by Lucille Beals

Created on: September 16, 2008

Mr. Paine, these times try men's souls also. And we are not all summer soldiers, or sunshine patriots.

What strange times we live in.

Take for instance: You are belted and couraged up, your affairs are all in order, you really NEED to get where you are going, and the stewardess stands up and gets your attention with "in the unlikely event we have to evacuate the aircraft over water..." By now, the pilot has climbed to 15,000 feet; you can look out your tiny porthole at a mountain you recognize as 14,592 feet high right outside. You begin to look around for some water to evacuate into. It immediately becomes apparent that an unlikely water evacuation is preferable to the real prospect of a sudden stop which seems infinitely more likely. Maybe that's why they do it: for comic relief.

Take for instance: The surgeon general wants you to know that if you smoke tobacco you may develop cancer. Is there a soul left in America not informed about this? Do people still exercise their free will (pursuit of happiness) to smoke, anyway? Why do we still subsidize tobacco growers if there is such a grand market for it and it is such a bad thing? Is it because it brings in tax revenue? Why do people who developed cancer from smoking file lawsuits against tobacco companies ... because they got sick from doing what they chose to do? How many miners receiving Black Lung benefits could properly lay the blame where it belonged? Users of another legal drug, alcohol, pay the price when they use the substance, develop liver trouble, or cause accidents. Maybe they should sue Jack Daniels? Maybe obesity is the fault of grocers and/or restaurants, or perish the thought, your mother! Has personal responsibility died forever?

Take for instance: In the year 1999 we were told, again and again, that most of the older computers would "think" (hey, the operative word!) that when the year 2000 clicked over, that it was the year 1900 and that there might not be any more social security checks, bank deposits, or other necessities we took for granted. A person who had nothing else to do could have spent at least 10 or 15 minutes worrying about that prospect. But the chances were that people to whom you owed money would have fixed the problem on their end, so it would have been a one-sided crisis for several million people besides yourself. I never heard anyone rationalize that this would solve the Social Security deficit by the year 2002, since taxes would undoubtedly have been collected even if the checks did not go out. No one seemed to consider that savings (withdrawn by Christmas 1999) would be put into circulation causing yet another economic boom immediately following runs on the banks...

Probably, the defenders of the Alamo didn't relish the No Quarter offered by Santa Anna - but at least, they knew in advance what to expect. As for me, my plan back in 1999 was to dig up the money buried in my back yard, light up my first cigarette, get on the train headed for Texas, and move in with my grown children. I thought I was getting the hang of these modern times. Too bad it didn't happen.

Learn more about this author, Lucille Beals.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.