BIRTHDAY MUSINGS

I turn 84 today and, in the timeless words of former Prime Minister Clement Atlee, when asked how it feels to be 80, he replied, "Considering the alternatives, it feels rather good". My back acts up occasionally, my arthritis flares---but I'm here and still have my mind--- I think.

I'm the same age as Joe Paterno, but I'm sure I will have a much better day than he. I had sense enough some years ago to realize that my prime was past and it was time to retire. Joe read too many of his press notices and stayed too long. A movement to encourage him to retire surfaced in 2004, but he rode it out. It's one thing to want to continue to contribute to the world and keep occupied, but you have to realize when the hour to hang it up has come. Joe's came some time ago. Now enforced retirement---firing under a euphemism---is the only course of action. and what is left has badly tarnished the reputation of a university and permanently scarred too many young lives. What an unecessary and tragic waste.

My friend, Grumpy, wrote one of his usually wry and perceptive commentaries the other day on Bill Clinton and how good that era was. He's right---to some extent---and I agree that Bill Clinton intellectually was extremely bright. (His wife may be even brighter...) Bill Clinton was also extremely lucky to come along at a time when economic forces were on the rise, and he was smart enough to let them run. But I also hold him responsible for assisting in making the moral compass go awry. The seeds of our increasing immorality were already there; he simply personified them at the highest level.

I'm not talking so much about sexual morality as ethical morality, our value system. Why can't we fudge the rules a bit if we can make an extra buck. Screw the little guy---what's he done for us recently? Maybe fought a few wars, but that's history. The brass rule, not the golden: do unto others before they do it unto you. Recent political and business facts of life bear out my concern.

Actually, I think the roots of this moral decay go back to the Nixon era and Watergate when the great disillusionment set in. Then came the Gipper's time: Ronald Reagan personally was a decent man,but his administration set the tone for a selfish individualism which stretched the rules---it's O.K. if it felt good and if it worked. It never got any better under later administrations.

I'm so old I can remember (barely) a time when, if you shook hands, you had a deal. Want to try that today?

Forgive the rantings of an old man. i would simply like, in my remaining years, to see a return to CIVILITY, the ability to agree or disagree by listening to each other when in discussion, I'd like to see HONESTY, facing up to truth and dealing with problems. I'd like to see MORALITY, living within ethical standards when we deal with each other.

As I blow out the candles (with several breaths, I'm sure), I'll make that my wish.