Lots to say but not about aging

I haven't been writing and posting here because I'm most absorbed by socioeconomic issues in our society and I do realize that those topics are not primarily about issues of aging.

On the other hand, maybe aging Baby Boomers are more likely to suffer from the current economy and more likely to recognize the dangers in the ways society is changing. After all, those among us who were paying attention certainly had an opportunity to understand the socioeconomic conditions in Germany right before WW II broke out if we cared to know.

The other day there was an article on the Internet that reviewed newspapers for 1930 and concluded that no one recognized then that the world was in the Great Depression. In fact, people were writing optimistically about the economy in 1930.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Absolution and Redemption and Second Chances

America has always been known for insistence on belief in the Judeo-Christian concepts of absolution and redemption. In America people have traditionally been given (or allowed to take) second chances. Americans have never expected their fellow citizens to commit hara-kiri for their blunders and sins. We've always reacted with public shock and disapproval if someone's repentance was demonstrated by death or disappearance. Inability to try to start over has always been weakness in our public eyes, and we, as a nation, tend to look down on weakness. In other cultures people are required to live with the consequences of their actions and choices, but Americans, for better or worse, have always been able to start over. Even our Canadian neighbors, who sometimes seem so much the same as us--if only in our eyes--are more bound by consequences than we are. My Canadian cousin remarked that she was amazed when I took a major step in life and then casually took a ...
Read more

Not minding my own business

In the past my policy was to mind my own business about Israeli politics because I was living in America and not in Israel. After all, I don't really know the di fference between Bibi N and Naftali B. Lately, since the start of the third Intifada, with southern Israel bombarded from Gaza with arson balloons and mortar shells, my opinions on how to respond to the riots and terror attacks have grown stronger and stronger until those opinions leaked out all over Facebook. This morning I saw a picture of rioters running in circles and the caption said that Israel needn't have responded to them so harshly. The truth, however, was that Israel didn't respond harshly at all. In fact, Israel has not responded harshly enough. If Israel had struck back immediately to the first arson balloons-shooting those balloons back down on the heads of those who sent them up into the air-there wouldn't have been any more arson balloons to follow. There wouldn't have been any mor...
Read more

A thought about climate change

I know most people want everyone to be for or against climate change whichever those people are espousing. Well, climate change is in fact one of the few constants of this planet. The climate will change whether we want to accept it or not. It is reality. How much impact we can have on the direction of climate change remains to be seen. How much sacrifice we as a species are willing to make to control the direction of climate change remains to be seen. In my experience those who talk the most about the dangers of climate change are the least willing to sacrifice to make a difference. And then there is the question of whether we would do harm or good for the planet if we could manipulate climate to our desires. In fact, it is not clear if we would do harm or good for ourselves as a species if we could manipulate climate to our tastes. We as a species have a track record of creating unintended consequences by our actions. And we as a species are not guaranteed immunity to the law...
Read more