The Final 2 in "52 of 52" - The Birthday Edition

Happy Birthday to me!  And happy 100th blog post!  I've only been doing this for about 7 months and I've had about 4000 visitors.  How is THAT for bonkers!

The final 2 of the 52  great things about being 52 are not necessarily the most important but they are the ones I notice most often in my everyday life:

1. The global village - the world is so completely connected by media and news outlets our access to anywhere  is almost 100%.   At this very point in my life, the smallest thing that happens a world away can be known instantly throughout the planet.  This is both good and bad.  It is bad because somehow the mindless minutia of celebrity chasing has become reportable news on TV news programs and newspapers I used to respect. The art of true  journalism is dead.   It is good because in the event of serious news, we are almost instantly informed and can take action. Think back to WWII when people waited weeks for letters or news.  Today the awareness and gathering of resources & aid for the earthquake in Haiti began immediately - the DAY OF the earthquake.


2. Social Norms - I have lived to see changes in social norms that I never would have dreamed possible.  I grew up in a town of 6000 in the middle of Nebraska.  (In the dictionary, under "sheltered life" it says,  " see Jo Major." )  I grew up in a town full of Fagots.  Meg Fagot was my little  sister's best friend, Janelle Fagot was my older sister's best friend, and Craig Fagot was the hunky basketball player a few years ahead of me in high school.  We had NO IDEA that "Fagot" was a disparaging (and particularly hateful) insult.  None whatsoever. It was just another last name in a small town full of people.  How is that for an eye opener.  It does bring to mind the lyrics of that song from South Pacific about prejudice:

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

That goes for a lot of things - for racial diversity, for sexual orientation, for class differences.  What changes we have seen! One of the things I least like about living in the provincial East is the "where did you go to college and who are your people" attitude which is practiced with an almost religious zeal by many of the natives. Your standing and status and worthiness are judged by those things.  I've learned to to see it for what it is - insecurity on the part of the questioner.  Meh.  Sometimes I tell the truth, sometimes I make up something like, "Oh  I went to a Home Economics  school in Nebraska where we learned to field dress a deer and can meat and jellies.  You know, wife stuff."

Aside from my two sisters (who I love more than my own life) I have always preferred the  company of men.  Women are frequently catty and bitchy and their own worst enemies.  My dearest and closest, most loving and supportive friends are all gay men. These guys are my rocks, my shelter, my loving, supporting, non-judgmental comrades on the final leg of my journey.  I have learned more from them, loved them more, and been loved by them more than any friends in my life.  It's like somebody saved the best wine for last, you know?  How great is that? Collectively, we are free to be open and who we are - and love who we love. It is a depth and  richness beyond belief.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." The  "52 for 52" has been an amazing exercise in examining my life, my world, what I have seen and lived through.  I have survived many things (like cancer and a spinal fusion), the loss of a parent, of friends and relatives and very young people.  I have seen monumental changes in science, society and technology.  I have been to places in the world I never dreamed of seeing.  AND I AM ONLY 52.

Can you imagine what the next years will bring?

I absolutely cannot wait - and I promise,   "60 for 60" is going to be a real pisser!