Bah humbug has its place

Bensblurb # 582 12/17/10

Bah Humbug has its place

Happy holidays? No, despite the good cheer all around, my attitude remains lousy. Ever since early autumn, I was first recovering from an eye operation, then a fall down the stairs for my very first time. Meanwhile, the Redskins again let us down.

I had hoped the GOP’s big victory in the congressional elections would perk me up, and indeed it did. But that soon passed as our debilitating unemployment persisted for who knows how much longer. And nothing seems on the horizon to make things better, with Washington--intent on bankrupting us all--stuck in gridlock for the next two years at least. Heck, I don’t have that many more years to complain about. Pour me another shot, bartender.

I do tell myself not to gripe; that others should be so lucky as I have been, pretty near my whole life. Look on the bright side, keep your chin up, be of good cheer...Oh shut up.

Maybe something else is at work on my innards. Whatever, it boils down to the fact that getting old, as film star Bette Davis once remarked, “ain’t for sissies.”

Not that I’m spooked by the certain fate we’ll all face someday. I’ve surely lived long enough, published more than enough opinions here and elsewhere to satisfy myself during my 16 years in retirement. And prayed a bit now and then.

Nevertheless, one factor pointing to sooner than later toward my demise is how my car-driving skills have deteriorated lately. It irks me that lots of fellow motorists hereabouts feel the need to honk whenever I change lanes or whatever. I secretly dread the idea of ever giving up my driver’s license. And to date there are no official finger pointers to suggest it will be anytime soon. But how soon is too soon? A year? Certainly. Beyond age 80? Let’s hope so.

Granted, there’s nothing wrong with taking a cab to the market, the doctor, the restaurant. But such independence lost is a big nail in the future coffin, I would guess.

I keep telling myself to be thankful for my frequently healthy family, my splendid home and community and the enjoyment of associating with so many friends and neighbors in and beyond Aquia Harbour.

So, hardly any reason to be blue. Perhaps its close cousin, laziness, is a bigger factor in my lengthening fullness of time. I do sleep late. In comparison, my dear wife, it’s true, can generate a torrent of activity, especially when she walks into Wal-Mart or Chico’s with our overused credit card.

But Charles Dickens, who coined the excellent grouch’s term “Bah Humbug,” was surely on to something. Just saying it can be satisfying. Accompanied by a snort, it can be downright obnoxious to whoever happens to be around. Most of the time, though, it’s my solitary reaction to a stupid rant on a TV talk show.

Even so, lately thank goodness I again hear the inspiring hymns like Amazing Grace and Silent Night. So nice, gentle. So...do take my hand, precious Lord...but not yet.

Ben Blankenship is a career journalist and a resident of Aquia Harbour. Reach him at Benblanken@aol.com.

Bah humbug has its place

Bensblurb # 582 12/17/10

Bah Humbug has its place

Happy holidays? No, despite the good cheer all around, my attitude remains lousy. Ever since early autumn, I was first recovering from an eye operation, then a fall down the stairs for my very first time. Meanwhile, the Redskins again let us down.

I had hoped the GOP’s big victory in the congressional elections would perk me up, and indeed it did. But that soon passed as our debilitating unemployment persisted for who knows how much longer. And nothing seems on the horizon to make things better, with Washington--intent on bankrupting us all--stuck in gridlock for the next two years at least. Heck, I don’t have that many more years to complain about. Pour me another shot, bartender.

I do tell myself not to gripe; that others should be so lucky as I have been, pretty near my whole life. Look on the bright side, keep your chin up, be of good cheer...Oh shut up.

Maybe something else is at work on my innards. Whatever, it boils down to the fact that getting old, as film star Bette Davis once remarked, “ain’t for sissies.”

Not that I’m spooked by the certain fate we’ll all face someday. I’ve surely lived long enough, published more than enough opinions here and elsewhere to satisfy myself during my 16 years in retirement. And prayed a bit now and then.

Nevertheless, one factor pointing to sooner than later toward my demise is how my car-driving skills have deteriorated lately. It irks me that lots of fellow motorists hereabouts feel the need to honk whenever I change lanes or whatever. I secretly dread the idea of ever giving up my driver’s license. And to date there are no official finger pointers to suggest it will be anytime soon. But how soon is too soon? A year? Certainly. Beyond age 80? Let’s hope so.

Granted, there’s nothing wrong with taking a cab to the market, the doctor, the restaurant. But such independence lost is a big nail in the future coffin, I would guess.

I keep telling myself to be thankful for my frequently healthy family, my splendid home and community and the enjoyment of associating with so many friends and neighbors in and beyond Aquia Harbour.

So, hardly any reason to be blue. Perhaps its close cousin, laziness, is a bigger factor in my lengthening fullness of time. I do sleep late. In comparison, my dear wife, it’s true, can generate a torrent of activity, especially when she walks into Wal-Mart or Chico’s with our overused credit card.

But Charles Dickens, who coined the excellent grouch’s term “Bah Humbug,” was surely on to something. Just saying it can be satisfying. Accompanied by a snort, it can be downright obnoxious to whoever happens to be around. Most of the time, though, it’s my solitary reaction to a stupid rant on a TV talk show.

Even so, lately thank goodness I again hear the inspiring hymns like Amazing Grace and Silent Night. So nice, gentle. So...do take my hand, precious Lord...but not yet.

Ben Blankenship is a career journalist and a resident of Aquia Harbour. Reach him at Benblanken@aol.com.

We old guys have it made

Bensblurb #581 12/02/10


We old guys have it made

Fortunate citizens born in the Great Depression have had lots of luck, provided they survived the major wars that ensued.

I feel lucky to be in that age “cohort,” as the demographers call it. It was a time when folks had fewer children. And our population was less than half today’s. Thus as we matured, we faced little competition in the education and job markets.

After high school, I entered Texas A&M, then an admittedly poor-boys’ school. My tuition, if I recall correctly, amounted to about $300 per semester. That included dorm room and board, plus a free uniform for us ROTC cadets.

The other day, I read with disgust about a finding by the Chronicle of Higher Education. There are 100 or more colleges charging $50,000 or more for tuition, fees, room, and board in 2010-11. “Only” five had charged that much two years previously.

Parents of today’s new college grads will thus see them start out at a huge financial disadvantage before even starting their first post-grad careers. And getting hired will be tough because there are so many more grads than in my day, and not so many more jobs because of the recession we’re not nearly done with.

Moreover, they’ll have to contend with an increasingly gigantic nanny government that is putting them ever deeper in debt. I refer to “them” and not us Depression children who benefited from fewer constraints. We were able to put away money for savings while benefiting from generally robust economic growth, unlike now.

True, we had to contend with our own share of distractions like communism and racial prejudice.

But those are now dwarfed by rising foreign competitors and...(you guessed it) environmentalism--a daily hassle. It ranges from helmets for bikers and packages for your groceries to global warming, er, change.

I love what George Will wrote recently, the environmentalist movement truly despises abundant energy which, “...horrifies people who relish scarcity because it requires...government to ration what is scarce and to generally boss people to mend their behavior …Today, there is a name for the political doctrine that rejoices in scarcity of everything except government:...environmentalism.”

For us older folks, though, we must credit something that has greatly benefited us in particular. Medical progress has been phenomenal, permitting us to live longer and better. Examples abound. Years ago my wife had a root canal job on a tooth that kept her in bed for weeks. More recently I had one that I hardly felt.

Several years ago, I had terrific chest pains, but within a few days the doctors had inserted four heart stents, developed only in the past two decades, and I walked out pain-free

Other advances in microsurgery include the closing of a macular hole in my left eye, something unheard of until the recent past. Again, a painless procedure.

Again, we Depression kids--who have gone from DC 3’s to jumbo jets, from radio’s Jack Benny to Dancing with the Stars, from typewriters to pc’s, from newspapers to the internet--have had all the luck, and fully appreciate it.

Sorry, unlucky Baby Boomers.

　
Ben Blankenship

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