Boomer Journey…

If you are a product of the post-war baby boom, you undoubtedly remember propellers and the popping and sputtering of large radial piston-powered airliners. Those of you old enough to remember the noise and the vibration of piston power surely remember the dawn of the Jet Age.

The Jet Age thrust the world into a new era of air travel where you could travel coast-to-coast in 4-5 hours at a mind-bending 600 mph at 35,000 feet. Travelers marveled at how smooth and quiet jets were at altitude at speeds approaching the sound barrier. Pan American World Airways was the first domestic carrier to jet across the Atlantic from New York to Paris with the Boeing 707 in 1958. Others swiftly followed – with American Airlines ushering in coast-to-coast 707 jet service in 1959.

It was a dreamy time for air travel.

My first memories of air travel were game-changing Boeing and Douglas jets in 1961-62 during my father’s reassignment to Hawaii for a two-year stint with the NSA on Oahu. Westbound were three Boeing jets – two United Airlines 720s and one Pan American 707 across the Pacific. Eastbound at the end of his tour were two Douglas DC-8s with Trans International (TIA) and United. As a footnote, the TIA DC-8 was the prototype – Ship 1 – N8008D – from Honolulu to Travis AFB, California. United got us from San Francisco to Baltimore with a DC-8 and a stop in Denver.

I remember the Jet Age quite well.

The “The Jet Age” wasn’t anything new at the cusp of the 1960s. This catchphrase dates back to the 1940s when jet power was reserved for the military. In due course, Britain put the flying public high in the sky with the DeHavilland Comet in 1949. However, the Comet’s success would be short-lived, when a series of accidents made the public skittish about jet travel and the Comet was grounded. Although DeHavilland redesigned the Comet with the Comet 4, its tarnished reputation never recovered. The Comet would be passed up by Boeing, Douglas, and Convair in the U.S.

The success of jet travel made possible by the “Big Three” was no less than remarkable. Boeing was first with the 707, Douglas Aircraft with the DC-8, and Convair with the 880 and 990. The Convair 880 offered blazing speed, with its record-setting delivery flight to Delta Air Lines from San Diego to Miami in 3 hours, 31 minutes, and 54 seconds. The new Convair jet would enter service with Delta in May of 1960 between Houston and New York City.

The 880’s great success would be short-lived, flattened by the Arab Oil Embargo and higher fuel prices in the mid-1970s. The Convair jets hauled 80 passengers and were darned fast when fuel was cheap. Convair’s 880/990 General Electric CJ-805 engines burned a lot of kerosene. The Convair jets went to the desert never to be seen again.

Boeing and Douglas didn’t waste any time bringing jet service to smaller communities with the 727, 737, and the DC-9. The British responded with the BAC-111. Somewhere in between were turboprops like the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the Viscount, Fokker F-27 and the Fairchild FH-227, Convair 580 and 640, and a host of others that brought jet power to the propeller.

The 1960s was an age of “Pie In The Sky” where the only way was up. Juan Trippe, founder and CEO of Pan American, came to Boeing CEO Bill Allen with an idea – The Jumbo Jet – that could haul 450 passengers across the globe and generate a lot of revenue for the company.

Pan Am pioneered jet service across the Atlantic and Pacific with the 707 and 720 in the 1960s. By 1965, Trippe concluded it was time for a bigger, bolder statement in air travel and he wanted it right away. Anytime Bill Allen’s phone rang with a call from Trippe, he instinctively knew he would be presented with an enormous challenge. Trippe was there with a grand vision. The Boeing 747 flew for the first time in 1969 and entered service with Pan Am in 1970. Douglas and Lockheed stepped up with the twin-aisle, supersized DC-10 and L-1011 shortly thereafter.

So, whatever happened to all this “Pie In The Sky” chatter of the 1960s? I think of this whenever I fly today and they throw me a bag of pretzels and a drink. Deregulation in 1978 was a game changer and it enabled more and more people to fly. You could fly anywhere and get jet service from nearly any small community. This level of service was nice for a while.

The economics of flying have changed considerably in recent years – especially in the wake of COVID. When you arrive at the ticket counter, bag fees, meals you pay for, and all this nickel-dime stuff has become tiresome and a bitter subject for the flying public. Flying isn’t so cheap anymore. Add to this a shortage of new airframes and greedy unrelenting investors and you have real-world issues for those who fly. Flying isn’t enjoyable anymore.

Whenever I fly, I think of the Jet Age some 60 years ago, I think of getting there fast and taking it slow along with the pleasant flying experience in between. It was a wonderful time to be alive.

If you’re like most of us, you still cannot get enough of The Flintstones and The Jetsons to name but two popular franchises of the successful Hanna-Barbera empire. Both television cartoons were primetime adult programs that became entertainment institutions for the generations. We still watch them, and it seems we’re the only ones who really understand them.

You had to have lived the era to understand them.

Hanna-Barbera (HB) was a cartoon media company unlike any other, with its roots in the big studios and two cartoonists who chose to strike out on their own. They were William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, two gutsy talented guys with wild imaginations. There has never been anything like HB before or since. From 1957 until its absorption into Warner Brothers in 2001, HB immersed us into the world of raw imagination and humor. It remains a great means of escape for boomers who wish to hide from the woes of current times.

Turn off the news and turn on Hanna-Barbera.

Hanna-Barbera was founded in 1957 by cartoonists William Hanna and Joseph Barbera when it was headquartered at Kling Studios from 1957 to 1960. HB later moved to Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood some distance away from 1960 to 1998 – and later to the Sherman Oaks Galleria from 1998 to 2001.

It took two incredible cartoonists to get this remarkable empire off the ground. HB’s success was mind bending – beginning with The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, then The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Wacky Races; Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and a host of others including The Smurfs. A huge inventory of shows followed giving the industry a run for its money. HB was all but unbeatable for nearly a half-century.

However, the world of animated broadcasting changed HB’s good fortunes as trends changed and the competition gained ground in the 1980s. Taft Broadcasting took control of HB and kept charge until 1991 when Turner Broadcasting acquired HB and assumed control of the company and its studios. That meant getting HB’s huge archive, which enabled Turner to create The Cartoon Network in the 1990s. When Bill Hanna passed in 1991, HB became a standalone company and was absorbed into Warner Brothers Animation. HB remains a division of Warner Brothers to this day.

To understand Hanna-Barbera, you have to know the creators. William Denby Hanna was an incredible animator, voice actor, and musician best known for co-creating Tom & Jerry. He did a lot of voiceover work. Working shoulder to shoulder with Joseph Barbera, he co-founded Hanna-Barbera. Joseph Roland Barbera, like Bill Hanna, was a terrific animator and cartoonist. In 1937, Barbera came to California and joined MGM where he would meet Bill Hanna. Their meeting was cosmic and set the tone for cartoon production for decades.

In 1957, MGM dissolved its animation department, which put Hanna and Barbera among the ranks of the unemployed. This turn of events inspired them to join forces and launch Hanna-Barbera, which swiftly became the most successful television animation studio in history. These guys produced and directed seven Academy Award-winning films and won eight Emmy Awards for television. Their efforts during their time together were life changing.

Joseph Barbera (left) and Bill Hanna (right)

You could never produce great cartoons without an inventory of terrific voice actors – and Hanna-Barbera had the lion’s share. Alan Reed, whom you’ve seen in countless television shows and movies, did the immortal voice of Fred Flintstone. Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices, did Barney Rubble and other HB characters. Allan Melvin, better known as Sam the Butcher in The Brady Bunch and Barney Heffner in All In The Family did Magilla Gorilla. Jean Thurston Vander Pyl did Wilma Flintstone. Bea Benaderet did Betty Rubble. Actor/Director Howard Morris, also known as Ernest T. Bass in The Andy Griffith Show, did a wide variety of HB voices including Jet Screamer.

It can be safely said Hanna-Barbera’s fabulous works will be with us for a long time to come and keep us widely entertained until that long-anticipated dirt nap.  

When it comes to the tiresome subject of “making America great again,” I think it important to remember America remains the greatest nation on earth. It doesn’t have to be made great again. It already is. We are a great nation in crisis – with freedom and liberty under threat because we just can’t see things eye-to-eye and agree to disagree peacefully and with civility.

Where it is written we have to agree on everything? We haven’t been in this much turmoil since the Civil War because we’ve lost our sense of common decency. Our greatest challenge is too much chatter and not enough listening.

When you are talking, you are not listening.

In the time boomers have been walking this apple, just look at our great accomplishments and feel proud of them. We’ve accomplished a lot as a nation in 100 years. Winning World War II gave us the confidence to pursue our continuing greatness. We reigned supreme in two wars a world apart with help from our allies and at great cost. The space race and the Cold War gave us pause when the Soviets sent Sputnik into Earth orbit. The beeping overhead made us uneasy – but determined. Our NASA programs left everyone else across the globe in the dust. JFK’s awe-inspiring speech got us to the Moon before the end of the 1960s.

Not bad considering what we had been through.

Make no apologies, America. We are great and must never give up that belief or let anyone make us believe otherwise. We are a work in progress and always will be.

Democracy isn’t exclusive to America. Freedom and Liberty are not elements we own all by ourselves. There are dozens of nations that enjoy freedom and liberty. A whole lot of them disagree and without it turning into a social media battle. What makes us unique is the world’s desire to be here and enjoy life from sea to shining sea. America has always been a place to feel safe. It isn’t just about freedom and independence, but also the raw beauty of the North American continent. Hop in your car or on a jet and behold what we have before us.

Our division comes from the failure to listen and understand another person’s point of view. Whatever happened to respectful disagreement? It has become “my way or the highway.” Well – let’s try something long-proven for those with an open mind. Be okay with a differing opinion.

I believe I can learn something from someone with whom I disagree.

Do you remember when education was actually a priority in America? New schools were popping up all over with a huge emphasis on state-of-the-art technology, comfortable classrooms, high standards for educators, and administrators who understood their purpose? There was no fudging of the attendance and performance numbers to get state and federal funding. Schools either towed the line or lose funding. There was financial incentive to perform.

I grew up in the National Capital area in the 1960s, attending 12 years of education in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs surrounding Washington. I believe most of you who read this blog page have similar memories of your formative years in school. I also believe most of you understood the rules in those days and what was expected. If your performance wasn’t up to par, there were consequences. Parents, largely absent today, were closely involved. There were always exceptions – broken homes, divorce, single parents who had to work and raise a family.

Education is different today. I am a late in life parent. We adopted our son in mid-life. He is 16. People used to migrate to California for jobs, neighborhoods, and the best schools. It was where everyone wanted to be who had grown tired of rain and snow. I live on the high desert north of Los Angeles in the sunshine wondering what has happened to education. It is appalling.

Supplies that used to be provided by the school system have to be purchased by teachers or parents. All this chatter about more money for education isn’t true and it only gets worse. Budgets have been slashed leaving little or nothing for school building maintenance and adequate teacher salaries. Facilities are in ill repair, with trash carelessly tossed and never picked up. Restrooms with graffiti on the mirrors and walls, stall doors secured with pencils because the latches are broken, and fixtures that haven’t been scrubbed in years.

This is what my son faces every day. Because he’s never known any different, he doesn’t understand my dismay with the high school he attends. Kids are allowed to vape in class and stare at their cell phones. I’ve even heard of students smoking weed in class. And we were afraid of being caught smoking cigarettes in the restrooms.

Are you kidding me? Our generation is no stranger to marijuana – but in class? I am a progressive thinker but not when it comes to education. The classroom is for learning, not socializing. Teachers are no longer permitted to maintain control in the classroom fearful of being sued by parents. There’s no such thing as a home suspension anymore because it adversely affects funding. They now have “in-school” suspension where discipline means hanging out in classroom for six hours and doing whatever you want.

Where are the consequences I ask?

Teachers are not paid what they are worth, with salaries near the poverty level. Is this what politicians mean when they speak of more money for education? They are not telling us the truth. Every election cycle it’s the same old saw. They always promise more money for schools.

It is not 1965 anymore.

I want Boomer Journey to be a nice escape to our nostalgic past. However, to understand what’s wrong with the present, we have to review the way things were done in the past. We had strict standards for education. That is not what our children and grandchildren are getting today.

It is ironic, I attended school in one of the roughest counties in Maryland. Yet, we had one of the best performing high schools in the state – with performance way above par. Our high school was clean and well maintained with a sizable custodial staff and exceptional mentors. When I look at the state of education today, it leaves me wondering what happened.

Friends – it is not 1965 anymore. However – it can be better.

It has been coming all of our lives.

Retirement…

Oh my – how we’ve longed for it. No more ugly commutes and temperamental bosses – just peace and quiet. Doing what we want when we want. Time to prop up our feet; watch Jerry, Maury, and Dr. Phil; snack when the mood hits, vacations, fishing trips with the buddies, cruisin’ the drag in our dream car on a Friday night, hanging out with the young bucks at Big Boy and Sonic, camping with the family, and sleeping in on a Sunday morning without a care in the world.

Sounds intriguing now doesn’t it?

Then – how come we’re lying awake in the night wondering what to do with our time in the daylight hours? We begin to hate the sunrise. It becomes so bad we cannot sleep and wind up sitting in front of the PC while those around us are sleeping.

Does this chatter resemble your life?

Is retirement all it is cracked up to be? Funny thing about retirement…leisure time…goofing off…all that stuff we were looking forward to. It isn’t what we thought it would be. Most of us need purpose throughout our lives no matter how old we become. We need a reason for being.

So what about that?

Retirement should mean a new journey. Renewed purpose.

I’ve been an automotive writer for over 40 years and I’ve had a darned good time doing so. Retirement has never been a part of my plan because I’ve had a ball as a writer. As you might imagine, print media – the humble magazine and book titles – have declined in readership and all-important advertising dollars to where thousands of magazines are gone now – upended by the internet. That thrust countless numbers of automotive journalists into retirement.

So what to do when your chosen career field has dried up and you’re looking for something to keep yourself off the streets. It isn’t just about living off Social Security and other forms of retirement income. It is also about purpose. Purpose is what keeps us going. It’s what keeps us alive.

Purpose can be volunteer work, taking care of the grandbabies, home improvement, restoring an old car or truck, landscaping and gardening, teaching young people how to survive and thrive, teaching a trade, and even continuing in your line of work as a consultant.

Because employers are having a tough time securing young people who will show up and stay the course without expecting outrageous salaries, retired boomers become an excellent value. We show up. We stay. We understand work ethic.

What about you?

When I reached age 50 some 18 years ago, I started taking selfies of my face to watch the changes in my face my face between 50 and age 70. I’m not 70 yet but you get the idea. It has been a remarkable journey between 50 and 68. It is also remarkable how different I see the world at 68 – which means the way we think changes as well. Thought is something you cannot always see in a person’s face.

When you are 50, you begin to see old age on the horizon yet believe there’s plenty of time left to go after your dreams. When you are approaching 70, your view of life has changed significantly because some dreams are long out of reach. Dreams you once had have slipped away and reality sets in. So does the math. You have more years behind you and fewer ley ahead. What’s more, you probably cannot afford that dream you had in the crosshairs decades ago.

When we were very young, life stretched out ahead of us in something of an infinity. We just didn’t think about it in a “I’ll think about that tomorrow…” mindset. We just never thought about it. With each passing decade, “it” becomes more near. I hear young people lamenting “I’m gonna be 30!!!” and I have to laugh.

And so you are…

I remember 30. I had just achieved my dream job as an automotive magazine editor and I was on top of the world. I was also quite full of myself. I had been a blue-collar aircraft and refrigeration technician thrust into an editor’s chair with no idea what I was doing. I had a lot to learn. An editor’s chair was a far cry from grabbing tools out of a rollaway. I had to learn fast and did not do very well.

I didn’t know the world was going around. I’d find life had a lot in store for me. Two years later, I’d be divorced, remarried, and on my way to fatherhood with my firstborn. I had a lot to learn. At 68, I still do because you never stop learning unless you choose to. The key to living longer at our ages is to never stop learning not that this is actually going to help you live longer.

Because we are the generation that was never going to grow old, I believe we do a lot of reflecting wondering how we got here. I used to embrace my childhood years in my native Maryland. In more recent times, the mid-1960s have faded into oblivion. It just doesn’t seem the same and doesn’t affect me as emotionally as it once did.

Does this ever happen to you?

I’ve known older folks through the years when you ask them a question and they respond with, “Good Grief – that was 30 years ago!!!” You think – how could you forget something from 30 years ago? At 68, someone will ask me about an event 30 years ago and I respond, “That was 30 years ago!” Deja Vue all over again.

We have met the old folks and they are us!

As each generation passes, the same scenario prevails. When we are young, we don’t trust the generations before us. And – as we pass into senior citizen status, we don’t trust the generations following us. That said – “TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!!!”

Late summer brings with it such a mix of emotions for a child. The sound of katydids roaring in the trees. Latent heat and humidity. Smells in the air. Limp faded green tree leaves. The rumble of thunder in the distance.

We experienced all of these dynamics as children.

Fall is a season of transition and also happens to be my personal favorite. The anticipation of autumn is a personal high. The sweet aroma of woodsmoke in the air. Leaves rustling in the trees. The sun growing ever lazier and lower in the sky. Fall and winter are a time of rest and settling into a good book or an old movie. As I write this, autumn is but a memory because temperatures remain in the triple digits – still – in the hottest summer we’ve seen in decades.

Nature knows best, however…which is why we have the change of seasons. The animal world hibernates. It goes to sleep…dormant. You never see a housefly in winter unless it was trapped inside as the leaves fell. Autumn is a time of winding down into the relative quiet of winter. For me, autumn is a time to sit outside, take in the air, and just dreaming. Take heart friends – fall and winter are coming…and then we will be complaining about the cold, time change, and having to rake leaves.

I was just chatting with a buddy I hadn’t seen since the 1970s. We reconnected via Facebook like a whole lot of us have. The 8-Track Generation meets the World Wide Web. Steve and I were high school buddies from the Class of 1975 a long time ago – both of us staring at 70 right around the corner. Like a lot of you, we were lamenting our ages, aches and pains, and the “joys” of growing older. Remember….we were the generation that was never going to grow old and didn’t trust anyone over 30.

Remember that?

How did we get here so fast? Isn’t that what a lot of us are saying? In truth, we got here at the same pace as our ancestors – one day at a time along with a host of life experiences. We’ve raised our kids, are babysitting our grandkids, and endeavoring to get used to retirement. For some of us, retirement has been easy.

For others, a huge adjustment.

I think it’s important to enter retirement with continuing purpose. Without purpose, we tend to fade away. So – what about that? Purpose can be chasing a lifelong dream – what some would call the “Bucket List” or you can focus on your dreams. Some call this our “twilight” or “sunset.”

Are you kidding me?

No reason why this can’t be a sunrise – a new chapter where we reinvent ourselves and make old age a new adventure. I used to have a neighbor who lived under the oppression of her husband. He passed and she started living. She traveled the world, reconnected with her friends, and blossomed like she hadn’t in decades. She was in her late seventies and rediscovered her dreams.

She started living.

Being a senior citizen isn’t a death sentence. It is an invitation to start living. You are free to explore new horizons with nothing holding you back. Can’t afford it? What about employment aboard a cruise ship or being a tour guide? How about taking care of others in assisted living or a nursing home. Morbid, you say? Nah… You’re caring for others you can relate to with similar memories. Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had have been with old people.

What about serving war vets – a remarkable way to give back to those who have served us? Vets don’t have to be old either. Because our nation is so good as this war thing, there are badly wounded young and middle-aged veterans with beaten spirits who could use a friend – someone to chat with. They could use a hand, a voice, someone to sit close and listen.

Serving a Veteran will help you feel good about yourself – and your renewed purpose.

What about motorsports? Driving a racecar? Grab the shifter, punch the gas and let’s get going! Ever had a dream car where you get to drive the hot car of your youth? You couldn’t afford it at 18 but perhaps you can afford it now. Check out the auctions and go shopping. News flash…expensive collector cars are becoming more affordable because – as much as I push old age optimism, there are also those of us in ill health who have been forced to sell their classic cars. Entire collections are being sold off because younger family members don’t want the responsibility.

They want the cash…

My message here is simple. Despite our tendency to complain about old age – we are still here – very much alive to feel and to live when a lot of our fellow “Hoosiers” are gone – never to experience life on the far end. The late Pete Pesterre, editor of Popular Hotrodding, always said “Never Lift” as good advice for a lot of us. Pete never lifted. At 33-years old, Pete was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1993 at the El Mirage Dry Lake bed near Victorville, California. Pete didn’t survive to see old age. He was gone very young.

Pete’s “Never Lift” philosophy was something I’ve never forgotten. Pete never lifted and neither should you. It is okay to feel bummed over growing old. We all have our days. Just remember a lot of us didn’t survive to know the experience of growing old.

When we were mid-century boomer kids, summertime meant carefree days, picnics, swimming, bike riding, kickball, and a host of other activities we enjoyed during that brief hiatus from education. For me, it always meant summer school because I was a lousy student. For the rest of you, it meant goofing off and taking in a little downtime before getting back to the grind.

“Back To School” advertising was as predictable as the roar of late summer locusts in the dog days of summer. It was the annual fiscal cash cow for merchants of school clothes, tight shoes, and school supplies. For kids, it was the tiresome ritual of trying on clothes and shoes, and my mother telling me, “Oh, you will be fine, your new shoes will loosen up…” when she was told repeatedly they were too tight and hurt like stink. I think of her insistence every time I take my shoes off to be greeted with hammer toes and ingrown toenails 60 years later.

A half century ago, parents never listened to what kids wanted. You were told you were going to like it – and like it! Otherwise, there would be hell to pay when you got home. God bless my mom. I suppose she meant well but it was always, “If you embarrass me…I am going to embarrass you…” which was incentive never to act up or argue over those stupid penny loafers I hated and were forced to wear.

Whenever I watch “A Christmas Story…” I am reminded of the emotional scar tissue I still have from childhood. Those who say children are resilient have never been children. They emerged from the womb and promptly became stupid, clueless adults. They never experienced childhood.

Poor Randy, Ralphie’s little brother, was in a full body snow suit buried in nylon, silk, cotton, and thick foam and could not put his arms down. His mother tried in vain to hold his arms down. Frustrated, she said, “You can put your arms down when you get to school…” That was something my mother would say, leading to all kinds of frustration and utter contempt because no kid wants to be miserable on the way to school. I can still hear, “your shoes are fine, they just have to wear in…”

Sure Mom…

Those first days back to school right after Labor Day were spent in hot, humid classrooms where it was miserable, making it challenging for a kid with Attention Deficit to focus on school work. We didn’t have air conditioning in those days either. We were never permitted to use a pen. It was always a #2 pencil where I grew up. I went through a lot of erasers,

These days, children are allowed excessive latitude in the classroom – cell phones, vaping, and the freedom to run their mouths. Their demeanor with authority is laughable much as it is with the police dealing with defiant, obnoxious adults. Where I went to school in Maryland, you respected authority or else. I spent a lot of time in the hallways because I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Boredom always got the best of me. I respected authority – I just had no self-control.

We had a vice principal at my junior high school, a former marine, who taught us zero tolerance and what it meant. He would bounce defiant youths off the walls, which was a very effective means of communication. It would happen only once. Today, he would be arrested and the school system sued for the emotional trauma inflicted upon little Johnny Be Good. I will never condone physical violence from an administrator; however, it put an end to behavioral issues.

My Goodness, what an age we’ve lived in.

Think about it.

When we were born to this apple a half-century ago, the world was so different from what it is today.

I think of my own life and The Jet Age. When I was born in 1956 on a snowy March evening in Washington, D.C., most people were not yet familiar with jet travel. Although the British DeHavilland Comet jetliner had flown and served travelers around the world, it had suffered from a series of fatal accidents and was grounded, never to achieve real commercial success again.

Boeing’s 707 jet transport was two years away from scheduled service – launched by Pan American World Airways in October of 1958 with that first trans-Atlantic passenger flight from New York to Paris. The Douglas DC-8 and Convair 880 would swiftly follow in the race against time. The Convair 880 was a rocket ship at speeds pushing 700 mph. The darned thing was fast!

Coast-to-Coast air travel in four hours was upon us.

In due course – it was “Pie in the Sky” and jet service to Los Angeles and San Francisco was four hours at 600 mph in sweet smooth comfort. You could be standing knee deep in snow and ice in New York and be in the warm California sun by afternoon ready to do business – and then – sit on the beach before heading to the airport the next morning. You could always catch a red eye and be in the office bright and early the next morning.

It was an incredible time to be alive.

We take a lot for granted today. It wasn’t always this easy. Today, you can jump on a Boeing 777 or Airbus A350 and fly nonstop to Australia, New Zealand, and South America and be there in hours. You couldn’t do that in 1960. Despite the advent of jet travel, jets didn’t have the benefit of range. To travel halfway around the world, you had to hopscotch from refueling stop to refueling stop and from plane to plane. It was a grueling journey for a lot of people.

Jets made it faster.

I flew for the first time at age 5 from Baltimore’s Friendship International Airport (now BWI) to Kansas City Municipal on a United Boeing 720, a stubby version of the 707. We were on our way to Hawaii. There would be another 720 to San Francisco – then a Pan Am 707 to Honolulu. I remember the futuristic starburst side panels and the whistle of Pratt & Whitney turbojets. I never knew any differently. I’d never flown on a rumbly, rattly, noisy Douglas DC-6 or Lockheed Constellation, which were state-of-the-art for their time.

All I knew were jets.

At the dawn of the Jet Age, flying was so unlike what we experience today. Even in Coach, you were fed a meal with real silverware and glistening china complemented with a drink or coffee. It’s a wonder these classic jetliners ever got off the ground considering the weight carried in the galleys. People dressed up to go fly – in suits and ties, dresses, clean cut. The age of tee shirts and torn up jeans had not yet arrived. There were no fights in the cabin. People understood how to behave.

I can sit here and bemoan what we don’t have in the sky anymore, however, it is a tradeoff. Despite the cattle car approach to flying, we’re got it good. We can get there nonstop in all-jet service without the deafening hum of propellers, however, forget the continental breakfast and hot towels. Domestic airlines have put profits and stockholders ahead of customer service.

Flying is also a lot more affordable in 2024 than it was in 1960. Deregulation of the airline industry in 1978 got us cheaper fares and service to more and more destinations. However, economics has gotten us to where we are now. Airlines are in business to turn a profit. We are endlessly reminded of this while listening to our stomachs growling at cruise altitude.

The friendly skies aren’t so friendly anymore. Common decency in society expired ages ago. The flying public has forgotten how to be nice.

Tolerance has taken a vacation.

It has been said by journalists around the world Americans are being screwed by commerce and government. We put up with a lot more crap than the rest of the world, which would never put up with it. It would speak with its feet. Nowhere is this more prevalent then in the airline industry – only to be outdone by cable and satellite companies, which manage to find their way into our pockets more and more these days. There’s no real sense of fair play anymore. We really are getting the short end, and we choose to allow it.

Despite the state of our world these days, boomers have the benefit of great memories growing up in an age of jet travel and the magic of our youth so long ago. Gives us something nice to think about – and dream about – as we are falling asleep warm in our beds.