Thoughts on Turning 60

         I turned 60 yesterday. As my evening started to wind down last night, I had a number of thoughts come to mind. Past, present, and a touch of the future.
         Past. Once in a while I wonder what it would have been like if I was born at a different point in time. One of my favorite hobbies is rebuilding the old roll-driven player pianos, with the same precision used when they were originally built in the early decades of the 20th century. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to grow up during the heyday of those wonderful instruments, especially the baby grand reproducing pianos, the nickelodeons, and the orchestrions. Then there are the automatic violin players, the roll-driven harmonica and saxophone, among others. And the cylinder and disc music boxes.
         Another thought of the past. The big differences between daily life in the 1960’s and 70s, and daily life today. Things like respect. For our elders, our teachers, other authority figures, and simply for other people, and other peoples’ property. Sometimes I don’t think some of today’s kids and young adults know what that word means. And that means their parents didn’t take the time and effort to raise them with a sense of responsibility, much less respect.
         Present. The medical advances made on all fronts in the last 100 years are a great benefit. But then, we have a Congress whose members are more interested in partisan politics, the perks of the job, or the ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” mentality than they are the good of the country. That’s a far cry from the dedication our founding fathers had, at a time when they had far less to work with; in every way. Technology, transportation, communication, you name it. Yet our founding fathers did a far better job of taking care of the country than most recent members of the Senate and the House have in more recent times. Taxpayers should stop paying for all those perks. Let our legislators pay for their own postage, their own trips (especially the personal ones that aren’t job related), and more. Make them use the same Social Security system the rest of us have to use. Then you can bet they’d make sure it gets funded.
         And the Future. I used to think that I would have also liked to have been born a couple hundred years later than I was, to see what technology has done for us by then, especially in the fields of medicine (like cures for Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Epilepsy, Lupus, and more), travel (will we really be living like the Jetsons?), and computers (how compact will they have become, and what else can they do?)
         But with the combined effects of a number of things, such as the crime rate, prejudice and the lack of respect for human life and property on the part of so many ordinary people, a fractured medical care system that does not favor the use of treatments found in nature (some say that’s to keep us sick so they can continue to make money from our illness), and all that amid steadily increasing costs, and a government whose legislators are more interested in preserving their jobs and getting the perks than in doing what’s best for the country, I’ve come to a few conclusions.
         First, we’re definitely getting closer and closer by the day to everything that the Book of Revelations says is going to take place before Christ’s return. In short, we’re going downhill, fast.
         Second, we’re getting there even faster because our government is taking almost every openly displayed reference to our faith away from us, such as the Ten Commandments, especially in places where it’s needed the most, like our courts and our schools.
         Third, regardless of my previous thoughts as I grew up about wondering what the future would bring, I prefer the simpler, safer, more meaningful life of respect, courtesy, and caring for each other on this planet that I knew as a child, and definitely wish today’s kids and young adults had the discipline we did, at home and at school, that taught us to appreciate those basic values.
         Finally, there is no doubt in my mind that without putting God first in our lives, and our government officials doing the same, our country, and our freedom don’t stand a chance. Taking all these things together into consideration, I’m glad I’m not going to be around in another hundred years or so to see what the world has become. I don’t think I’d like it very much. If it even survives that long.