Can You Hear Me Now

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.

William Shakespeare

I recently stumbled upon a website of world events throughout time.  By poking around the years, I was able to see how various historical events shaped bits and pieces of my life. I could see how they contributed to who I chose to be and who I chose not to be. Others made no difference whatsoever, but I still found them to be worth noting.

Here are a few finds that stood out for me.

The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was created the year I was born. Whether it was my voracious consumption of science fiction books, movies, and TV (I was glued to the tube the night Star Trek first aired), or my obsession with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, the exploration of space was a huge part of my growing up.

I was a one-year-old when Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states, respectively. That means that the United States flag had two less stars when I was born. As a side note, I was born in Arizona which just happens to be the 48th state. Coincidence? I think not.

Vatican II began when I was four years old and lasted till I was about 11 or 12. The biggest change for me was that it permitted us Catholics to eat meat on Friday. This became my first crisis of faith. For years I was told that it was a sin to eat meat on Friday and anyone who did so would be denied entrance into heaven. I remember eating the occasional ham sandwich by mistake and afterwards feeling extremely guilty. Suddenly, some old men in Rome decided that it’s no longer a sin and in the blink of an eye Friday fish sticks were replaced with pot roast. Even at that young age, I wondered how something could be so wrong one day and just fine the next. It truly baffled my mind.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated a few months after I turned five. The thing I remember most about that was seeing his body lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda. I kept looking at the soldiers standing over the coffin and wondering how it could be possible to stand so still.

Nine days after my 11th birthday, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to walk on the moon. As most Americans were at that time, my family was glued to our black and white television for the days before and days after that remarkable event. As an adult, I am even more amazed that we could pull it off only 12 years after the Russians launched Sputnik.

On a related note, my father worked on all 17 Apollo missions — along with the Mercury and Gemini launches. What I remember most about the Apollo 11 mission was his being at work from very early in the morning until late at night. It’s still exciting knowing that Dad was part of something as important as putting people on the moon.

Years later, I found this letter. Dad didn’t keep much from his decades at Motorola, but he kept this. I appreciate the addition of his hard-nosed boss’ obituary.

I was 16 when Richard Nixon became the only person to resign the office of President of the United States. As monumental as that was for the country as a whole, it made me proud that as a politically active high school student, I supported George McGovern.

I was 18 and a first time voter when Jimmy Carter was elected president. Being a reckless youth, I did not vote for him. Instead, I voted for some fringe libertarian candidate who appealed to my teenage sense of freedom. That is the only vote I am sorry to have cast. Thank goodness Jimmy won without my assistance.

Jimmy Carter left office when I was 22 and the Dark Age of Reagan and Bush Sr. were ushered in.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. Albert Einstein

Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married two days before Linda and I tied the knot. I was 23 at the time. Nearly 45 years later, we are still together, Linda is alive, and I am not king. Being born a peasant isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

Dooley Wilson

At the age of 25, the first compact disk was sold. I still have bittersweet feelings about boxing up my vinyl records and replacing them with shiny disks of ones and zeros. Despite my misgivings, my hundreds of records still rest in those boxes and haven’t touched a turntable in decades. Proof that I am capable of valuing convenience over quantity…and that I am an unrepentant pack rat.

I was 35 when the Catholic Church finally apologized for its treatment of Galileo in the 1600’s. Don’t hold your breath on women priests.

At the age of 43, the second Dark Age began with the election of George Bush Jr. to the office of presidency. I am sad to say that today’s president makes Jr. look like a halfway decent guy.

Water was discovered on Mars the year I turned 46. This may be insignificant to many, but they don’t have my NASA birth year connection.

At 47, Hurricane Katrina wiped the memory of Hurricane Andrew from people’s minds. All minds except mine.

Barack Obama was first elected President in 2008. He was 47 years old. I was 50. This was the first time I was older than the President of the United States.

The year I turned 60, the United States Patent office issued its 10,000,000th patent. I may not have achieved everything I had hoped to accomplish in my 40-plus year career in technology, but I am proud to say that my name appears on six of them.

There are quite a few more events I could acknowledge (I barely touched my 50s), but I’ve said enough for now. If all goes according to plan, I hope for dozens more shared events before I reach the end of the line. Who knows, my name might even appear in one of them. And if it does, I will be sure to blog about it.

Thank you for reading.

Day becomes days
week into weeks
we grasp and we struggle in vain
trying to hold onto a tomorrow
that quickly becomes a distant past

From seed to tree
to decay and earthen loam
time flies like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower
flashes of bright and glorious color
before it’s forever gone