Boomer Journey…

I suppose we can be considered the end of an era. Some believe “The Greatest Generation” – our parents and mentors – was the end of an era. However, we are the last generation to remember playing together using our imaginations instead of electronic devices.

In all fairness to the young, if we had the technology kids have today, we would have been very engrossed in video games, virtual reality, and cell phone relationships. You can count on it. It would have been too tempting to ignore, peppered with “Hey, where did you get that?!”

Back in the day, we had battery powered toys, which kept us entertained. We had television, radio and record players. Yet – we still played with army men, and did Cowboys and Indians, Suzy Homemaker, Barbie, and other forms of make believe and we had a ball doing it. When we were kids, our minds were virtual reality.

I love to watch little kids – which are adults in training. Cool thing about children is they’re a clean sheet of paper with the exception being genetic programming – which is what they are born with.

Children become what they are taught. They are born with the ability to imagine and create, and they are born with no real awareness of race and cultural differences. They are born as a clean canvass waiting to be painted in a positive way. It is what we teach them along the way.

It was the simple pleasures we enjoyed as children that I miss today. Waiting for the ice cream man. Wandering the neighborhood searching for a friend to play with. We didn’t care if they were black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish or anything different than we were. No one cared. We only knew we wanted someone to play with. That is the difference between little kids and adults. It depended upon how you were brought up and what you were taught.

What triggers memories for me most are the smells and aroma of the time period. It was catching the aroma of woodsmoke in the chilly autumn air knowing the holidays were right around the corner. For me, Halloween was the gateway to the holidays, waiting for the thrill of Christmas morning and what would be waiting for me under the tree.

Whenever I hear the roar of the crowds and the energized demeanor of a sports announcer, I think of NFL football on Thanksgiving Day in thr 1960s. That sound excites me to this day even though I do not follow professional football. Christmas Day was always good for sports events and that din of football games going on across the land while Mom was in the kitchen preparing a feast. In the wake of autumn football games was basketball during the cold winter months when we couldn’t go outside and play.

Kids today are thrilled with the latest video games. Me – I was excited by a new bright red 24-inch SEARS bicycle. I wanted one so badly that I so obsessed with having a bicycle that it was all I could think about. On Christmas Day 1965, the weather was unusually mild. I rolled that new bike out to the garage, put batteries in its twinset headlights, and headed for the streets. My two-wheeler was new-found freedom. Freedom to cruise the community and ride wherever I wanted.

I outfitted that bike with a generator set with a headlight and bright red taillight and could ride well into the dusk. However, by the time the streetlights came on and I could hear neighbors signaling it was time to come home, I knew I’d better get home. My neighborhood was alive with young baby boomers playing kickball, softball, Dodge Ball, tag, hide and go seek, and a host of other activities. Come nightfall, we’d play under the streetlights until bells started ringing, fathers were whistling, or mothers were yelling it was time to come in.

These were parental noises no kid wanted to hear. It meant a bath, brushing teeth, and bedtime right after “Family Affair.” My God, that dreaded Crest commercial at the close of “Family Affair” where the announcer told us to get regular dental checkups, watch treats, and brush twice daily with Crest. I grew to hate the sound and the commercial. Both always meant school tomorrow.

I’d like to hear about your childhood memories. That said – do share your childhood memories – both good and bad – and let’s make a Boomer Journey out of them. You may email me at jimsmart.jbjmediagroup@yahoo.com.

You’ve seen this place in countless movies and television programs. It was where fictional aeronautical engineer and father of three boys, Steve Douglas (Actor Fred Mac Murray) worked in the popular 1960s sitcom “My Three Sons” on CBS. Steve Douglas would have been employed by Lockheed, which designed and built aircraft here for decades – the mighty Constellation, the Electra, and even the SR-71 spy plane. Lockheed did it all right here at Burbank Airport.

Hollywood-Burbank Airport opened in 1930 as “United Airport” before it became the Union Air Terminal in 1934. The name eventually changed to Lockheed Air Terminal. In the post-war years, Burbank Airport became Hollywood-Burbank Airport, which it was for decades, then, Glendale-Pasadena-Burbank Airport. The name changed again to “Bob Hope Airport” for a short time before returning to “Hollywood-Burbank Airport” recently.

Apparently, the esteemed actor and comedian Bob Hope fell from grace amid complicated Burbank Airport politics.

Confused? So am I…

In 1930, flying was an exciting new phenomenon enjoyed by the few and the wealthy. No better place for it to gain notoriety than the entertainment capital – Hollywood, California.

Burbank, California is a small town in a large metropolis – Los Angeles. It just feels like a small town with all of the dynamics of a small town. Yet, most of the movie studios are here along with a large portion of the television industry. Most of the sitcoms you see on television are shot on a sound stage in Burbank. I’ve had a number of friends who live in Burbank. It feels good to hang out at their Burbank homes and take in the cuisine in any of the city’s many delicatessens.

Burbank is a feel-good place – a throwback in time.

You never know who you’re going to see on the streets of Burbank. Outsiders perceive there’s a celebrity on every street corner, however, this has never been true. I have a friend who lives in Toluca Lake within the City of Burbank. His neighborhood has been home to Bob Hope, Paul Henning, and a host of other celebrities. Actress Swoozie Kurtz (Joyce Flynn) of “Mike & Molly” lives right next door.

You get the idea.

Celebrities and the rank and file live together peacefully and respectfully in a place like Burbank. It is not uncommon to be in a restaurant or shopping mall and see a celebrity. Locals know to leave celebrities alone to live and eat in peace.

Honestly…I’ve never understood autograph seekers.

I’ve been living in the Los Angeles area for 30 years. I arrived here for the first time in September of 1990 to join Petersen Publishing Company, which was founded by the late Robert Petersen in 1948. Petersen founded Hot Rod Magazine out of the trunk of an old jalopy. “Pete” Petersen could never have known the empire he was creating in the car capital of the United States. Los Angeles has always been about personal transportation – cruising down the freeway in something to be seen in or something so beat up and pathetic that it blends.

Last month, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority (BGPAA) broke ground on a new, safer, modern, and more convenient passenger terminal at Hollywood-Burbank Airport. They’re calling this effort “Elevate BUR.” More than 300 community leaders and stakeholders turned out for this event to celebrate the launch of construction. This has been an event that has been coming for years. False starts, politics, a battle of wits. At last, it is here.

“From the friendly staff, to the airlines, to the convenience, Hollywood Burbank Airport is the gem of this community,” said Felicia Williams, President of the BGPAA, “We have a great team of Airport Commissioners with backgrounds in finance, law, construction, and public service, who are dedicated to moving this project forward on time and on budget.” And so the transformation begins.

The new state-of-the-art Burbank Airport terminal will offer a wide variety of features ranging from shopping and dining, upgraded restrooms, and more space. A new ticketing lobby, baggage screening system, updated TSA checkpoint and new baggage claim area will, in theory, make traveling easier.

The motivation to build the new terminal has always been about safety more than anything. Because BUR was opened in 1930, it is a dated design originally erected for dope and fabric biplanes, not jets. Runway 8-22 runs literally right past the terminal while 15-33 is longer and is some distance away. When you’re sitting in the gate area, the loud roar of thrust reverse is too close for comfort. Startled passengers look up with a “WTH!” look on their faces.

Though this has never happened, the thought of a jetliner leaving runway 8-22 and winding up in the middle of a 94-year-old terminal building is unsettling. Some years back, a Southwest Boeing 737-300 overshot Runway 8 and wound up in the middle of Hollywood Way just missing a gas station.

Following Sherman Way down across the San Fernando Valley on a long final for Runway 8 always leaves a knot in your stomach because you have just barely 6,000 feet to stop before turning left into the gate. The longer a jet lingers over the concrete before touchdown, the more on edge we become.

The big message from the BGPAA is safety and convenience. These folks tell us the design of the new terminal includes greater distance between both airport runways and the terminal building. What’s more, this effort also includes updates to meet current earthquake standards and ADA accessibility standards. For passengers, they’re including a 45,900-square-foot aircraft parking area for boarding and deplaning, a new parking structure with EV charging, and a new on-airport access road for convenience.

With all this excitement comes a lot of sadness. Because I have been traveling through Hollywood-Burbank Airport for more than 30 years, the existing terminal has become an old familiar friend. Access has always been easy from the ticket counter to security to the gate. Like any good old-fashioned airport in the land of perpetual sunshine, Burbank still continues to board planes via airstairs where passengers can get a good close look at the airframe about to carry them away. This is a lost custom we will all have to get used to.

I will long miss the feel of sun, rain, and wind on my face.

I speak from experience when I reflect upon the years I was bullied in school. I was a dorky awkward kid with glasses just short of being equipped with a pocket protector. Much of it can be attributed to the way my mother dressed me. She hadn’t a clue how to dress me.

In retrospect, it all seems superficial. At the time, it was horrible. 

Is this your story?

It is the story of a lot of kids through the ages. The world has changed significantly since we were all growing up in the fifties and sixties. When we were growing up, the only solution for a persistent bully was a bloody lip – a Ralphie moment (A Christmas Story) where you become psychotic from the emotional wear and tear and beat the living crap out of them.

We’ve become ridiculous when it comes to bullies to where we perceive we have to post “Bully Free Zone” signs all over schools to discourage bullying. This is some of that pop psychology rhetoric and what they’re doing in California. However, it does not stop bullying. Signs and even consequences on an official level won’t stop it. You can send bullies to the principal’s office – however, they will be waiting for your child on the street corner. 

They were always waiting for me. 

The best advice I can offer parents today is to teach your child self confidence and how to fight back. Instill confidence in them and show them what to do with a bully even at the risk of getting beaten up. To stand up to a bully will instill self confidence. It is important to never put their lives in danger – yet at the same time teach them to stand up for themselves. 

Of course, the best fight to get into is the one you avoid. It is important to never go looking for a fight. I learned that one the hard way. Teach your children how to defend themselves. I believe it is healthy to enroll your child in a self-defense class – Martial Arts, Boxing, Kick Boxing, or simple self-defense strategies designed to keep them safe. These forms of self defense are about self discipline, confidence, and survival. Kids also need to know how to escape to safety when things become dangerous. 

I am not qualified to give parental advice. However, as a parent of a 15-year-old (I am 67), I speak from experience. The greatest favor you can do your children is to instill self-confidence without allowing it to go to their heads. Let them bask in their own self-worth to where bullies don’t stand a chance and your kid will excel.  

Keep in mind bullying isn’t always physical, but largely mental. There’s social media where young people take an emotional beating. Teen suicides tend to be the result of social media bullying. 

I’ve found the teen years are a vulnerable age for young people. It has been a long time ago, but I’ve never forgotten my adolescence. It is an emotionally unstable time for a kid. You’re not a child anymore and you’re not an adult yet. As hormones change, emotional instability flares out of control. Anger. Rage. Depression. It is a time of change and emotional unrest. 

At 67, I am finding our sixth decade is a time of change emotionally just like our teen years were a lifetime ago. If you find yourself emotional and on the edge of tears at this time in your life, take heart because you’re in good company. We’re all going through it. When you are feeling so very much alone, it is a good time to be in the company of others and cultivate a good support system.

  

   

  

The Empty Chair… 

Most of us have seen it throughout our lives. You could say the empty chair is symbolic. It means different things to different people. For some, it is just a place to sit. For others – it may seem unattractive – utilitarian. After all – it’s just a chair.

Or is it? 

For me – sitting in a quiet doctor’s office waiting room staring at an empty chair is symbolic of loss.

We’re all feeling loss to different degrees these days. We’re feeling the empty chair because it is symbolic of those who were once in our lives who are gone now. Some I think of daily. Others come to mind from time to time.  

How about you?

Who are you missing the most this morning?

When we were so very young, losing those near and dear to us seemed way off in the future. Our parents. Our friends. Unthinkable to think of them not being here. One day, you wake up and you are 67. Not only are a lot of friends and family gone – so is a lifetime. 

Time lost…

However, as this chapter in your life unfolds, consider this. You’re still very much alive. Alive to feel, think, experience, and love others. There are those who cannot say that anymore.

Fill your days with gratitude…grateful to still be living. 

When you’re feeling like all has been lost, know all will be well no matter what.

When we were coming of age in the 1950s and ’60s, we were judged by what we drove. You either had a really cool ride or you had the old family sedan that had been a second car, which was an excellent way to spend life alone. No one wanted to be seen in an old Chevy wagon or a Ford Custom. 

These were not first cars that impressed anyone back in the day.   

We all remember the songs of the era – Little GTO, Mustang Sally, Little Deuce Coupe, Fun-Fun-Fun, 409, Rocket 88, Drive My Car, Little Old Lady from Pasadena, Drag City, Little Cobra, Hot Rod Lincoln, and a host of others. These songs inspired us to go cruising. There was nothing quite like “profiling” in front of store windows – watching yourself go by.  

We were revving up our engines and sounding real mean, beholding the roar of an all-American V-8. That’s what we wanted and that was what we were going to have.  

It was a terrific time to be alive. As a nation and a society, we were on the rise and headed for the Moon. A newly elected President Kennedy spoke of the future with great passion and we were ready to embrace it. If you were in high school or on the way to college, the future was yours to hold.  

We dreamed of owning a Mustang, GTO, Camaro, Barracuda, Chevelle SS, or Roadrunner. In truth, what we got was a VW Beetle, Fiat 600, or a Renault Dauphine. Even if we could afford a sporty car, the parents wanted us in something sizable and safe – an urban battle wagon. 

Visionaries in the car business like Lee Iacocca of Ford and John DeLorean and Jim Wangers of Pontiac went after it with conviction because they themselves loved automobiles. They were both marketing types and automotive engineers. What they envisioned brought car buyers into the showrooms. They understood how to put the keys in buyers’ hands. 

Wangers and Delorean slipped GTO in under the radar as a LeMans model to get it quietly past GM brass. GTO was a smashing success for 1964. It became a standalone model for ’65. Everybody wanted one and The Beach Boys were there to help sell it. 

Lee Iacocca stepped in as Ford Division General Manager and Vice President when Robert McNamara left the company to join the Kennedy Administration, which opened the door for Iacocca to pursue hot cars and the Total Performance program. Ford’s stodgy image handed off to a legacy of high-performance Galaxies and Falcons followed by the white-hot new Mustang in 1964. Mustang’s introduction what the hottest thing since the Model T. 

For a whole lot of us, the VW Beetle, known officially as the Type 1, became our first car despite visions of a hot sporty car. It was what our parents could afford and it would get us to college or a trade school. In fact, the Beetle became a cult ride for the masses embraced by millions everywhere. Nothing could surpass its great success. 

Ford came after the VW Bug in 1969 with the affordable 1970 Maverick for just $1,995.00 – less than the VW’s base sticker price. The result was more than half a million Mavericks sold that first model year, launched on the Mustang’s fifth anniversary. Iacocca’s marketing genius was to follow baby boomer trends and it worked. It kept Ford in the black for years to come. Boomers bought compacts and subcompacts, then, moved on to the minivan in the 1980s. 

The rest is history. 

It seems we’re the last generation to truly embrace personal transportation though motorists still want their own space for the commute to work and school. Public transportation is for the birds. Whatever the vision 60 years later, we can sleep well knowing we came of age at an incredible time in American history. If you’re lucky, you still have that first car in the garage.   

 

Confound it young people today… 

You know it is true. 

Today’s Generation Gap….not exactly like the generation gap of the 1960s and ’70s…but no less a gap. Our parents didn’t understand us and we didn’t understand them.

Boomers may not agree with this statement – but we are annoying to young people. Yeah – an annoyance just like our parents were to us. They don’t understand us – and we do not understand them. We do things differently than Millennials and GEN Zers and they do things differently than us. Yet – how were we any different 50 years ago than what they are today? 

When I watch video footage from the Hippy era, Woodstock, Berkley, the war protests, the freaks, free love, and the evening news with Walter Cronkite, I am reminded there’s little difference between us and the Millennials we are so critical of. 

When we were young, we didn’t have what our parents had and that was experience. We had not yet been around the block and had little respect for their wisdom. Our parents, teachers, and mentors knew what we didn’t know because they’d been there. Even with the best rearing and proper example, we had to go out there and try life on for size. We tried things our parents would never approve of. We stumbled in hopes of learning something from our judgment. Others of us have struggled all of our lives in the game of education and survival. 

I’ve found we can bemoan our “luck” or instead examining what we’ve learned from experience. It is never too late to turn the ship around and chart a better path. This is what young people are up against today. Like youthful boomers a lifetime ago, they have to go out in the world and find their own way. When we were young, we were self-absorbed – which was our survival instinct at work. Children are, by nature, self-absorbed to survive – self-preservation.

Empathy and love tend to be learned behavior. Some of us learn both while others are born with it. When we are born with empathy and love in our souls, we automatically reach out to help others without even thinking about it. What happens to others affects us so deeply. Others, who’ve never learned empathy and love, ask “What’s in it for me?”

What I know from life experience is you cannot fake these elements. They are either learned or born into us from conception. For the young, self-absorption is an integral part of growing. In time, we learn the importance of giving or spend our lives doing a lot of taking. I’ve found I get greater reward from serving others even when it becomes a thankless task.

When I look at today’s youth and the youth we were what seems like yesterday, I find there’s little difference in the generations. Like us, they will spend a lifetime learning from their experiences and – hopefully – make the world a better place.   

         

Who could ever forget the game shows we watched growing up. The one I remember most was “PASSWORD” which kept us glued to the TV screen on weekday afternoons, especially during school vacation or when we were home sick. The password would be funny and my sister and I would say it over and over again making each other laugh. Whenever the announcer would say, “the password is…” we always wondered if the contestants could hear him. 

In fact, who was that guy anyway? 

It can be safely said Mark Goodson and Bill Todman pioneered some of the most successful American game shows. Goodson hooked up with Todman long about 1941 in New York City forming a business partnership that would last for decades and find its way to Hollywood. Todman was a radio writer, director, and advertising copywriter, which made their relationship a natural fit. Goodson and Todman shared a love for games and decided to form a successful franchise they could weave into radio and television.

These guys did not get off to an easy start. They first had to first sell their ideas to the networks, which would prove challenging. ”Winner Take All” was their first successful effort using a lockout buzzer system and was the first game show to place two contestants against one other. It also true it was game show of endurance because winners would return each week until they were defeated. 

“Winner Take All” became the first Goodson-Todman television show debuting on July 8, 1948 on CBS. Next was “What’s My Line?” debuting later February 1, 1950. These gentlemen would tell you taking a game show live on the networks was risky business because you never knew what contestants would say or do that could not be edited out. It became quite interesting at times. 

Goodson and Todman would go on to achieve great success for decades with “Beat the Clock” from 1950-61, “By Popular Demand” in 1950, “It’s News to Me” from 1951-54, “The Name’s the Same” from 1951-55, “I’ve Got a Secret” from 1952-67, “Two for the Money” from 1952-57, and a host of others that made this partnership a household name. We’d hear the announcer say, “This has been a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production!” at the conclusion of each show. 

As the 1960s unfolded, Goodson-Todman had created some of the most successful game shows U.S. history. Mark Goodson and Bill Todman would enjoy a successful partnership until Todman’s death in 1979. It was a remarkable journey for both men and the personalities they made famous. 

Ever since the dawn of television, the viewing public has loved game shows. Undoubtedly the most popular game show in history has to be Merv Griffin’s “JEAPARDY!” – which is pretty much tied with “The Price Is Right…” Both have enjoyed huge viewer share for decades. The loss of Alex Trebeck as “Jeopardy’s” host in 2020 after a 36-year run was, to say the least, a tragic loss for viewers who loved his unique ability and talent.

What has made “Jeopardy!” so popular is its ability of challenging viewer minds, which has formed a healthy addiction to a game show that has survived the times. ”Jeopardy!” was originally hosted by Art Fleming, who handed the mike off to Alex in 1984. Trebeck’s unique gift of knowledge and curiosity along with his engaging personality was what made the show click with viewers.

Televised game shows were nothing new when they made it to television in the mid 1940s. Game shows became popular first on radio in the 1930s, which got us hooked early on. In fact, they captured audiences who also listened to Soap Operas to pass the time. These programs were popular among housewives as they took care of homes, babies, and growing children. 

Few of us will ever forget the names of those who hosted these shows – Bob Barker, Monty Hall, Tom Kennedy, Richard Dawson, Peter Marshall, Gene Rayburn, Bill Cullen, Allen Ludden, Bud Collyer, Gary Moore, Dennis James, Groucho Marx, Bert Convy, Bob Eubanks, Wink Martindale, Dick Clark, Chuck Woolery, and a host others. Their names remain etched in our memories.

As children, game shows were something heard in the background as we played, and yet they got our attention because they challenged our minds. Whatever your reason for remembering game shows, you can bet they will continue to be something we just can’t turn off. 

I tend to obsess over our “obsession” with electronics as 2024 unfolds, but it is surely true we have a problem with our love affair with electronics in the new year. We just can’t put down our cell phones, tablets, and personal computers. 

I speak from experience as I sit at a PC writing this missive. 

I am obsessed too. 

Because I am a writer, I spend a lot of time at a personal computer hammering out words that hopefully mean something. There are also plenty of hours spent in Facebook, eBay, Amazon, YouTube (a personal favorite) and streaming networks. 

I treasure the vintage footage I find in YouTube. 

Though endlessly entertaining, this is not healthy. When you’re staring at a cell phone, laptop, tablet, or PC, you are missing out on life. You are missing the dance. In routine conversation, we ask what on Earth did we do before cell phones and computers? What kept us preoccupied?  

We used our imaginations. 

That’s how we escaped. We pretended. I’d fly model airplanes around my bedroom and pretend to be a passenger or pilot flying to a destination. I’d lay out a city on a plywood board and drive Matchbox diecast cars around them. I loved playing with LEGOs. I built balsa wood homes on a card table using whatever I could find. I took long journeys in my mind. 

I’d run down to the garage and don my SEARS bicycle clad in red. I added accessories and pretended my bike was a car. Because I loved bowling, I wanted to build a bowling alley. I wanted a huge-long basement with enough room to build a pair of bowling lanes complete with automatic pinsetters.

I could not wait to grow up and buy my own home because I loved architecture. I loved home improvement. I dreamed of buying an old home and renovating it into the home of my dreams – my imagination. I fantasized about hitting the open road in my first car and going wherever the pavement took me. 

What seems to have been lost in recent decades has been fresh ideas as a result of not using our imaginations. A lot of what Hollywood seems to be bringing us these days are redo’s of old sitcoms and movies instead of fresh approaches. The same can be said for commercials. They lack to say the least. They lack imagination – inspiration.

We have the creative tools necessary to create incredible images and storylines. We just aren’t using our imaginations. Think of television of the 1950s and sixties where imagination ran amuck. ”Mister Ed,” “I Dream of Jeanie,” “Bewitched,” “Time Tunnel,” “Lost In Space,” “Star Trek,” “I Love Lucy,” “Dick Van Dyke,” “Andy Griffth,” and a host of others. 

Each of these time proven creations have endured the times – so loved by the masses across the generations. My teenage son, born in 2008, will sit there and laugh with us taking in an episode of “The Flintstones” or “Andy Griffith.” It was all about raw productive imagination that came of just doing nothing. It worked.

Have you just sat and used your imagination lately? 

        

I’ve been a licensed driver for 52 years. That I have survived as a licensed driver boils down to what I was taught in Driver’s Education and what I’ve learned from on-the-road experience since. You learn what works and…what doesn’t. In the summer of 1972, I was 16 and spent the entire summer in Driver’s Ed. What I was taught that summer has never left me.

The following spring in 1973, I had my first and only ever chargeable accident. I had just dropped my sister off at junior high school. As I made my way around the median, I learned my first lesson as a licensed driver – look both ways before proceeding. I was hit by a school bus – then – thrust into a huge tree. I heard kids yelling “TIMBER!!!” as the tree hit the ground. I wanted to crawl under a rock and never be seen again. 

To add insult to injury, I ran home two blocks away – leaving the scene of the accident. When my father asked where the car was, I explained and was scolded by him for leaving the scene of an accident. When he and I returned to the accident site, a county police officer was waiting for me to explain to me why you never leave the scene of an accident. It was very humiliating. 

I perceived we’d just pay the fine and would be done. My father wasn’t having any parts of that, which would prove very educational for me. He took time off from work to escort me to traffic court where I would stand before a judge – which at 16 was very intimidating. The judge explained to me the importance of obeying rules of the road and that he better not see me again. 

As I reflect upon that first accident and what I learned from it, I am reminded of just how dangerous the roads are today. Schools here in Los Angeles don’t provide Driver’s Ed. Parents are not punctuating the importance of being a responsible motorist. As much as I hate ragging on young people (we’ve all been young people), they are the most dangerous drivers on the road today. Every time I see some crazy stunt on the freeway or red-light runners, they are committed by young people with zero respect for the rules of the road. 

I’m doing 70-80 mph and I have some young buck sitting 12-inches from my back bumper or some impatient soul flies past me at 120 in a Honda. They believe life is one big video game. Only this is reality – not virtual reality. You come home in a box after “GAME OVER” when your family lays you to rest. You’re not just affecting your own life – but the lives of others.

This is where rigorous driver education and parental discipline comes into play. What’s more, we need greater levels of law enforcement and respect for the police. What are we teaching young people today? Hands off parenting doesn’t work.

My point here is simple. What worked a half century ago can still work today. Intensive driver education, real enforcement of traffic laws, responsible parenting, and consequences for wrongdoing will make the roads safer. When law enforcement is visible – and even when it isn’t – people slow down. When there are no consequences for reckless driving, there’s little incentive to obey the rules. That goes for me and it goes for all of us.

I am grateful for what I was taught by great educators, mentors, and my parents. What they taught me long ago remains with me today. No matter how old you are, ask yourself…”How safe am I at the wheel?” You’re never too old to learn.   

               

As we enter 2024 – sure to be a year of change – it is time to ask ourselves how we can be better. Whether or not we notice, things do get a little better in some ways each day while other things grow worse. This has always been true across time. 

In 2024, we must resolve to be kinder to one another and do more for each other. This would be a good start. When you focus on giving, you begin to feel better about yourself. When you feel better about yourself, you ask more and more what you can do for others.

See how easy that is?

Ever since I could toddle, I’ve always loved the elderly and always will. When I was very little, I lived across the Potomac River from Washington across from Fort Myer. I hung out with retired old folks who donned their webbed lawn chairs and would chat for hours on end as traffic roared by on Route 50 going to and from Washington. They didn’t need cell phones and other electronic devices.

They had each other.

Because I grew up with old people with good old-fashioned values and manners, I learned simple courtesies that seem to have been lost to the ages. I don’t see the level of kindness today that existed at the dawn of the 1960s. My grandparents were always quick to remind me of the words “please” and “thank you.” My grandfather, especially, always corrected the absence of simple manners. You either remembered to practice manners or there were consequences. 

Old school child rearing was quite simple. You either learned or you suffered. Pain teaches. All my grandfather had to do was glare at you across a room and you’d better walk away clean. He never spanked us. All he had to do was focus a disciplined stare. It was called respect for your elders. Although he never hit us, we didn’t want to find out the hard way. We did as we were told.  

This is why I continue to practice courtesies my elders taught me a lifetime ago. I hold the door for those behind me. I will always hold the car door for a lady. I exercise “please” and “thank you” with reckless abandon. When someone says, “Thank You…” I always respond with “You’re welcome…” When someone enters a room or my home, I greet them with a warm welcome. A handshake and a smile communicate who you are in a matter of seconds. 

When I am in line and there’s doubt about who is first, I allow the other party to go first. I find I haven’t lost anything and I am only one person away from the end game. 

No harm putting someone else first.   

As I near seven decades on this apple, I find I am still very fond of old people. I have become an “old people” with many of the same concerns my elders had a lifetime ago. Much as I did as a child, I remember the vulnerability I witnessed in old people when I was a little kid. I felt such empathy for them as their entered the latter of their lives. They needed help getting by. That emotion has never left me and will always be a part of me. All those old folks I remember from a grassy lawn behind the buildings are gone. However, what they taught me has gone the distance and cannot be measured. 

I remain of them.    

As January becomes part of the past with fluid precision, let us all resolve to do better and ask ourselves how we can practice kindness in our daily routines. Do volunteer work. Deliver meals to the poor and elderly. Check in on an elderly neighbor or transport them to the doctor. It’s easy and won’t take up much time. It will make you feel good all day long.