Some monumental events happened in my youth that have served as a floor from which I have built my life. The death of my biological father when I was 6. The assassination of President Kennedy when I was 8. The landing on the moon and then quickly followed by the Woodstock festival when I was days short of being 14, which defined my generation's angst against the Vietnam war. These four significant events have been at the root of who I am and who I will always be. I am not one of those who changed his principles with age, on the contrary, I fight for the vision of my youth harder now than at any time in my life. Nothing compares to an eye opening events that fill our souls with so much enlightenment and chaos that can never be duplicated. So losing sight of significant events that make us consider our future when we hardly even know what a future really is a tremendous waste of who we are. Staying focused on the ramifications of these four major events is my equation for advocating and finding purpose for myself. The idea that we go from being liberals in the hubris of our youth to a more sedate conservatism has no logic for me. The reason I suppose is that I am still that little boy inside who experienced all those events in my youth and nothing in life since can change that. I am who I was in the past as well as who I am presently. Back then time was irrelevant to me. I had to live as me and nothing could nor should replace that. So today I am that liberal/progressive democrat I became as a youth with even more conviction now that I am wiser to how other people work hard to destroy what brings us together. My perspective was shaped by tragedy and jubilation. The two will co-exist since we are human and frail, but we also are formidable and capable of imaginings that astound and motivate our species. I can't trade my life for a do over but I can take what is best about me and my experiences and turn them into something greater than what they were separately.
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