- What a world, eh? What a country. Are you a Baby Boomer?
I am. And I remember so very much that which I considered wonderful
about my country. Life back in the post WW II era was great. In fact, just
after the Korean War, life was as good as it could get.
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- There were real mothers caring for real children. There
were real Dads going to work in the morning and coming home in the evening,
around dinner time. We had a home. In the Bronx. Ah, but back in them thar
days, the North Bronx was not only a great place to grow up, it was also
the country. The woods. Out back.
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- We had waterfalls in Seton Falls Part. We had virgin
land. Each home had a large, no, make that huge, back yard (by today's
standards anyway). And this was true not only of the Bronx, but Staten
Island, Long Island, Queens and etc. Manhattan was the only place which
was the city. In fact, no one in those times called it New York City. We
called it, "New York," or "the city." The Bronx was
part of the City of New York, but it wasn't. At least it wasn't in the
mind of those who lived in those places.
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- I am shocked at the way our lives have changed. I know,
it's true that times change. It's also true that in every generation, change
is not only inevitable, but it we expect it to be so. One is never surprised
at the change in life, one generation to the next.
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- Not so these days. The change in our lives, the lives
of Baby Boomers, is enormous. It may well be, in fact, it *is*, the most
gravely negative change in society since Jesus walked the earth and changed
life. Jesus is not walking the streets. Jesus is in fact, not anywhere
to be seen, heard from, honored and prayed to. God isn't in our lives.
I can't blame Him either. It's a bitch down here. And it's not only technology.
It's family, religion, culture ... hell ... it's everything. And the change
is going on faster than light speed. It's no longer change from one generation
to another, it's change within each generation. It's movement. And it may
be ruining life even more than the benefits it gives us.
-
- The latest statistics indicate that a whopping 53% of
women are unmarried. Good Lord. And people wonder at this? Heck, women
are becoming educated in great numbers in our times. They need not find
a man to 'keep' her, take care of her and thereby, create a family. Women
are independent now. They don't need men in order to live out their lives.
They can get good jobs, darned good jobs. Women have careers in very
large numbers. And if the maternal instinct calls them, they can have
it both ways. Marry, work and raise a family. Which is where the problems
begin. The children are growing up without Mom at home to nurture them.
And Dad? He's out all day and all night, either working two jobs or working
the heck out of the one he has.
-
- "Times change, Stillgar!" (DUNE by Frank Herbert).
-
- These days, there is little to be happy about. I mean,
please tell me one thing which gives the kind of great joy of yesteryear.
Go ahead. I speak to you Boomers now, not those of you who haven't a clue
about that which I write. Boomers. Name me one thing which makes life as
happy and care free as it was in the late forty's and fifty's. Sundays
were a day off. Not merely a day of rest for Christians, a day off for
the entire nation. You took a short walk to the 'candy store' and bought
the Sunday papers. The kids tore straight to Al Capp and his ilk, Dick
Tracey and all the rest.
-
- Sunday dinner was more of a family time than other dinners.
It was a time when the entire family often gathered around the dinner table,
cousins, aunts, uncles etc. Dinner time these days doesn't even exist in
many cases, at least not with the family unit, let alone relations present.
Dinner is a fast food grab at the local Burger Boy with the gang, or at
the Mall (God help us) at the food level. This, followed by shopping 'till
you drop.
-
- I had a business once, just after retirement and just
before my own beautiful Rosie became disabled by MS, at the local Mall.
I know what it is like. And very intimately too.
-
- I had a Kiosk at the head of the escalator on the topmost
level. And every Friday or Saturday night, like clockwork, a fist fight
broke out right there at the top of the escalator and right in front of
my Kiosk, which sold cell phones and pagers. Some of these were quite serious.
-
- And one more thingie ... kids aged 10 and up had fists
full of cash in their pockets. They bought cell phones, pagers and paid
cash. I always wondered where the heck all that money came from when I
suddenly realized (I'm kinda slow sometimes) that it was from Mom and Dad.
"Here, kid, take this pile of cash and go buy something nice."
Cash to young'ens is like giving ammo to a terrorist. It creates the wherewithal
with which to spend it on good and bad things. The bad being drugs. And
there was a lot of that going on at the Mall too.
-
- Today, whether real or imagined, we live in fear. Fear
of terrorism. I can't tell you how many times there was a terror alert
at the Mall. The management would inform the vendors, the police both local,
state and government were there in great numbers looking around. It made
me very nervous.
-
- I gave that business up and went home feeling lots better
about my life. Who needs that? And who needs Mall working hours? Sometimes,
during the holiday season, the dog on place was open from six or seven
AM until midnight. And help even at higher than minimum wage, was impossible.
So much for my being a manager.
-
- Even worser, if it could get worser than all this, was
the fact that my employees were stealing me blind! One guy would take a
credit card number to guarantee a cellphone even when the customer paid
cash. He'd then pay the customer's bill with his credit card and pocket
the cash. And these were your young, your children! I gave up.
-
- People are also afraid of each other. Rage rules in our
society. On the road and elsewhere. We are becoming a police state for
Pete sake. Police are grabbing more and more power.
-
- Our leaders are ripping us off big time. They are often
the bad guys dressed in sheep's clothing. Taking from us, everything they
can steal. And this includes our rights. You know as well as I do, that
even if the terror threat is real, and I happen to be one of those who
does believe it's real, once your rights are taken from you, they will
never be returned.
-
- Worst of all is, we are letting it happen without a fight.
Not even with a whimper. Let them take from us. Our money in the form of
taxes, our desire to smoke (realizing it ain't good for you) and even in
NYC, anyone serving food is precluded from using transfats in the food.
It's ILLEGAL! It's a crime. What in God's great name is next? It was the
mayor of NYC who suggested that smoking be banned in the entire city. Anywhere.
Even the streets.
-
- If they can do that, and they can; and if we let them,
and we do, then they can do anything they damned well please and all we
do is rationalize whilst singing to the tune of "The Four Leaf Clover!"
That's if you are a Boomer. If you are a 'modern' person, you'll be singing
to the tune of ... wait ... there are no tunes to sing. Just noise. Sorry.
Well, maybe they'll just whistle a happy Rap lyric like, oh, "Boink
your baby until one a yous drop!"
-
- Something.
-
- Whatever happened to Mario Lanza? At least he's on Rense.com.
-
- Yes, everything changes. Even Bob Dylan has a talk radio
show. Wonders will never cease.
-
- Well, I'm about talked out. Now it's up to you. Be a
slave to the establishment or be a citizen according to the Constitution.
It's your choice. At age (almost) 64, all I can do is voice my opinion.
I'm too tired for anything else. But a lot of you guys have a lot more
energy. For heaven sake, use your power. You have the power.
-
- Baby Boomers will soon if not already, constitute the
largest portion of our society next to illegal aliens. We have the time.
We have the money. And we have the knowledge of what life should REALLY
be like in our nation, a nation once so great and loved throughout the
planet. USE your power, Boomers. Or else, your children will never again
see Beaver Cleaver or live the life so wonderful that it brings tears to
my eyes just thinking about it. Tears. Because I know in my heart, it will
never, ever be so again. And that is not merely a shame. It's a sin. A
mortal sin. And it's our fault.
-
- Just wait and see, when you Boomers who do and say nothing
get to heaven, all a them virgins will be used up!
-
- So there!
-
- Jim Mortellaro,
- AKA, Morty of
- www.MortysCabin.net
- Mort@MortysCabin.net
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