Rockwall, TX (March 18, 2024) – Sometimes it makes a little sense to just stop and look around to see what we and our neighbors are subjected to on an almost daily basis.
While the column this week is in no way an attempt to compete with Dave Lieber of the Dallas Morning News, its kind of fun to look and write about some of these “strange” things we see and hear almost daily.
For example, “Why were we told to lower our AC usage on hot days to prevent overwhelming the electric power grid while simultaneously being told to trade in our gasoline powered cars for electric vehicles?”
Along this same line, “Imagine we lived in a world where cars were all electric, and then comes a new invention, the ‘Internal Combustion Engine’. Think how well they would sell: A vehicle half the weight, half the price that will almost quarter the damage done to the road.
A vehicle that can be refueled in 1/10th the time and has a range of up to four times the distance in all weather conditions. It does not rely on the environmentally damaging use of non-renewable rare earth elements to power it and uses far less steel and other materials.”
Would we buy it?
Or another oxymoron: “Why is talking sexually in the workplace considered sexual harassment by adults, but talking about sexuality to children in Grade 3 at school considered education?”
Sometimes you just must stop and wonder why!
Or another: “Why is cancelling student debt a good idea? Does it make sense to reward people who do not honor their financial commitment by taxing the people who do?”
Sorry, I can’t answer this one either.
And then there are all kinds of statistics that concern us that we never even hear about.
For example: “99% of people born globally between 1930 and 1946 are now dead. If one happens to be alive and born in that time frame, your age ranges between 77 and 93 years and you are one of the surviving 1%.
If you are one of the 1%, you belong to the last generation that climbed out of the depression and can remember WW II. You are the last to remember ‘ration books’ and you can remember milk being delivered to your house in the mornings by the milkman.
If your home had a telephone, it was one to a house and most likely it hung on the wall in the kitchen. Computers were called calculators and typewriters were driven by pounding fingers. Internet and Google were words that did not even exist. TikTok and Facebook were not “social media” used by the kids of that era.
You had no TV and you spent most of your childhood playing outside with the neighbor kids. You didn’t need umpires, organized teams, team mom’s, snacks after the game, and lined baseball or football fields for your games. Usually, you left the house in the morning, played until noon, came home for lunch, and then back to the local vacant lot to continue your game.
If your mom or dad needed you, they just yelled out the back door and home you would come.
Your folks probably didn’t lock your house, or their car, and one didn’t really worry about ‘home invasions’.
Probably your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their family.
You weren’t neglected, but you weren’t todays all-consuming family focus. Your folks were glad you played with your buddies. They were busy discovering the postwar world.
You entered a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourself, and felt secure in your future…whatever that might be.
Only the 1% grew up and can remember a time after WWII when our world was secure and full of bright promise. They grew up at the best possible time when the world was getting better.
More than 99% of those born between 1930 and 1946 are retired now.
If you have reached the age of 77 or older, you have outlived 99% of all the people on this planet.”
You are a 1% and you should feel proud!
Jerry Hogan is a former Rockwall County Judge who volunteers to write this column. He can be reached at 214-394-4033 or jerryhogan@sbcglobal.net
A Broad View by Jerry Hogan: “A Little Tongue-In-Cheek” added by Melanie M on
View all posts by Melanie M →