Guentzel.Org

Today is my birthday. We had cake and sandwiches at my parent’s place. Kayla couldn’t be there, but she sent along a gi-normous balloon and a little Home Depot love. Mom and dad provided a little US Treasury love too. Everyone had a good time. Over-the-hill jokes were kept at a minimum.

Moms seldom forget the birthdays of their kids. Of course, my mom gave birth to a 10lb 3oz monster baby that caused after effects and repeat hospital visits for several weeks. That kind of trauma experience sticks with you and you’ll always rue remember the day it happened.

I’ve been be-bopping around this chunk of planetary rock for 40 years now. I’ve got to admit that when I was about 9 years old, I actually did the math to find out what year it would be when I turned 40. 2007 seemed a long way away. Needless to say, I’ve done some living between July 30th 1967 and today. As shocking as it might seem to my mother, I’ve actually learned a thing or two.

Jimmy Buffet wrote an interesting book called “A Pirate Looks at Fifty” where he reflected on his life and career up to that point. I really loved the book for no other reason than some of the wisdom he passed along.

I can’t begin to compare my life with Jimmy Buffet’s life (he’s done more fast living than I could imagine), but I have some reason to be philosophic and optimistic about the future. I wouldn’t hope to pass it off as wisdom, but here it is:

I don’t feel that old.

Yes, I weigh more than I’d like and I’ve lost more hair than I thought I ever would. I have to wear my “reading glasses” nearly all the time and I need to write down “to-do” lists for all aspects of my life. I’m a step (or three) slower at softball, but I’m still playing. I don’t think that (necessarily) makes me old. My oldest thinks I’m relatively “cool” (or whatever the kids are calling it these days) and doesn’t think I’m old either. She’s either being sincere or very good at feigning sincerity — either way I’m impressed.

I don’t feel old and more importantly I’m optimistic. Why? Now is a fantastic time to be alive.

Between July 30th 1967 and now, we have witnessed an incredible exponential growth in information technology and communication that dwarfs just about any other time in history. The printing press might have been big back in the day, but it’s nothing compared to instantaneous communication and sharing of ideas across the globe you can now get through the internet. You can talk to anyone in the world, in real time, for free. You can view places you’ll never visit and answer just about any question with a few keystrokes. Medical technology provides remedies that would be considered miracles only a century ago. And we actually flew 3 guys to the moon (or put on an elaborate hoax depending on who you believe). Not a bad run in 40 years.

Hopefully, increased communication and technological innovation, the world is getting smaller. And I hope that means the cultures of the world will overcome their differences and we will become a planet of peoples with common goals. Medical technology and advances in agriculture might mean an end to preventable diseases and famine.

Before everyone breaks out in a chorus of Kumbaya or Imagine, I know this is a long way away. I know there are cultural hatreds that will have to be quelled and bad behavior to deal with. It won’t be easy.

But I am optimistic. I’ve got 35 maybe 40 years left in me to find out if some of this comes true. With advances medical technology, maybe more.

You don’t see this every century or so. This is something important. This is something amazing. If you’re reading this, you’re living through an incredible phase of human existence. History might say that his was a quantum leap and you have front row seats.

My youthful idealism has been destroyed so many times before only to rise from the ashes like a phoenix as something a little wiser (and cynical in a fun way).

I’m not over-the-hill…not yet.