Here at Twenty First Summer I love to opine about life and society and philosophy and other liberal-artsy type stuff, but in the real world I am a communications electronics technician who services the equipment that makes the bars on your cellphone light up and the internet connect and the TV stream. It all sounds so modern and impressive. It’s not, actually. What I do is fairly average stuff by technogeek standards. The guys & girls who deserve admiration for their technical skills are the young scientists and engineers from Cleveland, Ohio known as Team 120.
Team 120 is a crew of high school students from the Cleveland public schools enrolled in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program run out of a local community college. Anyone with internet access knows that STEM education in the United States is trending in the wrong direction; what Team 120 is doing is vital to reversing the decline.
What pushed Team 120 to the top was their spectacular championship win at the For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition in St. Louis, Missouri last April. The FIRST competition is no run of the mill science fair. It’s a very serious, high pressure event that attracts competitors from all over the world and has big name corporate sponsors such as IBM and Boeing. Just making it to FIRST is a difficult and impressive accomplishment.
Students participating in FIRST have to build and program robots, then run the robots through a series of complicated tasks in competition against all the other robots. Far more valuable than prizes or glory is the real-world experience the students will use to pursue what is sure to be successful STEM careers. This year the competition attracted 20,000 of the very best students, formed into 900 teams from 39 nations. Team 120 beat every single one of them and came home to Cleveland with the big prize and the big pride.
The importance of what these teens are doing and the spirit they inspire in others cannot be overstated. Someone is going to be the bridge to the future and invent the next era of complex machines that make civilization hum along, and Team 120 is leading the way. There are other bright kids out there tinkering in their bedrooms and basements who need that one little push. What better than someone in their own age group, a peer, to be that push and show them how far one can go when they truly want it bad enough? Team 120 is already bearing a torch for the next generation and they are still kids themselves!
Equal to the remarkable technical accomplishments of Team 120 is the image they project to other kids. Teens are all about being popular and trendy; math & science does not rank too high on the cool-o-meter, at least it didn’t until now. Robots, computers, and some high profile competition give STEM a new coat of paint and may be just what is needed to attract others.
There is no way to know for sure what the next step will be for the members of Team 120, but I have a lot of confidence that they still have many great ideas to release on the world. The FIRST competition was only one weekend and a small sample of what they are capable of doing. We, everyone, need these kids very badly. When they are given a chance and strong leadership, kids become champions and leaders themselves. I am absolutely certain that in the not-too-distant future something a member of Team 120 invented will be making my life better. These young scientists don’t just have the golden ticket to a better tomorrow, they are the golden ticket to a better tomorrow…and what a great blessing it is that we all get to ride along.
You’ve spent years preparing for this day. The sum of all the hard work, all the achievements, all the failures, every moment, is right now. The class of 2016 will carry the lessons learned here for the rest of their lives. No matter where you go, you will have a connection to this place. Carry that connection with honor.
Many of you are anxious to get out of here and go chase some far away, exciting goal. That’s understandable and I encourage you to do exactly that. The class of 2016 has the potential for greatness and needs to get out and experience new things. There will always be supporters in your hometown praying and hoping for your success. They know you. They know what you are capable of. They do not want you constrained. They want the whole world to see what they see in you.
You may not believe it right now, but when the class of 2016 is far away in time or place, the memories of the years you spent here will be a comfort in difficult times. Even if your life was hard and painful up to this point, it will still be a positive guiding force later and make you strong for when troubled times come again. And they will come again.
Your connection to this place helped make you what you are. For better or worse, it is the foundation for the rest of your life. From this point forward, the class of 2016 is responsible for building something meaningful upon that foundation. You are hereby released from the rules that you felt were holding you back but were really there to help you grow and mature. This is your big chance to use your good judgement and show everyone what you can do with your own wisdom. Whatever happens after today is to your credit, or your fault.
The day will come when it’s your turn to do the guiding and protecting. You will be hoping for the next generation the way your elders hope for you now. You will be the foundation that others will build on. What kind of foundation will it be? Will you try as hard to help them as your parents and teachers and entire community did to help you?
Do not say that helping the younger generation is not your responsibility. It’s important that you help them because, even if they are not your children, they will be taking over someday. Your duty to the next generation is not because of tradition or civil legislation, though these mandates do exist. You should help them out of your own free will because it’s the decent and right thing to do.
The class of 2016 is wise enough to see that kindness is the only valid reason to do good works. You will be held accountable for how you apply the kindness you learned here to others in the future. By showing compassion to others, the class of 2016 is in effect “going home,” that is, passing on what you learned here. Honor your elders by following them down a path of selflessness.
A path of selflessness always leads to home, and I do not mean a physical place. I mean a state of mind where one knows who they are. Home is being at peace with oneself and feeling affirmed that you contributed something positive to the world and lived a life of benevolence. It means you know in your heart you did as much as you could to make the world better.
Decades from now, when you have accomplished much and can’t count how many people whose lives are better because of you, you’ll be confident that the younger generation will carry on where you leave off because you taught them everything they need to know about love and decency. When they will follow you on that path of selflessness, you, the class of 2016, will ascend to the place of honor that your elders hold now. You can look at your grandchildren and great-grandchildren and tell them, “celebrate me home.”
I consider myself a reluctant adventurer, meaning, I don’t go looking for challenges but if one is pushed upon me I’ll take it. Sometimes the challenges are mental, other times they’re physical. When I recently got caught completely unprepared for a long hike in the woods and came out of it feeling affirmed and positive albeit beaten and tired, I made the connection between mental and physical challenges and how they complement each other to make us stronger and better.
I was in Fort Smith, Arkansas visiting my active, outdoorsy friends who love taking long hikes in the many hills and mountains of the Ozarks. A day of bad weather finally gave way to sunshine and they invited me to to join them on a hike to the top of Mount Magazine.
Mount Magazine is 2,753 feet straight up and the highest point in Arkansas. My friends had never been there, so this was going to be a totally new experience for all of us. I had no idea what to expect so I stuffed my backpack with a jacket and some bottled water and we were off.
Mere minutes in I realized that this was not going to be a gentle stroll on a nicely groomed, clearly marked trail designed for retiree tourists and grade school field trips. What the map called a “trail” was barely a clearing of very rough, uneven rocks. I thought maybe it would smooth out after a while but it didn’t. It actually got worse.
The mistake of not wearing proper hiking boots became apparent almost immediately. All I brought with me to Arkansas was a pair of light Nike running shoes. I felt every sharp corner of every rock through those thin soles. It was going to be a long day.
It took us over an hour and an half of walking through this very rough inclined terrain to reach the summit of Mount Magazine. I’m glad I had the foresight to bring a jacket because it was cool at the higher elevation. My feet were killing me, and we still had to go back down, but the view and camaraderie with my friends as we pushed ourselves was uplifting.
On the descent the rocks were becoming even more painful on my feet. One of my friends happens to be a doctor and I joked that she might have to refer me to a podiatrist when we get back. After three-plus hours of walking on rocks, half of it uphill, we arrived back at the trailhead where we started.
We plopped on a bench and looked at each other in weary silence. There was a sense of “We did it together. We were given challenges and we beat them.” When I got up to leave, the consequences of my poor choice of shoes reached its peak: Everything below my knees was numb and in pain. I was walking like a ninety year old man! Fortunately, I was not crippled for long. The hour and a half ride back to Fort Smith gave me a chance to stay off my feet and by time we got home I was mostly back to normal. I was surprised and grateful that I recovered from that much pain so quickly.
Later that night when I was laying in bed waiting to drift off to sleep, I was contemplating my exciting day. A hike in the woods is more than just hard physical challenges. Nature is a classroom of philosophy and spirituality and introspection. My takeaways were:
1. With the right mindset, challenges can be overcome. We all must walk over the same rocks but how you approach it determines the outcome. Had I worn the correct hiking boots, the trip would have been far less physically painful, but I kept up with the others and finished because I wanted to. There is an analogy to other life situations: If your progress in work or relationships is difficult and painful, it may be because you have the wrong attitude. The difference between those who succeed and those who fail is usually in their outlook.
2. With the right friends, challenges are easier. I would have never walked that trail alone. And the others probably would not have either. The physical pain of aching feet and the emotional pain life sometimes thrusts upon us is greatly reduced when you have friends to encourage you along.
3. When you succeed in completing challenges as a group, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When it was over, every one of us felt bigger than just individuals. And none of us would have felt as good had we done it with random strangers. People who think they can do everything themselves usually get lost in the woods. Having friends matters.
Our day on Mount Magazine was far from a high adventure trek worthy of a North Face commercial, yet it was something we will be talking about years from now, and will probably do again (Note to self: Bring appropriate footwear!). Had we decided to bum around a mall or go to a movie that day, I doubt it would have made much of a lasting impression on me. To really understand the world, one has to get out in it, push one’s limits, and share the challenges with a friend.
In a political year where income inequality is a major theme, not much attention is being paid to what I’m going to call “spending inequality”. We have little control over how much we earn in relation to everyone else, but we have quite a bit of control over what we buy. When one lives beyond their means, or carries debt for the purpose of appearing more affluent than they really are, they are practicing spending inequality.
For all the liberal screeching about how the middle class is being ripped off and sucked dry while the rich get fat at the expense of everyone else (a claim that is overplayed but not complete bullshit, by the way), there’s not even a whisper about one’s personal responsibility to handle carefully the money they do have. The rich may indeed be getting richer, but that’s not a license for us average folk to go into debt up to our eyeballs. How many people resent the rich while at the same time wanting to be like them? That unhealthy envy is what fosters spending inequality.
The other day I heard on a talk radio show that 47% of American adults could not raise $400 liquid cash on a day’s notice. That figure, which I accept as accurate if not generously low, is telling and disturbing.
We’re not talking about people who are broke due to exceptional circumstances: They got some horrible disease or their house burned down or their ex-spouse drained the bank account and skipped town. Forty-seven percent is not an outlier. It’s mainstream. How did we get to a place where it’s “normal” that nearly half of America cannot come up with a few hundred bucks for an unexpected emergency, yet they are constantly acquiring stuff?
There are millions of Americans who have practiced spending inequality to the point where they have elaborate home entertainment systems, upscale cars, go on luxurious vacations, and dress their kids in expensive trendy sportswear while every cent of the money used to pay for all that bling is money they have not earned yet. Sadly, having these things and going into heavily debt to get them is considered normal life.
What used to be quaintly referred to as “keeping up with the Joneses” has been elevated to unprecedented levels mostly because there is more stuff to buy and more ways to avoid paying cash for it.
Graphic courtesy arkansasbaptist.org
Decades ago, there was no iPad, smartphone, laptop computer, and flat screen TV for everyone in the house. There were no spring break trips to Acapulco. There were no $170 pairs of kids’ Nike shoes. And there was no “instant credit.” Spending inequality was difficult because most stuff was paid for in cash. There was a built in ceiling on how much one could afford to show off.
Spending inequality starts in the young, as exemplified by the all the soon-to-be graduated high school seniors who, with the whole blessing of their parents, are at this very moment signing up for decades of heavy student loan payments in exchange for on campus excitement at a name brand four year university because living at home and attending the local community college for a year or two and saving tens of thousands of dollars isn’t cool enough for them. Well over half of them will not make it to commencement; they’ll still be on the hook for a ton of money without even having a degree to show for it.
I have to admit the concept of spending inequality is a bit foreign to me because I’ve never been inclined to buy a lot of stuff just because everyone else was. Furthermore, my circle of family and friends are financially sensible, so there is no peer pressure or sense of competition. None of us are living large, or pretending that we are.
As I get older I’m less and less impressed with other people’s showing off, nor do I care what others notice about me. I drive an average car, live in an average house, and buy my clothes at the outlet mall.
It’s important to point out that spending inequality is a problem that is completely within our individual power to control. Those of us who sleep well at night knowing a $400 unplanned expense won’t sink us don’t understand spending inequality, nor do we want to. There is no man more free than the one who does not care what others think.
Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on April 19, 2014. We are recycing it for Earth Day 2016 with a few edits and updates.
I’m going to say up front that today’s blog article is not going to be a conservative hit piece on Earth Day 2016, nor will it be a sappy New Age love song about windmills and composting. As someone who has been a strict vegetarian for close to three decades, incorporates numerous meaningful green practices into his life, and is gun-toting, flag-waving Libertarian (which is not the same as a liberal), I feel I have an understanding of Earth Day 2016 that belies the absolute left and right attitudes that define it.
April 22 is Earth Day 2016, and for political liberals, leftover hippies, and various eco-activist groups, it’s a High Holy Day. Started by flower children in 1970 on the momentum of anti-Vietnam counterculture, Earth Day has evolved into a slick, professionally organized international media spectacle complete with its own website and corporate sponsors. Like all things liberal, Earth Day is heavy on shallow sentimentality, squishy platitudes, and calls for “investments” (taxescoughtaxes) in green projects. The real message: We simpletons need big government liberalism to save us from our own stupid. And like all things conservative, Earth Day is an opportunity for overt mockery and to dismiss environmentalism out of hand, because in the Orthodox Church of “drill, baby, drill!”it’s apostasy to even hint that the green movement has a legitimate point buried in there somewhere, especially if it interferes with making a lot of money.
Years before recycling became fashionable, I was lugging magazines and aluminum cans down from my 12th floor college dorm to a recycling center on the other side of campus.
I absolutely do believe in a clean environment and the premise behind Earth Day 2016. I also have a big issue with advancing the cause via rules and edicts that make for good press releases but never achieve their intended goal. I’ve spent a lot of time arguing with myself over how to resolve my conviction that we need to stop trashing the planet against my conservative sensibilities of resisting at every chance an egalitarian nanny state that, especially regarding environmental policy, regulates our lives down to the ridiculous, up to and including federal standards for…shower heads?
Years before recycling became fashionable, I was lugging magazines and aluminum cans down from my 12th floor college dorm to a recycling center on the other side of campus. Back then, recycling required considerable dedication and muscle. As one can guess, hardly anyone bothered. Today, recycling is as straightforward as placing recyclables at the curb where they are picked up along with garbage. My neighborhood even has entrepreneurially-minded scrappers who will scoop up discarded appliances, hot water heaters, bikes, BBQ grills, and whatever metallic waste suburbia tosses away. I don’t know how much money they make, but it must be pretty good because there are more than one of them patrolling the streets competing for junk every week. In many locales, recycling has developed to the point that there aren’t any good excuses not to do it.
Renewable energy is one area that has made considerable progress but is still a long way from being a real game changer. Even with tax incentives and subsidies (which I have a problem with), the bang for the buck is just not there. I will be well into retirement before my roof full of solar panels pay themselves off. Fortunately for me, my motivations are not solely about money. For most, the start up costs of green energy for individual use is well beyond the budget. Germany is often held up as a proud example of a “successful” national renewable energy program, but the rationalization works only if affordability is taken out of the equation.
For the Germans, solar energy may be an environmental win but it is collapsing as a business model due in no small part to regulatory overreach and meddling. Progressives here in the United states have been trying for years, but they cannot come up with a talking point that gets them over the mountain of government incompetence. Green energy will never evolve beyond the fringe unless it becomes cost effective, and it will never be cost effective without free market-based energy policy. The environmental movement will never, ever embrace this simple truth. They run their mouths about how the US should emulate Germany’s example while completely blowing off the ugly fact that it is breaking the bank.
A recurring theme in my blog is making fun of the left for doing things just to feel good. It’s not an unfair criticism: A major piece of liberal dogma is that good intentions and feelings are a valid substitute for reality and actual results. But here’s where I split with conservatives: While liberals are all about being warm and happy even if nothing gets done, conservatives seem to be of the attitude that the value of something is proportional to the amount of difficulty and sacrifice needed to do it. Or to put it another way, if something is enjoyable it’s either not worth doing or you are not working hard enough. Some of the most pissed off, bitter people I know are conservative, possibly because they have forgotten that life can’t always be about that hard journey going for the gold. But what if I can do something that really does produce results and I can feel good about it…what’s wrong with that?
Unfortunately, most of what passes as “environmentalism” is really just fluff. Earth Day 2016 will have plenty of celebrity appearances and petition signings and resurrected Joni Mitchell songs. Within twenty four hours everyone will go back to what they were doing before. They have conned themselves into thinking they are environmentalists because they plop a blue bin full of junk mail at the end of the driveway every week. Toss in an annual one day feel good retro hippy trip and they are completely sold on the hustle. I don’t know what’s worse: Liberals who pretend to be environmentalists with their hollow showmanship or conservatives who never claimed to care in the first place.
I no longer accept the idealism of my youth that had me thinking I could singlehandedly save the world one aluminum can at a time. But doing nothing is also unacceptable. Decades out of college dorm life, I’m still recycling. I’ve also been on solar panels for a while. They aren’t enough to run the whole house, but I can produce a significant chunk of my electricity with them.
When I switched to a vegetarian diet 29 years ago, it was not for environmental reasons. Since then I’ve learned a lot about how dirty and energy-intensive meat production really is, and how many thousands of gallons of water are needed to produce just one pound of beef. I work only a little over a mile from where I live; some weeks I rack up less than 25 miles on my vehicles. When the weather is good I get around on a motorcycle. These are things I do all the time, not just for display purposes. I don’t wear my environmentalism on my sleeve and people who do annoy the hell out of me, especially since most of them are pretenders.
Those of us who live our lives as if every day were Earth Day 2016 are a little vexed about the concept of waiting for a special occasion to take positive action towards keeping the planet clean, nor do we feel a need to show off how “green” we are. True Earth Day practitioners divorce themselves from the fad of environmentalism and go quietly about their eco-friendly business. It’s a lifestyle, not a hobby or a holiday. Conservatives will be pleased to know that when done properly it requires effort and is often a challenge; liberals can be assured that in the end, yes, it feels good. In a truly honorable world, there would be no need to reserve a spot on the calendar to commemorate what everyone should have been doing the whole time anyway.
Last week’s article about Shakespeare generated a lot of positive attention, and I’m really glad so many others see themselves in his work. Regular reader “Mike in Minneapolis” responded by sending me this very enjoyable piece about an African-American interpretation of Shakespeare’s King Richard III. This is a golden opportunity to continue the discussion and address the culture and adaptability of William Shakespeare and why it’s important to everyday people.
Cultural adaptability is not some obscure concept kicked around in college seminars. Simply defined, it is how culture produced by one group of people is interpreted by other groups. It’s what makes culture worth having. What good would it be if only British people had Shakespeare? Or if only the French listened to the music of classical composer Berlioz? Is there really any point of having culture if it’s not going to be shared outside the group that created it?
“‘Who owns Shakespeare?’ one might ask. You might as well ask who has the right to breathe, to dream, to express their selves…”
–playwright Carlyle Brown
It’s important to note that not all culture is good, or used for good purposes. Adolph Hitler famously used art and music as propaganda in an attempt to convince the rest of the world that the Nazis were really nice people. We all know how that turned out.
And among the pissy-pants political left here in the USA there is a disturbing fad for whining about “cultural appropriation.” It’s from liberalism’s vast collection of manufactured outrages where pouting crybabies keep their very simple minds busy by being offended over any little ethnic/racial/religious inaccuracy. For example, swooning because a sandwich was not made to their expectations. Yes, it really does get that stupid.
Keeping it positive though, culture is a society’s statement to the outside world that says “this is who we are” and “this is what is important to us.” It’s also the only thing that lasts.
William Shakespeare has been dead for 400 years, yet his work has become a timeless hallmark of British culture and a reference to what people of his time thought and felt. His plays are so adaptable that they translate to our modern lives with amazing insight.
An African-American version of a Shakespeare play could plausibly be called “cultural appropriation,” assuming one even accepts the premise of that ridiculous concept in the first place. I absolutely do not accept it and think anyone who does is either an outright dimwit and/or has no understanding of why culture exits. King Richard III being interpreted with an African-American world view is a creative expression that should be celebrated. It demonstrates Shakespeare’s power and universal appeal.
William Shakespeare probably did not foresee the vast impact his work would have on the world, but certainly he wanted it to be appreciated by someone beyond the theatergoers who attended his live performances. Cultural adaptability is when something has meaning not just in place but also in time.
Those who create culture usually never know what ultimately becomes of it because its true value may not show up for many years, possibly centuries. Shakespeare would be pleased, I think, that a group of 19th century African-Americans found something in King Richard III that they could identify with and call their own. Shakespeare’s work said something back then that we’re still listening to now. What higher honor could any culture be given?
All languages are orphans. What I mean is that none of them can trace their pedigree back to any single source or person. There is an exception: English, specifically, the version of it spoken today. While it is technically true that no one “invented” the English language, the way English speakers express themselves would be very different but for the works of William Shakespeare, who died 400 years ago this month and coincidentally was also born in April.
Shakespeare was respected in his time, yet he was not particularly well known outside of London and was not recognized as a literary giant until well after his death when scholars revisited his work in the early 1800s. By the late 1800s he was a bona fide legend; starting in the 1900s and extending until now, William Shakespeare has been a major component of high school literature courses and there are entire college degree programs dedicated exclusively to him.
A lot of information about William Shakespeare’s personal life is missing. His exact birthday is unknown, and no one living today is even sure what he looked like. He never sat for a direct formal portrait; the familiar pictures of him were created from second hand descriptions given by people who knew him. Shakespeare’s unintentionally mysterious life adds to the intrigue and legacy of his writing.
His words are reflections in a literary mirror reaching out across the centuries.
So why should modern day people like us care about the ideas of some scribe who’s been dead for four centuries? After all, we live in the internet age where trends and fads can have a shelf life of just a few hours, sometimes less.
Pop culture trends are indeed ephemeral. Four hundred years from now, no one is going to care about Kim Kardashian’s tweets. Shakespeare did not say things for the purpose of being popular or seizing a moment. He spoke of anger, jealousy, love, hate, sadness, joy, sorrow and every other possible emotion in a way that is ageless.
Because William Shakespeare’s language of emotion is universal, we can find ourselves in passages from Romeo & Juliet or Othello or any of the other plays & sonnets. His words are reflections in a literary mirror reaching out across the centuries. Anyone who even casually studies Shakespeare will eventually arrive at that moment of enlightenment when they exclaim to themselves, “Hey! He’s talking about me!”
It’s exciting to read literature from so long ago and feel as if the author knew us personally. William Shakespeare created a magic formula of words that never becomes obsolete because culture constantly changes but the human condition does not. Anger is the same as it was in the late 1500s. So is love, jealousy, and all the rest. Shakespeare took what is common to all people across all ages and gave it a voice.
Interpreting emotion with such startling permanence would alone have made William Shakespeare the Greatest of the Great, but he did not end it there. He wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets and from that body of work came thousands of words and phrases that we contemporary English speakers use every day without realizing their origins.
No single person has contributed anywhere near as much to the English vocabulary. If we removed all remnants of Shakespeare’s endowment to English, it would be immensely less diverse and would arguably not be the globally dominant language it is today. No other language has so many ways to express the same idea, and William Shakespeare is one of the reasons why.
Shakespeare does not make Shakespeare great. Humanity makes Shakespeare great. We, us, supplied the raw materials. All he did was identify the greatness and provide the conduit that converts it into language.
There is a little bit of William Shakespeare in every statement you utter and every sentence you read, as well as every feeling and emotion you experience. For sure, Shakespeare did not invent the the English language, but his literary DNA is inextricably woven into it in a way no one else’s is. That’s why no one can get away from him even if they don’t know him. That’s why Shakespeare still matters.
Three years ago when I started seriously kicking around the idea of starting my own blog, one of my early concepts was to address political topics. I think I have pretty good insight and jumping into the political bar fight seemed like a good direction for me to go.
After much thought I decided not to become part of that growing political bar fight. It wasn’t lost on me that there were already countless other blogs, on line forums, websites, podcasts, cable TV channels, and radio stations feeding the political monster. I didn’t see what I could contribute that was different and fresh and not already being done by others. The world does not need another partisan screamer.
I instead decided to do something that (unfortunately) isn’t already commonplace: Thoughtful, positive, and relevant commentary that anyone could relate to about everyday people and topics. Although political issues and controversy are not off limits, they would be only an occasional diversion, and even then treated lightly.
My venture has been a modest success. I try not to get too hung up on web site traffic metrics, but let’s be honest: I don’t do this just to hear myself talk. Twenty First Summer gets enough page views to verify that I’m onto something, but not so much that I’m tempted to get puffed up about it. There is clearly a demand for level headed commentary and discussion.
It’s a comfortable, familiar room where anyone can stop in and know they’ll leave better than they came.
More important than quantifiable statistics is what the readers think and feel. It’s very difficult to tell what kind of an impact a blog makes beyond site traffic data. For every comment left on an article or email sent through my contact page, there are hundreds of anonymous page views where no feedback is left. Maybe they liked it, maybe they didn’t. But people are listening, and that’s what matters.
From Day One the goal of Twenty First Summer was to be an internet version of an old time neighborhood bar where the vibe was friendly and everyone got along even if they didn’t always agree. I’m never 100% sure how well that goal is being met, but anecdotally I can tell the bar is busy and everyone’s having a great time.
The other day I received an unexpected message from longtime regular reader “Mark in Illinois.” He said, (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Chris, I want to thank you so much for your blog. All I ever hear is about how Donald Trump sucks, or Donald Trump is great. Or Hillary sucks, or Hillary is great. I’m sick of being beaten to death with this political shit on line and TV and everywhere. I know when I go to your blog it will always be something that makes me feel good. I never have to brace myself before I click on Twenty First Summer.”
His trust and kind words were, to say the least, deeply flattering. They also affirm everything I’ve been trying to do. My internet neighborhood bar is not just a place to tip a virtual glass. It’s a comfortable, familiar room where anyone can stop in and know they’ll leave better than they came.
So the message this week is a simple but very sincere thank you to all the readers who share my Thoughtful, Positive, Relevant vision.
At Twenty First Summer, it’s always happy hour. I invite everyone to subscribe via email using the form in the upper right corner of this page (non mobile version) and you’ll be automatically notified when new articles are posted. There is also a TFS Facebook page, and Twitter @twentyfirstsum. And please, invite your friends and spread the word in your own social media circles! Some of you already have, and I’m sooooo blessed and grateful!
As the world gets more dangerous and the political acrimony goes into a full rolling boil, I’ll be here quietly tending my internet bar because I do not believe that the world totally sucks. I thank everyone for their help in proving that I am right.
I’m somewhat proud of how rarely I appear on my personal social media pages, and in weak moments when I scroll through my feed and see what everyone else is prattling about, I’m reminded of why I’m rarely on social media.
Those in my circle who must announce to the world their every ache and illness, every visit to the doctor, and the subsequent results of the visit, are annoying but tolerable. I have offline personal relationships with most of these people, so I just roll my eyes and give them a pass.
And the person who posts more selfies than a thirteen year old girl might be cute if they actually were a thirteen year old girl. But they are, in fact, an unattractive middle aged man who is fairly easy to dismiss as a creepy, narcissistic, pathetic attention whore with more vanity than a Hollywood champaign party. Luckily, I’m not friends with him in real life. I’m not even sure why I’m “friends” with him on line. Maybe I’ll explore that in a future Twenty First Summer article.
Another breed of social media bottom feeder that has been popping up more and more and needs to be added to my list of things to deride is the social media prima donna.
A social media prima donna is someone who, not always but usually by the nature of their employment, think they are worthy of an elevated status or deserve special recognition for their sacrifices, both real and perceived.
The professions that fit the profile are diverse; teachers and public sector employees are the most common in my sphere. One piece of electronic flotsam that recently drifted my way reminded me how teachers selflessly help students and grade papers off the clock. It continued: Teachers put up with so many headaches and hassles and boo hoo! they want the whole damn world to know how awesome they are for it. Honestly, they are pretty awesome for it. But that’s not the point..
Here’s my problem with this whinefest: Accountants, IT administrators, engineers, utility workers, auto mechanics, insurance agents, office managers, secretaries, veterinarians, flight attendants, and tons of other people also make unrequited sacrifices out of duty to their vocations, and they also put up with a lot of headaches and hassles. But I don’t see any of them fishing for sycophants on Facebook.
The internet princesses want everyone to genuflect and offer perpetual accolades because they teach our kids or drive a truck or do whatever it is they do that makes them think they warrant more square inches of platitudes on my screen than anyone else.
To be clear, I’m not saying that what these people do is unremarkable or not worthwhile, or that they don’t merit respect. What I am saying is that they are not better or more deserving than anyone else. “The whole world would suck without me!” crybaby act is a tiresome trope even if the basic premise of the statement is true.
These jobs are and the people who do them are indeed very important. But so are carpet cleaners and bar tenders and cashiers and pizza delivery guys and every other occupation that does not lend itself well to compulsory hero worship by others. It’s not easy to find a social media meme extolling the virtues of being a plumber, yet we are never more than one toilet flush away from finding out how big of a deal plumbers are.
This issue is much more than sappy social media memes. More disturbingly, it is the growing attitude of entitlement, amplified by the internet, that induces people to believe that they are owed an elevated status. Every “like,” every “share,” feeds the pig of superiority.
For reasons even the social media prima donnas themselves might not understand, the simple, silent dignity of leaving work every day knowing they busted their asses and did something meaningful is not enough. Social media prima donnas can’t feel whole until they’ve announced to the entire internet how much they sacrifice for us ingrates.
I’m not taking the bait. I don’t owe teachers and other public employees any more respect than I owe cab drivers and call center service reps. Everyone is valuable and needed and worthwhile. Get over yourselves. You know who you are, and regrettably, so do the rest of us.
Thinking about a place that holds positive and happy thoughts is great for mental health. It might be a childhood home, a favorite vacation locale, or even an old chair in your own living room. Like the idyllic Beatles song Penny Lane, just thinking about being in that special place makes one feel better.
Penny Lane is a real street in Liverpool, England and the inspiration for the eponymous song. Paul McCartney wrote Penny Lane based on his direct experiences as a young man living in the area. The barbershop and the roundabout were real, too.
Although Penny Lane does have several deliberate sexual references, that’s not the main point of the song. It is what it sounds like: A pleasant suburban scene as interpreted by someone who has a personal attachment to the neighborhood.
Everyone should have a Penny Lane because everyone needs a mental escape. For me, there is more than one Penny Lane. When I was a young kid, we went on family vacations to Hayward, Wisconsin. It was a small rented cottage on Lac Courte Oreilles, a name which was “Americanified” to Lake Couderay. We floated around on inner tubes and had a great time sailboating and water skiing. One year the there was a lumberjack competition in town and my parents look us to see it. As an eight year old boy, I thought the spectacle of big dudes with axes and chainsaws was pretty badass cool. To this day, I smile and feel happy when I think about those trips. The Hayward, Wisconsin of my childhood is a Penny Lane.
I am a hopeless motorcycle freak. One of my favorite rides is through rural Illinois or Wisconsin, and I sometimes drift into Iowa or Minnesota. From where I live I can reach any of these places within a few hours and I never have a specific plan because when you’re on a motorcycle, Penny Lane does not have to be a specific destination.
Flying past the groves of trees and farms and small towns, feeling and seeing and smelling the world around me is a mood booster that cannot be replicated by any other form of transportation. It’s a connection with nature and a way of participating in, not just observing, God’s creation and the bounty of a great nation. I’ve never once come back pissed off from a bike trip, even after being soaked in the rain for a hundred miles. There is an old motorcyclist’s saying: “I’d rather spend Sunday on my motorcycle thinking about God, than sitting in church wishing I was on my motorcycle.” Wherever I am on my motorcycle, that’s Penny Lane.
I work as a communications electronics technician, a job that keeps me on my feet all day tending to a building full of transmission equipment. Most days are good, a few are bad, all are mentally and physically demanding. I arrive home tired and my cat runs to greet me at the door. After getting out of my grubby work clothes, I prepare my evening tea and plop on the couch to work on my blog or catch up on the day’s news. At that moment I feel like I live on Penny Lane because all the day’s hard work and headaches are behind me and I can just let it all go.
I was lucky enough to see Paul McCartney perform live at Wrigley Field in Chicago about five years ago. The night was warm, the crowd was happy & alive, and I was there with my best and closest friend. Everything came together for an unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience. I go back to that evening over and over in my head when my psyche needs a pleasant walk down Penny Lane.
Penny Lane, the song, means more than just the confines of a specific street in Liverpool, England. It’s a state of mind, a vibe, a feeling. It’s a place where your mind can go to take a little time off, even if just for a few moments. Penny Lane is a childhood vacation spot, the seat of a motorcycle, my own house after a long day’s work, a Paul McCartney concert…it’s in my ears and in my eyes when I need it most.
