A Posting from the Middle Aged

Today I went the World Affairs Council of Greater Dallas luncheon where historian David McCullough was speaking about his new book, "1776." I think everyone left the room (all 500 of us) inspired and walking taller, at the thought that there are great historians living among us and still writing. It made me want to go back and refresh and relearn all of the history that I have forgotten.

And it made me sad because I agree with something Mr. McCullough said: history is not being taught in our schools any longer, and hasn't been for at least a generation. Our children are historically illiterate. Do you need an example?

Ronald Reagan has won the Discovery Channel's poll as the greatest American, beating Washington, Lincoln, Franklin, and King.

Now, I like Ronald Reagan as much as the next guy, and better than any liberal, but he does not belong in first place on this shortlist.

He does, though, if you have never heard of the other guys, and the only acquaintance you have with anyone on the list is a memory of the five days of television coverage that Reagan's funeral garnered last year, with so many people filing past the coffin.

Unbelievable.

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Today, James Lileks' new blog is not to be missed on the subject of Woody Allen.

...Without the ability to make moral distinctions based on motive, consequences, the ethical constructs of various parties, everything is equal, and you end up with people like Woody Allen: a tiny speck of compacted narcissism, revolving around the dead sun in an empty universe. What’s left? Well, thank heavens for little girls.

I would not be adverse to sending Woody Allen into space along with Michael Jackson. And then let's lose the satellite link, okay?

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A great interview here. It's Tom Brokaw interviewing my favorite U.S. Ambassador James Oberwetter, on Saudi Arabia.

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A friend leaving for vacation emailed me today, and asked "Why don't you ever take off more than a day or two at a time?" Here was my answer:

We just don't, I guess. The long week is saved for Christmastime, when there are people to see and it's not so hot that you melt onto the pavement after a few minutes. We never took vacations after our week of honeymoon (wherein we fought a lot). Then we started accumulating dogs, and eventually it just seems too much trouble and too expensive to board everyone. Now that Larry is home all the time, he is less anxious to get away.

It may not be true, but I suspect that the America is gone that we used to drive through when I was a little girl, vacationing with the family in California every year (to the same Godforsaken, ugly desert town--my parents were not big on entertaining us). I suspect that no matter what city we go to, we will be seeing strip shopping centers every few miles with exactly the same Target, PayLess, Office Depot, PETsMART, Dots Fashion, WalMart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Old Navy, and the same restaurants but in different combinations, etc. that we see here in Dallas-Fort Worth and then over and over again everywhere from Longview to Texarkana.

And, you know, if we took the time to drive all the way to Maine or San Francisco or Chicago and when we got there it all looked like a Dallas suburb, I would be really, really depressed.

I think I'm preferring not to know it if all of America looks alike now.

...I am middle aged.

And let me add another thing -- yesterday, when we were arriving home from a grueling day trip, my husband uttered the dreaded words, "We made good time," which translates the world over to the following: "Sacrificing meals, bathroom breaks, and good moods to the god of Good Time." I believe he is lost to me now, road-trip-wise.

Comments

[larry powell]

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on an unfortunate posting on www.accidentalharpist.com.

In my defense, dear readers, shortly after we pulled onto the interstate headed west toward Dallas, my passenger sternly inquired of me, "Shut up."

You may say, "That's not an inquiry." Sure it is.

She said "Shut up" out loud but what she implied was "Shut up. Do you want to die?"

So I shut up. And she went to sleep like a well-fed baby at grandma's house. Out like a light with what may have been a burp now and then.

Considering the last thing she said to me, do you think that anyone in his right mind would want to shake her gently awake to ask if she needed (a) a potty break or (b) a meal. There is no security check-in on a road trip -- she could have been armed with more than her natural gift for vivisection of missing link husbands.

Factor in this: We had to get home to feed dogs and cats that were going to be hours and hours overdue on their evening meal. I know this because my traveling companion repeatedly reminded me of that whenever I appeared to be lingering just a tad too long in my hometown.

So, speakng as a post middle-aged man with lots of time in the driver's seat, I can tell you "Pure Innocence" never rides shotgun.

And we did make good time. Which is what she wanted yesterday at the outset of the trip, but, apparently, is not what she wanted today in retrospect.

Her variations on the theme of life are what make her so darned interesting. They also are what makes her so threatening. And I, of course, am an angel.

[Vicki Small]

"He said/She said," all over again. :-) My spouse and I often have rather divergent perspectives; in such events, of course, he steadfastly insists that I am wrong. Most of the time, I smile inwardly, because I know that I am right. Yes, it keeps life interesting. 'Course, I'm the one with the high blood pressure. . . .

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