When I Was Your Age...

You can't compare one generation's upbringing to the next, it's apples and oranges.  The economy was different, technology was different, education was different, social problems were different, morals were different, communication was different, hell, our place in the world was different.

The curve of progress and getting left behind is accelerating.  In just one generation we went from vinyl records to CD's, rotary dial phones on party lines to bluetooth, Black and white TV's to Netflix, corner grocery stores to Amazon.com, you get the point.  Everything is faster, more expensive, more complicated more dangerous and more disposable.

A few non-tangibles have gotten lost in the mix; respect, honor, commitment, community, contentment, safety and independence, to name a few.  I can understand the desire to climb the ladder and get the latest shiny bauble, I really can.  But we have lost our defining character as a people in the process.

A Change of Heart

What if a Grouchy Bastard found time to examine his life.  What if he didn't like what he saw?  The start of a new year can do that; make a person reflect.  It is nauseating replaying mistakes, wincing at memories of things you did and said that you desperately wish you could take back.  The past generates a feeling of fear and self-loathing.  I would sure like to live in the present, but the past and future tell me I will probably mess you just as I have before.

Once a month I air out my fears, and I expose them and remind myself that fear is the opposite of faith.  I make fear squirm in the light.  There is hope that springs from that exercise.  Hope and possibilities when I see all that fear keeps me from doing, and WHAT is the worst that could happen?

Grouchy of not, I have so many unlived dreams and hopes.  Sometimes I can't bear it.  I wish I could stop making excuses and live my life.  I have a bucket list a mile long.  It is intended for a life of adventure, yet I limp along.  Why do I exist if not to try to learn and explore and travel and struggle and create and LIVE A FULL LIFE!!!

First step is to get over my fears, to risk again.  To be wild and free again.