68 years

68 years ago today I was born in New York City, in the midst of war, with my father on a destroyer in the Pacific.  While I don't really think of 68 as old, when I think back on all the happenings, all the changes, since then, my head spins.  My father would have been 95 at the end of the month, my mother would have been 93 in April,  and thinking about their lives is even more mind-boggling.  Maybe there is less wonder that many of us have so much difficulty coping with modern life.  Although I am not willing to give them too much of a pass, I can see a bit how those who are full of fear, the authoritarians, want some strong person to take over making decisions for them.  The willingness to turn oneself over to a dictator-like entity scares the shit out of me, but I can also see how that might happen in a world that just won't stop changing.

As for me, I like change, most of the time.  I worry more about being bored than about things changing.  So far, despite some really hard times in the past, my life has been pretty damn good.  I am quite healthy for my age, although losing 20 pounds would be a good thing, and I am working on that, slowly.  I have lots and lots of great friends, people I respect and admire, people who do things which help others they may not even know, rather than selfishly thinking only of themselves and their families.  I see the world through a political lens, because, as my good friend Bob Perry notes:

"People often say with pride, 'I'm not interested in politics.'  They might as well say, 'I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future or any future...'  If we mean to keep control over our world and lives, we must be interested in politics."   -- Martha Gellhorn (1908 -1998)  American novelist, travel writer and journalist

Like Ms. Gellhorn, I believe we all need to be involved in the political process, do our research (not depending on one source and TURNING OFF FOX), and do more than just vote.  Democracy, as our founders knew well, depends on a citizenry that knows enough to make good decisions about today AND tomorrow.  And above all, we need to care for one another, and for everyone's children and grandchildren, and for our planet, the only home we have.