Tag: cold war

Evolving or Devolving? Which is it?

Cowboys and Indians, tag, roller skating, jump rope, baseball, dodge ball, Davy Crockett coonskin caps, paper dolls, Mouseketeers, marbles, Ginny dolls and monkey bars. Walking to school or taking a bus no matter the weather. Playing outside until the street lights came on, chasing the Good Humor truck down the street, sitting close to the fan on a hot summer night, etc. etc. etc.

This is part of what it meant to be a child growing up in post-World War II America. Most Baby Boomers remember it very well.

Perhaps that’s why our long-term memory remains so good; to more vividly recall simpler times.

For most Americans life was a quiet time sparsely laced with moments of terror and foreboding. Families were building businesses, buying homes and becoming invested in their communities.

However, the foreboding and terror was pretty much reserved for the older generation. They were the ones who had to deal with Red China, The Cold War and bomb shelters.

A kid’s version of terror was being sent to the principal’s office, watching Michael Landon in I was a Teenage Werewolf or realizing blowing cigarette smoke out the bathroom window won’t always cut it.

Of course, there were some disquieting moments for us Boomers. Especially when we were marched down into the asbestos-covered pipe bowels of our school basement to escape an atom bomb.

Looking backward, it all seems so foolish, doesn’t it? As if an atom bomb could be stopped by moving into the basement. Ironic that the real danger was the asbestos.

I also remember polio as a scary moment until Dr. Jonas Salk created the vaccine that ended its scourge.

We all remember lining up in school, receiving a pink-splotched sugar cube placed in a paper cupcake holder and passed out by the school nurse.

Beat the hell out of shots in the arm.

I suppose polio must have had a much more frightening impact on our generation than first believed since we all remember receiving the sugar cube so clearly.

There are those who will quickly point out that these memories are no more than rose-colored reflections on times we romanticize. I don’t think so.

Any Boomer will instantly defend their childhood in a far quieter and more charming world.

As an old movie fan, I’ve watched my share of old movies. Boomer life in small town America was so naïve, fun and easy to navigate.

College pep rallies instead of blood-thirsty protests. Picnics in the park or at a friend’s, or filling the blow-up rubber pool on summer’s steamy days.

The excitement of your home’s first air conditioning unit.

There are many who say yes, but what about diseases with no cures, the fact people died younger and TV sets were black and white and twelve inches. Don’t forget having to use the antennas with aluminum foil to get the darn picture right. Or did you forget party lines, the fact women were second class citizens and father was the one who always knew best?

Of course, progress is a good thing, well in most areas perhaps.

I still contend that quality of life isn’t dependent on how many likes you have on TikTok, how many friends on Facebook or the latest Netflix offering.

The food was real, not chemicals, neighborhoods were tree lined and neighbors knew and cared about one another. At least where I grew up.

Yes, yes I know airplanes are faster, food is delivered, the Internet has brought the world into our homes, streaming services make going to the movies irrelevant and a robot named Alexa is sitting in our house spying on our every move. And that to most people is a good thing.

I must counter with the fact SIRI hasn’t understood a word I’ve said in three years. It’s like talking to someone who is deaf and refuses to wear a hearing aid.

“Hello Siri, Siri I said Maple not Whipple.” So yes, the stress levels of modern life can be over the top.

I simply don’t remember that so much as a kid.

Did our parents feel the pressures we were protected from?

I know every generation tries to protect the young. Yet, it seems that the negatives weren’t as scary.

Okay, I’ll give you the atom bomb, but terrorism, crime and AI trumps that by miles.

Were people nicer? Absolutely. Could you get a malted or a phosphate at the drugstore when buying the new Archie Annual? Sure.

Did the baseball stadium smell like freshly mown grass at the games? You bet. And it was the best smell.

Most would choose progress, but of course at what price?

What are we willing to pay for faster, bigger, new and improved?

And a question I ask myself often these days…are we indeed moving forward as a species or is that an illusion?

Do we tell ourselves man is evolving when in our hearts we know far too many are becoming more vicious than the dinosaurs we replaced.

Do I see the past in America through rose-colored glasses? I’m sure I do. Would I want to give up all the new and modern inventions we now possess? I’m afraid I’d have to think about that one.

Our children believe their generation grew up in a peaceful and charming America as well. I imagine our grandchildren will believe the same.

We are nothing if not adaptable.

But honestly, looking back it just seemed so darned easy. Can anyone look around at this world and use the term easy to describe the present? I’d have to say not in a million years. So, I’ll just enjoy my memories and hope life takes a beat, moves a bit backward to recalibrate and slows down the pace. Actually, that might be the best progress we could all hope for.

I know I am.   

When Will They Ever Learn? And Why Didn’t We?

“Where Have all the Young Men Gone, long time passing… where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago…When will they ever learn when will they ever learn?” Where Have all the Flowers Gone? by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson.

I used to think being crazy was a bad thing. Now I thank God every day I am. I seriously doubt at this moment in time anyone who is perfectly normal can find a way to cope with the insanity around us.

So how crazy do you have to be to exist in a world that has become so totally insane it is impossible to envision a corner of the planet where calm and peace any longer exist? 

A place where flowers grow and deer prance around in green lush woods. Where children play happily on white sandy beaches.

Oh sure I forgot the Garden of Eden which supposedly exists somewhere in the middle east or Africa. Forgive me if I find that scenario to be in any way believable or realistic.

So let’s get back to this whole being crazy thing.

When I was young, back in prehistoric times we had an expression “peace, love and rock n roll.”

Now that has turned to “chaos, murder and hatred.”

What happened to the flower children who lived on communes and painted Volkswagen busses while espousing love for everyone and peace on earth?

Hmmm, well I wonder that perhaps it wasn’t us peaceniks that are responsible for what has become of that dream.

The Baby Boomer generation was entrusted with a sacred task, to spread peace and love across the world in a time when it had been littered with death and hatred.

We did it well, but perhaps too well.

Were we naïve about man’s capacity to truly love one another, to accept other’s flaws, opinions and lifestyles. Even when they conflicted with our own?

Did we assume that our message despite the war in Viet Nam was being taken seriously by the powers that be and that the military industrial complex would ultimately simply expunge their weapons and “the lion would lie down with the lamb?”

There is an argument to be made that we were cavalier about those dreams we created for a better world. That while we got busy living our lives, accumulating our fortunes and raising our children we lost sight of a responsibility that needed tending.

Did we believe that peace would come without sacrifice? That love would simply spread like a virus throughout the world?

That rock n roll was a solution to the problems of a species that was only a few decades out of the caves and could at any moment revert to their uncivilized behavior?

We never saw it coming.

While we were driving our BMWs, shopping in giant new malls and seeking bigger and better neighborhoods and schools for our offspring we assumed someone was on the wall and watching the gate.

But they weren’t. No one was.

The cold war turned hot, new wars arose and countries with no regard for human life sprung up like weeds to populate what we believed was a green and lush topography. China flourished with our help to become a rabid dog intent on destroying the hand that fed him.

So are we at fault for dropping the ball?

When we marched at our colleges for peace how did we never envision future generations that would march to excuse evil?

Are we at fault for universities that encourage hatred, violence and dare I say it, sheer stupidity? Should we blame those who blindly donated to their alma maters without first investigating their policies and attitudes? Perhaps that is a big part of our current problems.

Or was there ever really a ball to be dropped.

Were we simply too high on weed to come down to earth long enough to understand our folly?

To realize after World War II evil not only still existed in our world, but in just a few generations this would become a truly evil world.

A place where good gets shouted down and cowers under the loud voice of the wicked. Where the moral compass of the world would go mahoola and twist and turn into unreadable directions.

That man would more than ever be a lost soul wandering about in a malicious society.

That the red flags were waving and we never noticed. We lost sight of our goals and assumed our message would continue to resonate with others down through time.

We were foolish.

When I say we I also mean me.

I forgot that “good will ultimately triumph over evil” is the grand design, yet before evil is defeated it takes many good people down.

That evil will never be satiated without first tasting the blood of the innocent and that leaders who are fools are no match for those who are malevolent. That evil never sleeps and good naps constantly.

Now I look at what we have allowed the world to become and I feel guilt and sorrow for the mess our children and grandchildren must attempt to clean.

There are no flowers, kumbaya or peace love and rock n roll on the horizon for them.

Only a world filled with the ashes of peace, brotherhood and goodness.

I have always been intrigued by the tale of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and found it difficult to believe that only four could determine man’s fate.

Yet now I have come to realize a group of madmen with homemade bombs can harness that power and engage a world into a battle for the soul of humanity.

It doesn’t take a genius to understand that it is in many ways simple math. The world population has exploded and with it has come more good people but many many more evil ones.

Society has found a way to condone crime in its cities, destroy law and order and create a chaotic existence for all people good and bad.

Was this the dream? Was this our goal as we sang kumbaya and just assumed all mankind was in agreement with our philosophy?

How could we have been so naïve as to think evil wouldn’t take advantage of our foolishness and plunge the world into darkness?

Now the war is here and it has come down to basics. Good versus evil once more. We have been here before, but the question now is, how many innocents will die before evil is defeated once again?

As the Peter Paul and Mary song asked, “When will they ever learn?” I may be crazy, but I know an inciteful song lyric when I hear one. Sadly, I just don’t know the answer.