Millennials And The Future of Uncool

The Millenials should not get too smug.  They are not immune to succeeding generational divides.  The aspects they think are cool or hip and set them apart today—whether it be tattoos, body piercings, or just fascination with phone apps—will not be so much to the generations that follow them.

It’s the pattern of chronology. J

My Daughter Inadvertently Gave This Extra Father’s Day Message

My daughter follows the news of terror incidents against black Americans.  For the question, particularly appropriate today, of “How hard is it to be an African-American father; what does he—what CAN an African-American father—tell his kids?”, my daughter’s conversation provides some insight:

My daughter and her friend were talking about foreign travel.  Her friend:

“I don’t think I’d feel safe in foreign countries.”

My daughter:

“Oh, so you know a little then of what it feels like to be black in white America.”

"Diary"

Is “love” really love when it is selfish?

“You’re mine,” we hear supposed lovers say to each other.

Possessive.

“You are what I want.  You belong to ME.”

And then we wonder—actually, we DON’T think enough to wonder—why the relationships we have often become destructive, hurtful wrecks that disrupt and sometimes shatter lives.

A selfish society of individuals functions poorly in relationships.  A society of people concerned with trying to make others’ lives better, on the other hand, would be transformative, both at the personal level and the societal level.

Thoughts that came to me when listening to the David Gates’ and Bread’s song “Diary.”  The last two lines make the song.

Dangerous Drivel

People who have never truly experienced war often speak and write of it like it’s some romantic thing of glory that will solve much and inhibit little.

No.

War is the failure of humankind.  The times that it is necessary are very, VERY few.

Word for today in this all-too-early season of campaigning, which has become more the activity than governing or working for real, problem-solving, society-enhancing policy: Jingoism.