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I'm overwhelmed with the replies I've received on my "Growing Old" blog. I just thought these were personal thoughts I put up that nobody would pay attention to.
I have received so many insightful replies from all over the world. Whether people agreed with me or not makes no difference. I am stunned that so many people I never thought about have answered with their own thoughts on these subjects.
I have tried to respond to each one. Again, thanks to all who read and replied to this blog. They give me a chance to think about many things and different viewpoints.
Although I have my own twisted viewpoints of things here in Kansas City (the Midwest), I had no idea how differently people from other countries see the same issues. They have different attitudes because their circumstances are substantially different. Thanks again for your comments.
Neff
Growing Old is a Bitch
I'm 74 years old now and life's a bitch. Let me count the ways:
When I went to college, my parents didn't have money to send me. I worked and got student loans. The first thing I did was buy a two year-old car. When I left school, I had a 1964 Corvette, a 1960 Pontiac Tempest and an MG, probably about a 1960. That thing was cold, the wire spokes rattled and paint wasn't that good. Now at my age, I probably couldn't buy those cars now.
After my first year of school, I worked for an architect during the summer. He told me he made about $20,000 per year. That turned out to be a curse. In the years since then, I have set that as my standard reference. When I retired, I was making much more than that, and in my mind, I was rich. Actually, most people in that field start out make close to that starting out. I had not accomplished as much as I thought. Now our taxes and insurance for the house cost more than the whole payment when we bought it; and its paid for.
When I went to school and later when I started working, we wore a white shirt, tie and dark slacks. The other day I stopped in a coffee shop and one of the men in line was wearing a sport coat, dress shirt with the tails out, and faded denim jeans that did not look clean. This seems more typical than the exception. Girls (young women) seem overweight, covered with tattoos and lots of piercings. It is hard for me to feel I would be agreeable to hiring most of the people I see.
Also, when I go to Panera's, there seem to be gazillions of young people leisurely spending time on their cell phones or computer with no obvious signs that they have a job. Women seem to spend an inordinate proportion of their money on clothes, purses and shoes. The secretaries in our offices mostly had a different outfit each day of the week, then repeated each week. Not so anymore?
In politics, I looked forward to my first meeting with Bob Dole, who was running for re-election as Kansas Senator. This was my chance to understand the issues much better. What was the real issues between him and Bill Roy? Instead, all Senator Dole did was make fun of Bill Roy for being short. Not one mention of issues. The years since have been much the same. Now all candidates do is trash the opposition. Nobody address issues except abstractly. Of course; we are fall for family values. Who isn't? This is one of the most ridiculous issues ever raised. It seems to imply if one candidate is for Family Values, the other one isn't?
As I grow older, I know I am becoming much more cynical of most issues. The Democrats seem to want to let in illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America for their potential votes. The Republicans seem to want them here for the cheap labor. Why aren't the black leaders concerned that their large unemployment figures are hampered by the influx of an oversupply of cheap labor?
It seems to be an issue of supply and demand. If the source of cheap labor from beyond the boarder is legally enforced, there will be a shortage of labor and the pay rates will rise from the competition for them. No need to artificially raise rates by passing more laws. It does not seem to me that our politicians explain these issues fairly or are open about these issues.
Another issue that gets my shorts in a wad is the mind-set of women in leadership. I heard a young girl on the news telling how women can do anything a man can do; and how she intends to grow up to be president. I think these women spread false expectations.
There are women who can run 1600 meters is close to 4:50 (I'm not going to look it up). Few women can do that; so even the women are not equal to each other. The fastest men would be close to finishing 1600 meters by the time the fastest woman was beginning her last lap. Again, few men are that fast. So it follows that a few women could run much faster than many men. But it's a stretch to imply that a woman can do anything a man can do. Yet it's constantly ingrained into young girls. I have never yet seen a woman win the open division of the Boston Marathon. They are well behind and get their own medals.
Women would have you believe that they are underpaid for doing the same work as men. My understanding is that at some point, they poll large numbers of men and woman who are roughly the same age with the same education and similar work descriptions. Many women have left the labor market for a number of years to raise children. They take them to the doctors, miss extra time in the evenings because of parenting issues. But if they have less years of experience and miss days of work, the survey declares the end result is that the women are underpaid. I have worked weeks; months, seven days a week and 10 to 14 hours a day to meet deadlines. I have not seen any women there late after work. I saw one woman who had made arrangements to work 10 hour days 4 days a week so she could get extra days off. I was always there by 6:00 and worked until 10:00 at night, and rarely saw her put in close to 40 hours.
Maybe other men are like this too? I don't know. Like I said, my old age is making me extremely cynical of so many things, it ruins my disposition.
Life's a bitch at my age. I see so many issues from the viewpoint of the "grey area." My Democrat friends are concerned about the concept of helping the poor. I have no objection to their philosophy. We all know people who have been dealt tough hands in life. What I am upset about is the "grey" area. Before the recession of 2008, 60 Minutes said there were about 40,000 people on disability. Once the recession came, they reported over 400,000 people getting disability.
I used to go to the community center and be there when it opened at 5:30. People were waiting to get in. Just before the doors opened, a couple would show up; park their car in the handicap parking lot and walk on the track for two hours. I play ping pong for two hours a day. Two of the others play the same amount and use the handicap parking spaces. When confronted about it, one of them replied: "Do you realize we qualify for the handicap sticker based solely (only) on our age?" Again, I have no problem with the concept of people who need extra condition to get it. It is the "grey" area that gets me.
I watched a woman with a florescent yellow shirt park in McDonalds at the wheelchair spot; come in and eat ice cream with some of her friends. It seemed to be during work hours. After she was gone, I asked her friends how she qualified for the handicap spot; especially since she seemed to be on a road crew. They told me her husband is handicapped, and it is his car. This is the "gray" area that gets me livid.
Life's a bitch. I'm getting so cynical. When I was young, all this went over my head. I was too busy working, raising children and believing the best about everybody. Sorry for the rant.
Neff
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