Be thankful, be grateful, be patient, be charitable, be kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America and our Military!
Nobody would have thought that I, a former smoker who didn’t have healthy eating habits, would live to see so much and still be cognizant enough to read and understand this letter. As I put on my glasses and pick up two handwritten pages, I pray that I can read my own handwriting. I peruse the words looking for scratched-out almost-thoughts before beginning.
Dear Dan
If you’re reading this, hopefully God listened to your prayer not to outlive Nancy, the kids, and grandkids, and I assume by now great-grandkids. I don’t really think we were meant to live this long, but with Cryogenics and advances made in medicine, your guess would be as good as mine. I suppose the second coming didn’t happen yet, or maybe this is all a dream. Ouch! Excuse me, I just pinched myself to be sure. However, it happened, I am just glad we dodged the nuclear holocaust that was a worry for so much of our lives.
Looking back, we had quite a life being born into the baby boom generation after WWII and the Korean War. Just after the birth of television, it would soon replace the shortwave radios in the house. I can still vaguely remember historic moments from my youth, some good, some bad, e.g., John Kennedy getting elected, starting the race to the moon against Russia, with the 60’s seeing John Glen circling our orbit, to less than a decade later, Neil Armstrong, “Taking one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind”.
In music, the British Invasion came with the Beatles leading the way. Followed in short succession by the assassinations of John Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, and the impact they had at the time in promoting Civil Rights. Equality for women in the workplace, Timothy Leary, and the growth of drugs in our society were promoted by Woodstock, which happened when youth spoke out against the Vietnam War. Something that I felt was disgraceful, as both my and my wife’s family had fathers and family members who fought in WWII and Korea.
Somewhere along the way in the 70’s, we lost dad, the Beatles would break up, going their own way. We got married, bought our first home, and started raising a family of our own. President Richard Nixon, who opened the door to helping China grow into becoming a part of the world stage and ending the Vietnam Conflict, would leave office in disgrace after the Watergate incident in an election he would’ve won. In home life, our world with a growing family was knee deep in coaching and supporting many baseball, track, soccer, and football events, along with block parties, Easter Egg Hunts, Halloween, and Christmas gatherings. For the most part, it was a joyous time in all our lives.
In the 80s, we saw the birth of the Disco era, with the use of CGI in movies such as Superman, E.T., and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Television, with the birth of SNL and the “Prime Time Player,” would take comedic television to new heights. The birth of the Space Shuttle program. It was successful in expanding satellite capabilities for communications, medical advances, and top-secret military initiatives. It came to a screeching halt for two years or more with the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger less than two minutes into its flight on January 28, 1986, which was felt around the world. It wouldn’t be until September 29, 1988, with bated breath that Discovery would resume trips to outer space.
These trips sped up the growth of the World Wide Web, such as AOL, making the world a smaller place, with supercomputers like Microsoft, Apple, Compaq, Dell, and ever-expanding technology, communications that extended into the military. It would also see the beginning of the end of the Cold War with the Chornobyl incident and a nuclear reactor meltdown in Russia’s growing region. It led to the Soviet Union, as President Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The Berlin Wall would fall, the Soviet Union’s former controlled nations would reclaim their heritage, hold democratic elections, and quickly expand Europe with new members joining the United Nations. This is largely behind Vladimir Putin, trying to regain control of the war with Ukraine, trying to get a foothold, and once again expand communism throughout Europe. Something America and the UN must never let happen.
The 2000’s were highlighted, unfortunately, even to this day, by Islamic Extremists promoting terrorism since the Olympics in 1972 (The PLO), USS Cole, September 11, 2001, and many more incidents throughout Asia and Europe. These incidents led to the Russian-Afghan War, the Iraq-Iran War, and the American-Afghan War. So, despite the Treaty between Egypt and Israel in the 70’s, this area has been a hotbed to this day, until as recently as this past year, when Iranian proxies spread throughout the region, acted out, chanting death to America and Israel. Something we can’t ever tolerate or let happen is their trying to get nuclear weapons, and the whole world knows they could never be trusted. On a personal note, my mother would pass away just a few years into the new century. It reminds us that we, her children, are next in line.
So, many other events, some more noteworthy than others, would happen over the next twenty-something years. Presidents from both parties would be elected and make promises that would not be kept. Music would change while records would be made or broken in the Olympics, or your sport of choice. The one constant thing is that change is inevitable, and so is the loss of loved ones. We still remember those of our past – family and friends alike as we cherish their memory in thankful prayer while celebrating the time we had together.
I only hope this letter, written today to myself, finds that the world has stopped being hell-bent on killing each other. That we have prevented Armageddon and finally disposed of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. I pray, as I do every morning and at the close of each day, that Our Good Lord and His Angels protect my wife, family, country, friends, and that I live long enough and in good health with my loved ones to read this letter. We all need to stop and take a moment to admire the beauty of creation that surrounds us, no matter where we live in this world, not of our creation, but HIS! Like the religious leaders who tend the places of sacrifice on all the altars around the world, we have no right to even contemplate destroying something we could never create.
In closing, I hope you still have your health and senses, can read, laugh, love, and mourn as if you make it to a hundred; I am sure you lived a life to experience more of those things that make up life. May God bless you and keep you and our family safe until we see each other again. ME!
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