reflections...

reflections...

             

  Janis Ian's hit single, At 17, was about a young girl's angst about her appearance and coming to peace with the fact that she wasn't invited to any social event by the time she reached 17.  My interpretation of the song was she was not even invited to join in the dance of life.  

  HUH?  What's up with that? 

  Recently, while tooling down the interstate, the song came on my XM satellite radio and it caused a genuine ripple of introspection/reflection on my part.  

  1975--the year At 17 was released

  A loaf of bread was less than 50 cents, while a gallon of gas was under two dollars.  

  Love Will Keep Us Together by the husband and wife team of the Captain and Tennille was the Number One song playing on the radio.  

  The Vietnam War ended in 1975 as Communist forces took Saigon. 

  President Gerald Ford was in office.  

  Betamax burst upon the scene and made Sony billions.  Down the road, JVC introduced VHS.  

  2022---sometime in March

  But, it wasn't necessarily those happenings and events that captured my attention and caused me to miss my exit.  It was more about how fast the years pass us by while living those years.  How I don't really pay attention to the daily events in my life as they unfold because I tend to accept those events as the way it should be happening.  It's expected.  

  Thoughts such as what it would be like to have a dictator as the leader of the country next door to us.  A billionaire who apparently is bothered by having a successful democracy adjacent to his country.  I can only imagine the constant fear I would confront and the terror I would feel because of the unknown.

  It made me think about how we've not had a military war on our home front in my lifetime.  America's battles with other countries have been fought in distant lands.  I can't envision having friends, neighbors, relatives and loved ones decimated by warfare.  No one ever wants to see such violence as it has unfolded in Kyiv, Ukraine.  The aftermath has been all over television and other platforms.    

  The strength shown by Ukranians has been remarkable.  I thought about civilians from other countries who want to cross the border and fight for Ukraine and questioned my own bravery under those conditions.  

  Like a chain connecting two like objects, the thought of Kyiv brought to mind the battle among the television networks during the Vietnam War.  Today, results of Russia's bombing in Kyiv are so graphic, no scene is too blatant or too in your face.  

  In the late '60s and early '70s during the Vietnam War, Americans got the majority of their news from the three major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC.  Network executives couldn't agree on how much war time violence to broadcast, let alone what content to broadcast as a result of that violence.  It was the beginning of what I refer to as graphic reality.  Prior to Vietnam, television censors considered showing the body of a dead person as obscene (excluding fictional crime shows and dramas).  

  As a result, the Vietnam War was the first conflict Americans saw their loved ones die on a battlefield.  There are documented cases of parents watching the 6 o'clock news and seeing their son die in battle long before they were notified of his death by the State Department.   

  As Janis sang......and those whose names were never called... my thoughts were of the heroes every day whose names I've never learned.  It made me think of all the people in this land who have done countless brave acts and even others who have done such great things for mankind.  By comparison, it made me feel very ordinary and extremely average.  

  Two miles further down the road, thoughts of how lucky I have been my whole life came to mind as I have managed to evade the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  My three brothers and I had food, shelter, and protection as we were growing up.  Provisions were plentiful. 

  I imagined myself behind the steering wheel of my first car, a 1949, four-door, dark green, Plymouth.  I was 17 and my 18th birthday was rapidly approaching.  In 1961, taking a trip to the Selective Service Office to register for the draft on a male's 18th birthday was the law and there was only one way to avoid it.   

  So many of our armed forces personnel lost their lives in Vietnam.  I thought about how they never got to see any part of their future.  The headlines in the paper during those years told about 18 year olds who decided to flee to Canada instead of registering for the draft.  The truth was nobody wanted to go to Vietnam.  Those that fled the United States were called cowards and condemned by much of society.  I wondered if their families ever saw them after the war had ended.  

  It's difficult to imagine those in this country who have led protests for any cause replicating that behavior in China or Russia.  It made me consider if those citizens even recognized how fortunate they are to be able to object to wearing a mask without official interference.  I don't recall seeing or hearing about any such demonstrations in either Russia or China.     

  Janis Ian's song had long ended by the time I realized my exit was a couple miles back in the other direction.  As another exit was approaching, my driving skill-set was severely challenged as the cloverleaf I was going to initiate was backwards and required a left turn into the ramp instead of turning right.  The unforeseen direction brought me back to the present as I faced oncoming traffic in the opposing lanes.  

  As I completed the second 360 degree circle and was pointed in the right direction and finally heading home, my thoughts jumped to how everything comes full circle.   Indeed, it seems life is like a teeter-totter because the entire ride is filled with ups and downs.  

   Is the price of a gallon of gasoline important?  Yes, to many people and the thought of the increased cost of survival made me wonder how those already struggling as a result of a pandemic will achieve success.   

   It is all just a part of life and living life is what is important.  Appreciating what has been put in front of me is certainly critical.  Knowing the opportunity to help younger people will come along, that's what's important.  Helping to teach my granddaughter and hopefully my two grandsons how to drive...that's what's important. Honoring and admiring my friends is very important.  Being an honest person with my spouse, though difficult at times, is super important.  

  And, as I pulled into my driveway, I started thinking about firing up the grill to prepare dinner for no other reason than that was important in that moment. 

  Life goes on. 

  Coming up:  The Kentucky Derby is only six weeks away, and; meet more POS; plus, we'll look into A World without Wayne, and; an interview with a doctor from Ukraine. 

  And, finally. While pondering life's questions, I am left with two seemingly unanswered conundrums:  First, why is it that I am asked by every company I call on the telephone to...listen carefully as our menu options have changed;?

And, secondly, why do I get a request by text or e-mail to fill out a survey every time I leave a doctor's office now?  

  HUH?  What's up with that?