Most of us who were born in 1946 went to college in 1964 and graduated in 1968. That makes this the year of the 50th college reunions. Hard to believe.
At my college it was the custom for the class that was having its 50th reunion to schedule it the same weekend as the graduation and for the 50-year-men to march at the head of the graduation procession. It’s a nice tradition and still done. So that means if I go to my 50th reunion I would be marching with all the other old geezers.
I remember a brief thought at my graduation as I watched, through my blood-shot eyes and hangover, those old geezers from the class of 1918. That thought was – my god how can they still walk at that age. They looked SO OLD. I most definitely do not feel as old as those guys looked.
Had I not been so self-absorbed, I would possibly have thought about the incredible changes they had experienced and witnessed in those 50 years. The roaring twenties in their twenties; prohibition; the great depression; WW II; the Korean war; the cold war and the beginning of the Vietnam war. And that led me to think about the changes in my 50 years as a college graduate.
Nixon to Bush to Tramp – a terrible progression; can it get any worse?
Rotary dial phones to smart phones – there is such a thing as too much communication.
Electric typewriters to word processors – more information but less knowledge and wisdom.
No computers to laptops and AI – scary stuff.
Three television networks to hundreds – and still nothing to watch.
The cold war we “won” to the cyber war that we may be losing.
I like to make these posts interactive, so please send in your changes, especially you who are facing your 50th reunion this summer.