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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Suma who wrote (38351)	2/24/2004 1:51:10 PM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

am 73 in two weeks. Therefore my associations are not prolific, and not skewed well. As my now largely obsolete profile says: "He who isn't busy being born, is busy dying" - B. Dylan. With you at 73, I'm just under a decade behind you. It's been my experience that that decade is usually of extreme importance. We tend to be pulled towards the mindset of the demographic bulges in our society. The differences between us are the differences between Korea and VietNam. You're a little too young to fit comfortably into the WWII (Great) Generation, and I'm a little too old to completely fit into the Boomers. Both 'tweeners, one born at the beginning of that birth dearth, the Great Depression - the other at the end. Sitting just before the Boomer demographic bulge, my entire life has been a caricature of Satchel Paige’s admonition, "Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you". Frankly, I find it very comforting to talk to someone your age. Boomers have no idea what the Truman Admin and the birth of the Cold War was like. OTOH, you have some memories of Roosevelt that I can’t share. I can remember the end of WWII, and Roosevelt being president, but not much more or before. Luckily, I enjoyed listening to “my elders” when I was young. And thereby gleaned some appreciation for the details and “flavor” of life in the ‘20s and ‘30s. That allows for an intercomparison of the “boom” times – ‘20s, ‘60s and ‘90s. To be followed by the busts – ‘30s, 70s and now. Shortsighted Boomers and Gen X and Y people that believe the 90s have returned, are in for a surprise (JMO). I find your use of the internet to be interesting. By luck, I got deeply involved with computers over four decades ago, but in that (as with some other areas), I seem to be something of an anomaly. The internet is a great way to stimulate the ole noggin. When I look at people like John Templeton or George Kennan (from the Truman Admin), the reason they still seem so mentally alert, is they just never stopped. Viewing the human mind as a Meme Machine (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0198503652/103-8478770-8382253?v=glance) implies a certain age is required before you have sufficient “connections” (large enough memeset) for things to start to make sense. I still have a way to go, but hey, the fun is in the trip – e.g. I thoroughly enjoyed your Niebuhr quote. Anytime you’ve got any more “gems” to share ... lurqer