yet. Growth industries that could be a good investment might be in the face lift business, denture business or hair dyes.
Nevertheless, I think we all are beginning to realize that we could be the next one on the obit page. Not sure what is worse, dying at an early age or watching our body shrivel away. Whoever coined the phrase “golden years” should be charged with fraud. As long as my health is good, I wouldn’t mind at least another 20 years this side of the grass.
The one thing that fascinates me about us babyboomers is the names we have chosen for our kids. For a few thousand years people have used traditional christian names: John, Paul, Mary, Ann, Virginia, Dave, Doug, Jim, etc., even Bob. Then all of a sudden here “we” come, naming our kids with names that none of us can remember. After us babyboomers came Generation X and now, the one I like, is the boomerangers. They’re the ones moving back home with their parents after college, unable to find work or a job loss. We’ve had it pretty darn good though and have been fortunate to live during one of the most prosperous, freest times in history. Sure, most of us never made millionaire status, but as long as I’m not living under a bridge or in prison for something I “didn’t” do, I’m pretty happy with my lot in life.
Well, at least we’ve got the murder channels to watch now to occupy our time or we can just sit around exercising the age old tradition of gossip. The murder channels are the most popular shows on the tube these days. They are fascinating, but man, the poor parents who have to deal with a child going missing and is either never found or turns up in a field somewhere. I say, turn these people over to the families. I do get a chuckle though when a commercial comes on advertising $500,000 life insurance policies. Better be careful if your spouse has you signed up for a large sum. They say the prisons are full of people who “thought” they could get away with it. Hopefully we don’t all end up hiding in our houses, peeking through the shades thinking a stalker is hiding behind every bush. We do need to be careful though, while keeping it in perspective. These shows are taken from a pool of 300 million people over about a 50-year period. Aren’t we something, three-quarters of novels are murder mysteries and now the most popular TV shows are about murder. At least the History Channel has had some new stuff that’s really good. “Mankind: The Story of Us All” and “The Men Who Built America.” Another good channel that’s new is called “Cine’ Moi” on channel 259 (DirectTV). The best show I like on that channel is called: Earth from Above.” It’s on from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. every morning, but worth waking early for.
As for the latest school shootings, as sad as they are, I believe this is the price we have to pay as the cost of freedom. Stalin and Hitler were only able to commit the atrocities they did because the populace was unarmed. They subsequently took the lives of untold millions.
I have a few more letters for the coming weeks that space won’t allow this week. Next letter will be about the subject of gossip. Bet you can’t wait. Please tune in.
Bob Nicholson
Oroville
