The Freedom of Geezers

I am crotchety beyond my years; I can't wait until I hit 80 and enter officially into geezerdom. Then, because it will be expected and accepted, I'll be able to fully express myself in public without really embarrassing my family. (Plus, I'll be able to back up my car without looking behind me and the people behind me will just scatter and shake their heads.)

For now, I guess I'll just have to keep my opinions to myself until I can blog about them. Like right now.

This week, I have attended two holiday concerts to see each of my two daughters perform with their classmates at the school where they are learning all about branded clothing. The community of students, their siblings, and their parents are very involved in the daily routine of school with many volunteers, constant activities, and a saturating presence of "family" at all times on the school campus. There are many opportunities to interact with other families which leads to the pretense of social cohesion and strong bonds of support throughout the community.

All it takes to break the pretense, however, is an event like a school concert with first-come first serve seating. Obviously, in such a zero-sum situation, claiming a good seat for oneself is akin to denying a good seat to one's friendly neighbor. According to my observations, that perspective did not seem to be prevalent amidst the early morning stampede of self-interested parents with video recording devices. The naked aggression I witnessed at each of these two concerts (staged, by the way, to spread holiday cheer and good will toward men), was frankly embarrassing.

At the conclusion of each concert, parents mingled and enjoyed holiday treats and generally restored the sense of community that is so obviously fabricated. Participating politely in the after party was hard for my inner geezer.

Geezers don't tolerate such social hypocrisy in silence; they prefer to point it out. I am looking forward to the day when I can do that and the negative repercussions of my honesty will accrue only to me.

Good Humanity, Bad Humanity

I am an optimist. I also think that for the most part, people are good at heart. Perhaps I think that because I am an optimist but maybe it is the other way around. It could be that my trust in humanity makes me believe that the future is bright.

In recent years however, I have begun to notice a disturbing selfishness that seems to be taking root in society. This may be because I live in a fairly transient portion of the country where economic growth and a great climate have attracted a rapidly growing population. This means that there are lots of people around me with no deep roots in the community and no strong ties to one another. That’s a plausible explanation. Perhaps.

Of course, one can always find a feel-good story about a heroic deed or profound altruism to buttress the case for humanity’s enduring virtues. But I am more swayed by the broad patterns of activity evident in more widespread, national discussions such as those about healthcare reform and immigration for example.

It seems that no one is willing to sacrifice on the quality of their medical coverage to ensure that those with no access to care can get minimal coverage. Many want inexpensive immigrant labor but do not wish to see the same immigrants who provide that labor consuming educational or healthcare resources in the community. These attitudes worry me.

Silly as it seems, I think sports can sometimes provide snapshots of the mass mind-set. When twenty thousand Lakers fans in Staple Center boo the National Anthem before a game against the Rockets because the lyrics include “rocket’s red glare”, I worry about our collective wellbeing. However, when forty thousand Red-Sox fans give Nomar a standing ovation, my faith is restored.