Year: 2023

When my parent’s generation grew old, they were, to put it politely, screwed. 

During their lives cars had been invented, so if they got sick, they could get to a hospital faster. On the other hand, being old they could drive badly and get into bad car accidents and die, because, well, cars had been invented.

They could get sick and die from all kinds of new diseases discovered in their lifetimes, like Ebola or Sickle Cell or HIV or SARS.

Wars were much worse in their life times and occurred with more frequency: there were 20 years between WWI and WWII, 5 years between WWII and Korea, and 1 year between the Korea and Vietnam. 

I feel sorry for my parents’ generation; the older they got, the more ways there were to die.

My generation’s wars are much smaller and kill fewer people. Iraq and Afghanistan were pretty deadly, but nothing like my parents’ wars. Also, my generation is starting to use drones and robots in place of people. Pretty smart, huh? 

Medically, my generation is looking much better than my parents’ generation. It may be almost impossible for us to schedule a doctor visit, but we have Urgent Care.  And if Urgent Care is full our doctors can make a house calls via computer. Granted, we only get 5 to 10 minutes a visit, but we do so from the comfort of our homes.

Oh! And concierge doctors – the newest thing – will actually answer the phone or see me in a day or two …or make a house call! (OK, sure, to give credit where credit’s due: house calls were invented by my parents’ generation… actually their parents’ generations…actually many before them…. On the other hand, my generation rediscovered them, so we’re still cool.)

When my parents’ generation got too old to drive, they depended on their kids or busses or taxis to get to the train station or grocery store or the mall. Not me. When I’m too old to drive I have all of the above plus Uber and Lyft.  

If I need groceries, instead of going to the grocery store, I can use Instacart. And guess what? When I use Instacart, I just buy what I need; I don’t walk all the aisles and get sucked into impulse buying. 

And for other items, I can use Amazon or Walmart or Target or others.

Who needs kids, anyway?

And guess what? I don’t need to go to the bank at all; I can do all my banking with my computer (except for cash and cash is so 20 Century).

Being old and housebound might crimp time with my kids or friends, but I have Facetime, so I won’t have to stare at the wall when I’m alone the way my parents’ generation did. And with Facetime I won’t have to get dressed up either; I can just comb my hair and put on a clean shirt. In fact, I won’t even have to brush my teeth (just kidding. I will. Really. No, really)

So, all in all, I’m not afraid of getting old. I mean, the only thing I’m worried about is losing my memory. But that’s unlikely.  I still write my columns.

When my parent’s generation grew old, they were, to put it politely, screwed. During their lives cars had been invented, so if they got sick, they could get to a hospital faster. On the other hand–

–Wait! Did I just say that?  Oh crap!  I’m screwed!

Here is a March 27 New York Times story about Netanyahu’s attempt to exert more control over Israel’s Judicial system:

“Mr. Netanyahu’s government — the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israeli history — has sought to give itself greater control over the selection of Supreme Court justices and to limit the court’s authority over Parliament. Critics fear the changes will remove important checks and balances on the government and erode democracy. Supporters say the changes would curb the influence of an overreaching and unelected judicial bureaucracy.

Mr. Netanyahu’s firing of the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who had called for a halt to the process, sparked overnight demonstrations. Protesters returned to the streets on Monday, gathering outside Parliament in Jerusalem and blocking a major road in Tel Aviv. There were also calls for counterprotests from a leading coalition lawmaker, Simcha Rothman, who has led the efforts to overhaul the judiciary, and a far-right group of soccer fans.

The fight over the judicial plan has become a stand-in for a deeper ideological and cultural dispute in Israel between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision. Religious Jews, particularly the ultra-Orthodox, see the court as an obstacle to their ultraconservative way of life.”

Now, have a look at, the same piece with a few  changes:

“Mr. Trump’s government — the most right wing and religiously conservative in US history — has sought to give itself greater control of Supreme Court justices and to limit the Justice Department’s authority over Trump and his allies. Critics fear the changes will remove important checks and balances on the government and erode democracy. Supporters say the changes would curb the influence of an overreaching and unelected judicial branch.

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s packing of the Supreme Court with religious and secular conservatives generated the Citizen’s United decision, which allowed Republicans to flood the election process with billions in anonymous money,  gerrymander Democrats out of power, and use the electoral college to achieve national power, despite being the minority party.

Protesters took to the streets after the Supreme Court allowed conservative states to turn a woman’s right to abortion into a crime. There were also calls for counterprotests from authoritarians Trump and DeSantis who are leading efforts to turn the 50 United States into one authoritarian state.

The fight over the once non-partisan court has become a stand-in for a deeper ideological and cultural dispute in the US between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and white nationalist vision. White nationalist Christians, particularly, see the new court as an enforcer of their ultraconservative way of life.”

Interesting, huh?

Personally, I’m done with CRT (Critical Race Theory), and African-American history in general. You know why? All those stories about a system that pushes down, holds back, screws over, and beats up Blacks is just… they make me feel guilty! 

And because teachers which my taxes pay for told my kids about slavery, going back to well before the Civil War and even before the Declaration of Independence, it makes them feel guilty, too! Saturday night dinners are morose affairs, now. 

Why do their teachers do that! 

And some of the Black kids in school, who didn’t know how screwed-over Black people are until their teachers told them- they’re getting angry – over stuff that happened years and years ago!!

And that’s not all. 

I am sick and tired of hearing about Native Americans and how badly White Americans – the early settlers treated them. And how badly we treat them now. They teach that in history classes, too and have for years.

That made me feel guilty when I was in school, learning about the Trail of Tears and The Indian Removal Act and other things the my forbearers did to Native Americans. As I grew older I got over the guilt. But then my kids came home from school one day and told me about those things and more – and guess what? I started feeling guilty all over again!

That did it! It’s one thing for me to have to carry guilt because of some stupid history classes. No way my kids should have to. That’s just not right. Those things happened well before I or my kids were born. Why should we feel guilty? My great grandparents may have used the “N” word, but I don’t.

Then I started thinking about all the other ethnic groups in this country that make up what we call “the melting pot”. 

These are the dash Americans. You know: Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans, Jewish-Americans, and the others, first from Europe, and more recently from Asia and Central and South America.

They make me feel guilty too. You know why? Because they have to struggle with language, customs, jobs, and most of the time, they’ll never get to where I and my kids are.  

It just doesn’t seem right. I work hard. I’m a good father. I take care of my kids, pay my taxes, and follow (most) rules. So how come I have to feel guilty? 

And you know what else? I can’t make fun of them any more. I can’t call them names.

Why should I feel guilty? Why should my kids? I didn’t do anything. It’s not fair. I wish someone would just stop teachers from teaching facts that make us feel guilty. 

Here’s the problem. History. We have stop teaching it as it happened. That’s just stupid. We have to teach it the way we wish it had happened. The way Stalin did. The way Kim Jun Un does. The way Putin does. Those guys didn’t feel any guilt, at all. 

Valentine’s Day is one of the few national holidays that isn’t a national holiday, like say Lincoln’s Birthday or George Washington’s birthday. Remember those holidays, before someone got efficient and combined celebrating them and all presidents as President’s Day?

Oops, they weren’t national holidays either. They were state holidays.

But there is, for example, a lot of agreement on the importance of Lincoln and Washington. For example, both have a lot of cities, counties, and streets named after them. And the Lincoln car. 

Car dealers don’t want to sell a car named after “Washington”.  With that name how could they, in good conscience, rip off their customers?  It’s hard enough selling a car named after Honest Abe.

Valentine, as a name, is very popular, too, although not as a destination. (Valentine, Nebraska?). 

It’s popular for Italians, especially Italian Americans. For example, there’s Valentino Rossi, the motorcycle legend, and Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla, better known as Rudolf Valentino, the world famous 1920’s Hollywood lover. 

Actually, a number of men named Valentine are credited with inspiring Valentine’s Day, all religious types, of course.

One Valentine was a priest in Rome in the year AD 269. Valentine of Terni became a bishop, and martyred in AD273. And I don’t know when, but another Valentine  was martyred in Africa a few millennia later. I guess it went with the name.

One of the most famous Valentines encouraged Roman soldiers and their lovers to marry, despite Emperor Claudius II forbidding it. The last thing Claudiius needed was lovesick and spent solders. They had wars to fight and people to enslave.  So he had Valentine beheaded.

Valentine wasn’t a fighter. Legend has it that while in jail before the beheading, he cut heart shapes out of parchment and gave them to some of the lovers. I guess that contributed to his becoming a Saint.

Like all of the old Valentines, none of this is really provable through history tomes, which is why the Catholic Church won’t designate Feb 14th as a religious holiday. (Of course, knowing what lovers do on Valentines Day and how strict the Church is about being married first and consummating second, I doubt verifying popular lore was the only reason).

But the lack of an official holiday, religious or secular, hasn’t stopped the popularity of February 14th. Smitten boys and girls, lusty men and women, as well as old farts short on hormones, we love sending symbols of love to each other on that cherished day.

According to The CandyStore.com, 58 million pounds of chocolate are bought in the seven days leading up to Feb.14. In 2020 the National Retail Foundation estimated Americans shelled out $27.4 billion for Valentine’s Day, an average of $196 per person.

No, I will not tell you what I spent. (I don’t want you to feel bad).

I don’t have statistics on how much Americans spend on Presidents Day. But I’ll bet it doesn’t come close to what we spend on Valentines Day.

Which is another way of saying we seem to value love more than presidents. 

Which is pretty cool, don’t you think?