My 81st

Eighty One years old today and just what have I learned in that time? Not a whole lot.  I can’t understand the war in Afghanistan.  I can’t figure out how BP did such a rotten job of safety nor can I understand why they can’t figure out a way to stop the flow. Maybe they heard God say “Fill her up.” and they figured He meant The Gulf of Mexico. I can’t figure out what happened to our banking system in this nation.  I don’t understand our national debt in such a land of plenty.  And how have we bred a nation full of unhappy grabbers and getters when they cannot understand that happiness and a sense of achievement comes in giving?  I don’t understand medicine in America and truly suspect that it is too often based on greed. When I witness bigotry and hatred and prejudice and deception I sometimes wonder why we haven’t yet discovered the cure for these and so many other of our woes and that is simply having love for our fellow human beings.

And what have others learned from me in those eighty one years?  Not much, I hate to admit. But truth is, I have learned that unfortunately we really don’t learn much from others. We must learn mostly from trial and error and unfortunately, humankind as a whole does not learn from its own experiences.  If they did we would have no war in Afghanistan, no problems with our banking system, no oil floating around towards our beaches, we’d have a fantastic medical system that works and all of us would love our fellow man.

I just hope I learn something today and that it sticks with me because I sure have a lot to learn yet. I really hope that we all learn something  in the year ahead.