I have long believed that there are 10 kinds of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don’t. As Steve Martin ironically said as a punch line, “enough comedy jokes”. Approaching the end of my 58th revolution around the Sun, I am often as reflective as the back of Mikey’s head. It is a dangerous game bouncing through the memories a la Billy Pilgrim but I like living on the edge.
There is one memory in particular, about a youthful axiom in the 1960s that went “Don’t trust anyone over the age of 30.” and I believed it. Older, and hopefully wiser, my new version of this axiom is “Don’t take anything out the mouth of anyone under the age of 30 too seriously”.
It is hardly their fault with our culture’s practice of extending adolescence well into their 20’s along with constant exposure to the equal-outcomes-regardless-of-effort-or-ability political correctness mantra, bizarre political views that must have been formed by watching too much MTV and their life long indoctrination into forced altruism (irony noted). Perhaps 30 is too low of a threshold!
So, is the purpose of human life, as Socrates stated, one of personal and spiritual growth or we are merely hosts for bacteria and bacteria are the dominate life force on earth as expressed by Stephen J. Gould? I see it as an individual choice, based on our free will, with the unexamined life functioning as mere host. This is a kind appraisal on my part compared to Socrates bluntly calling it a life not worth living.
The Good News is that the potential to transcend mediocrity and to embrace personal and spiritual growth remains in us all. It is all about embracing change, educating oneself and developing a world view that is faithful, inquisitive, realistic and inclined to risk-taking.
We live in the most interesting of times in human history. My grandparents, John and Kathryn Conroy, lived on a farm in southeastern Ohio (between Byesville and Buffalo Ohio) without electricity or running water. The family farm did not have electricity until the early 1950s and didn’t have running water until well into the 1960s.
The harnessing of electricity within the lifetime of my grandparents has led to incredible technological leaps in just three generations. Think electric motors, automobiles, radio, television, airplanes, spacecraft and computers to name a few. Even the personal computer is less than 30 years old and this continues to dramatically change and interconnect our lives with the widespread adoption of the Internet.
Technology appears to be the great divide. The bottom line is that all of you oldsters (that is anyone over the age of 30) not on social media, especially Facebook, must set up an account today! The youngsters need your insight and you need to adapt to the changes – a classic win-win if there ever is one!
There is one memory in particular, about a youthful axiom in the 1960s that went “Don’t trust anyone over the age of 30.” and I believed it. Older, and hopefully wiser, my new version of this axiom is “Don’t take anything out the mouth of anyone under the age of 30 too seriously”.
It is hardly their fault with our culture’s practice of extending adolescence well into their 20’s along with constant exposure to the equal-outcomes-regardless-of-effort-or-ability political correctness mantra, bizarre political views that must have been formed by watching too much MTV and their life long indoctrination into forced altruism (irony noted). Perhaps 30 is too low of a threshold!
So, is the purpose of human life, as Socrates stated, one of personal and spiritual growth or we are merely hosts for bacteria and bacteria are the dominate life force on earth as expressed by Stephen J. Gould? I see it as an individual choice, based on our free will, with the unexamined life functioning as mere host. This is a kind appraisal on my part compared to Socrates bluntly calling it a life not worth living.
The Good News is that the potential to transcend mediocrity and to embrace personal and spiritual growth remains in us all. It is all about embracing change, educating oneself and developing a world view that is faithful, inquisitive, realistic and inclined to risk-taking.
We live in the most interesting of times in human history. My grandparents, John and Kathryn Conroy, lived on a farm in southeastern Ohio (between Byesville and Buffalo Ohio) without electricity or running water. The family farm did not have electricity until the early 1950s and didn’t have running water until well into the 1960s.
The harnessing of electricity within the lifetime of my grandparents has led to incredible technological leaps in just three generations. Think electric motors, automobiles, radio, television, airplanes, spacecraft and computers to name a few. Even the personal computer is less than 30 years old and this continues to dramatically change and interconnect our lives with the widespread adoption of the Internet.Technology appears to be the great divide. The bottom line is that all of you oldsters (that is anyone over the age of 30) not on social media, especially Facebook, must set up an account today! The youngsters need your insight and you need to adapt to the changes – a classic win-win if there ever is one!