Thoughts On a Beautiful Spring Day

Thoughts On a Beautiful Spring Day

I was walking the other day on the wooden boardwalk that winds through the woods near my home. It was a lovely – almost perfect – spring day. It was the kind of day you pay no attention to because it’s so perfect. It’s not too cold, it’s not too warm, it’s not too humid, it’s not too cloudy; it was my idea of a perfect day. And because I was not paying attention to the weather – unusual in my neck of the woods – I was lost in thought. I was thinking about change and wondering if the world has really changed much or if I am the one who’s changed.

I looked up and saw a man coming toward me. I’ve passed him on the forest boardwalk many times before. Sometimes we stop and chat for a bit and sometimes we don’t. To be honest, I think I’m the one who decides if we talk or not… I’m always trying to get so many miles in so many minutes – my self-imposed, self-designed exercise regimen, I guess. Anyway, on this particular day, I was debating in my mind if it was I who changed or if it was the world that changed. I decided to stop and talk to the man – whose name I do not know. He’s about my age maybe a touch older if you can believe that. We exchanged small talk and then out of the blue he said to me … “What do you think of these crazy college kids rioting and causing all these problems… it wasn’t like that when I was in college…”

At first, I guess to be polite, I wanted to agree with him. Then I remembered when I was in college and a bomb went off in a building quite close to the classroom I was in. The Vietnam War provoked unrest at my college and a lot of other colleges – and all around the USA. And I reminded him that things weren’t always so peaceful when I was growing up. He chose, not to remember, but I know he did. He looked uncomfortable and hurried on his way.

I grew up in the era of “Peace and Love” but it was just a fantasy. Things were not peaceful and despite the “flowers in your hair” culture, people were just about the same then as they are now. We just hid our feelings and intentions better.

Racial tensions abounded and inequality was everywhere. Congress passed laws to make things more equal but I think there’s still a lot of prejudice in our society – in many cases the law seems only have taught people to hide it better. You cannot legislate kindness or respect, can you?

People say our government is worse than ever and we have crazy congressmen and congresswomen doing crazy things that have never been done before. Let take a look back to 1856. The Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856, in the United States Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack and beat Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts?

Or how about congressmen killing each other? On February 24, 1838… “Jonathan Cilley of Maine was killed by Representative William Graves of Kentucky in a duel on the outskirts of D.C., in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Graves approached Cilley with a letter at the behest of a newspaper editor, James Webb, who was incensed about a bribery accusation Cilley had made on the House Floor. Cilley refused to accept the letter; Graves interpreted the refusal as a direct insult to his character and challenged Cilley to a duel. In an ironic twist, neither man had any known grievance with the other prior to the incident. With two other Members of the House present, Henry Wise of Virginia and Delegate George Jones of Wisconsin (the dueling seconds for both men), the duel went beyond the customary two rounds, resulting in Cilley’s death in the third round… (History and Arts Archives. U.S. House of Representatives )

It’s not like our politics haven’t been crazy before. Take, for example, Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism, also known as the Second Red Scare, was the political repression of people based on the assumption many folks were communists. This led to the persecution of individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign and became enormously popular, gradually lost his popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false.

Speaking of things true and false… You’d think with social media and instant news, the truth would be easier to find than it was back in the days when we had only newspapers, radio,  and three network news stations: ABC, NBC, and CBS.

But it seems to me that social media and artificial intelligence have made truth harder to find and lies easier to believe… it’s a mixed-up world we live in

But it’s always been a mixed-up world. I think social media, smartphones, and the Internet have amplified and hurried change, but when I look at the world it’s probably just as likely that I’ve changed as much as the world has.

I watched Leave It to Beaver the other night – for the first time in many years. Wally and Beaver’s aunt was coming to visit and June made the boys wear suits. And when TV families like the Cleavers, or the Anderson family on Father Knows Best sat down for dinner, Mom and Dad were all dressed up.

I can remember being a kid and having to dress up when my parents or grandparents took me out to dinner – tie, white shirt, sports coat, shiny shoes, the works. I can’t imagine doing that now. So, yes the world has changed …maybe as much as I have?

In some ways, the world seems to have changed for the better and in some ways for the worse. But maybe I’ve changed more than the world has. It’s hard to find many 70+-year-old idealists. There has been too much water under the bridge.

I’m not a young college student anymore. At my age, I know I’m not going to change the world —  that’s for sure. Maybe, instead, the world has changed me.

My grandfather told me always to try to find the good in everyone and always try to be kind. He told me if you can’t say something nice about somebody, don’t say anything at all. He told me always to try to be on good terms with everyone. I’ve tried hard to live up to his ideals but I’ve not always been successful.

I have not changed the world. I don’t know if the world has changed or if I have changed. It’s a bit of both, I think.

Then again, at my age, maybe I’m just a fat, old, hump?

That’s enough thinking for one very beautiful spring day.