Remembering

I remember the great depression of the 1930s, World War II (peace treaty signed on my 16th birthday), Korea, Vietnam, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Jimmie the peanut farmer, Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton. I have been in business - had both success and failure. The two most important things I learned from all this were:
 

1- We humans learn from our failures - not from our successes. When we do something and it succeeds, the reaction is, “my, look how smart I am”. When we fail, we ask ourselves, “Where did I go wrong”. Then we go over what happened and try very hard to see where we made our first mistake that led to failure. And from that exercise, we become smarter people.
 

2- What we learn from our failures is mostly not transferable. We would like to have our kids profit by what we learned - but, that’s not possible. They must make their own mistakes and learn from them. They get very little from our advice and mostly don’t want to hear it. They believe that since everything has changed since we were young, our experience is not relevant. On the rare occasions when they do want to listen, they want to hear about our successes - not our failures. And, egotists that we are, we would much rather talk about our successes.
 

I just turned 81. That’s OLD. IN the 70s you are “elderly” or “a senior citizen” - - But when you’re in your 80s you are OLD! When I read the obituaries, most of the folks listed were younger than me. (I always read them - to see if one of my friends is listed and to make sure I’m not). I’m definitely over the hill. Still pretty healthy, but I know my appointment with GOD is not far off. (What a great adventure that will be!)
 

One, not-so-funny commentary I read recently said:”Old age is when you know all the answers but nobody asks you the questions.” Very True! 
 

I grieve for America. The America I have known is still a great place, but is in deep trouble and on a downward slide. But, knowing both 1 and 2 above, I realize that the generation that is now running the country must make their own mistakes and suffer the consequences in order to understand where they went wrong. (Just as my generation learned that hiding your head in the sand while the rest of the world is at war, was not sense). And, I think they will. Most Americans are basically smart (though not as smart as they think they are) and they are beginning to see thru the politicians who are driving us into socialist, dictatorial oblivion. 
 

I keep hearing “Socialism doesn’t work”. That’s not true. It works very well for those who are in power and can tell the rest what to do. “Power” is what it’s all about. It worked for Stalin, Kruschev, Mao, Castro and their buddies. It worked pretty well for Hitler and his henchmen until they got too greedy. It just doesn’t work for ordinary folks, especially those with ambition and initiative. No ”would be” Thomas Edisons or Henry Fords or Joe the Plumbers need apply. It was entrepreneurs like Edison and Ford who made this country rich. Now socialism is making us poor. Some are already figuring that out.
 

Marv Chastain