Today is my 84th birthday. I usually don\u2019t make much fuss about my birthday. I\u2019m terrible at remembering birthdays and have always been amused about how much some people make of them. Sometimes I think I only remember mine since it is the day after Bastille Day which celebrates French independence. All people have birthdays and they are not really earned.<\/p>\n
I was born in 1940 in Dubuque, Iowa, and \u201cthink\u201d I remember \u201cblackouts\u201d during the war as well as my brother being home on leave from the Navy. I can also picture my dad\u2019s Packard in the driveway.<\/p>\n
I remember the 1950s as a wonderful time as I waltzed through junior high and high school earning \u201cget-by C grades\u201d and dancing at \u201csock-hops.\u201d Life was good in a rock and roll world.<\/p>\n
The 1960s brought college, more \u201cC grades, a yellow convertible and lots of study time with PBR at the Circle Lounge and the Bee-Line taverns in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Two years in the navy sobered me up and gave me a purpose that saw me through graduate school where, for the first time, I managed to excel. About time.<\/p>\n
For the next thirty years I enjoyed a rich and fun (yes, fun) teaching career at colleges where they paid me to do something I loved, hang out with students and talk about history and big ideas. University life was good and, for the most part I enthusiastically looked forward to each and every day.<\/p>\n
After retiring in 2000, I\u2019ve been able to spend the rest of my time building and improving Potlatch, my log cabin retreat in the North Georgia mountains. And, increasingly I am fortunate to spend more time on St. Simons Island where I am active writing instead of chopping wood. Life is still good.<\/p>\n
As I relate my life experiences, I cannot help but place them within the context of what is happening now, in the present, and feel let down from what for me, has been a wonderful American experience. My study of history tells me that each generation touts its issues and tragedies as the worst ever, dismissing previous ones as less threatening and dangerous. In this sense I feel we will get through the present as we\u2019ve managed to survive before in face of civil war, the great depression, the Red Scare and the chicanery of the Nixon Administration.<\/p>\n
The truth is, I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is my 84th birthday. I usually don\u2019t make much fuss about my birthday. I\u2019m terrible at remembering birthdays and have always been amused about how much some people make of them. Sometimes I think I only remember mine since it is the day after Bastille Day which celebrates French independence. All people have birthdays…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\n