Alan J Paul

Surviving the Frog Bog Alan J Paul

If, like me, you are a member of the so-called "Baby Boom" generation, and if, like me, you are still existing on the more desirable side of the sod, give yourself a heartfelt pat on the back. (This assuming, of course, that, unlike me, your arthritic shoulder joints will allow such a kinesiologically challenging movement.) You've earned this display of self-pride, in large measure, because you have survived-perhaps even thrived-during particularly turbulent times. You were born after the "war to end all wars," into one of the great feel-good periods in American history... And it's been pretty much downhill from there. Turns out that the War to End All Wars was actually a war-generator, powering numerous conflicts around the world-both hot and cold-during our tenure on the planet. We are the generation that sought shelter under our desks at school during nuke attack drills, prayed fervently for our lives as the Cuban missile crisis unfolded, saw a beloved President, charismatic civil rights leader, and presidential candidate succumb to assassins' bullets... And I'm not even out of the Sixties yet! I think you get my point: We've lived through many harrowing events during what was billed as the "Aquarian Age," the epoch on the astrological timeline characterized by relative harmony and well-being, during which humanity takes control of the Earth. We experienced relatively little of the harmonious stuff, as I recall, but we sure did take control of the planet! And I would propose that we essentially messed her up, to the point where Mother Nature herself would hardly recognize her home. But in spite of all that (or perhaps because of it) I find myself, at this point in my life, concentrating on what's been righteous during my stay here. Perhaps that's a product of the aging process: We tend to accentuate the positive as we age, while eliminating the negative as much as we are able. (A doctrine which, if followed religiously by humankind from day-one, would no doubt have yielded an infinitely better result here on Earth.)