Someday, will January of 2010 be included in the era being called "the Good Old Days"?
This columnist isn’t going to assume a Pollyanna attitude and try to convince anyone that 2010 will be memorable because: the Bush Wars are approaching the victory celebration phase, or that the Republicans are providing a textbook perfect example of bipartisan cooperation with a war President, or that business is experiencing the golden age of opportunity. The premise here is that for some portion of the population, in twenty years they will look back at this time period and be sincere when they proclaim: "Those were the good old days!"
Men and women who are in their early twenties this year will probably be oblivious to current events news and not spend endless hours reading the political analysis on both the liberal and conservative web sites. Aren’t they in the rutting season phase of their lives? Aren’t they "doin’ what comes naturally" as often as possible, now? In 2030, they will be in their forties. At that age wouldn’t they give anything to travel back in time to the time when they were at their athletic and procreative peak? How many of them would, at that future date, not be in agreement that this time frame qualifies as the good old days?
People, who are in their forties this year, may plunge into some new projects with a fervor that is spurred on by the sound of "time’s winged chariot." Twenty years from now, they’ll be taking their meds and waiting for their Social Security checks to arrive (if the Republicans haven’t achieved one of their goals and killed off that program) and a return to the age of forty-somethng would seem like a golden opportunity.
Today’s codgers in twenty more years will still be chasing kids off their lawns, but the old fire and enthusiasm will be considerably diminished by then. It’s just natural. There might be one or two exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking the period in life when they give you a retirement party is "better" than being in one’s eighties will be.
Odds are that in 2030 some old geezer, who is getting the Netroots Convention’s lifetime achievement award, will tell the newbies at the event that: "You shoulda been there when bloggers were the only ones pointing out Bush’s shortcomings." The kids will give the old foggy a standing ovation and want his autograph and some pointers. Some rookie journalist will ask him/her to describe how it feels to make a political endorsement that swings an election.
In 2030, according to my calculations, it will be an "off" year for the Rolling Stones to rest up between tours.
Most likely, pacifists will look back at 2010 as the time when the movement leaders had still not groked to the fact that Bush’s eternal war on terrorism would never require the selection of a Peace Talks delegation to travel to Paris so that they could start fighting over the shape of the table to be used.
Maybe by 2030 Brad Pitt will be equally famous for his company which makes salad dressings and managing a very high profile charity?
Critics, in 2030, will be asserting that Saturday Night Live began to loose its punch after the 50th season.
Madonna will have won an Oscar for her work in a remake of "On Golden Pond."
In 2030 only the best connected terrorist suspects will qualify for applying for any incarceration openings that occur at the Gitmo prison. The unlucky ones will be tossed into an overcrowded dismal anonymous facility that will be overcrowded and poorly lighted. They will be the modern equivalents of just another "Black Hole of Calcutta" type prison.
This year may be remembered for an all pervasive "Ducky Lucky" attitude from both liberal and conservative pundits, but maybe if the Bush Wars grind on and on, they will realize that the old sixties era joke was a bit of fortune telling in disguise. "I was feeling very bad. Someone came along and said: ‘Don’t worry, things could be worse’ and sure enough . . . things got worse."
At the beginning of 2010, the US isn’t sending troops into Iran or Yemen.
Sometimes don’t the news reports about Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Yemen remind curmudgeons of the story about the fox and the bear that had each gotten one of their hands stuck in a wad of tar and threatened the tar creature that if he didn’t let go, they would wallop him with their other hands?
There are many problems and challenges being faced by Americas citizens in 2010 and
yeah, this year, for some, may sound like it inspired the famous rant in the movie "Network," but in twenty years, the books, movies, and songs, that were on the top of the charts during 2010 will be imbued with a strong element of nostalgia and inspire the woulda/coulda/shoulda crowd to proclaim: "those were the good old days."
Do folks today watching the "at long last, have you no shame" video on Youtube realize that at that same time Edward R. Murrow was risking his job to report on Senator McCarthy’s ruthless political exploitation of the Communist threat to the country other much more famous aspects of contemporary culture were occurring?
When people look back at that particular point in American history, aren’t they most likely to use James Dean, Elvis’s "Don’t Be Cruel," hot rods, and flat top haircuts to evoke the year rather than recalling Murrow’s remarkable bravery?
It’s just human nature for the Hell Decade to slowly morph into "the good old days."
In the Sixties a famous example of graffiti proclaimed: "Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be."
Now, the disk jockey will play: "The Dragnet theme music," the theme music for "Bonanza," and the theme song from "Gilligan’s Island." Now, it’s time for us to say: "Good Night Mrs. Calibash, wherever you are." Have a "filled with those events which alter and illuminate our times" type week.