DEDICATION, DEVOTION, WRITING A BLANK SCREEN ALIVE

BoomerPdx spam is very encouraging with kudos for dedication, devotion, and persistence.

Persistence, not pestilence.

For the most part I work to promote persistence in whatever field you find yourself in.

You didn’t get there by accident. It may have started from an accident, or happenstance, but once you settle in, keep going.

From all evidence, my professional life was history work. I did history with persistence.

That’s what happens when you sign up with a history museum.

That’s what happens when the history museum helps pay for a history degree.

It was a great experience, although it left some people wanting.

One staff member thought so much of themselves that they locked themselves in their office when they got passed over.

It didn’t help, but the fact that they had an office to begin with is nothing to complain about.

(I had an office for about three days. It didn’t have a door, but if it did I don’t think I would have locked myself in.)

Throughout the locked door day the staff person hosted visitors with a secret knock.

It all worked out in the end, but it showed a bad side of dedication, devotion, to an uncertain future.

They had high hopes, and they were dashed. It happens.

 

The Future Present Today

One of the key elements of history work is the variety of stories from personal to universal.

Oregon history is no different than any other history, the main difference being Portland.

In a hellscape of natural resource harvesting, Portland shines for Oregon as a polished urban gem.

Everyone loved Portland. Loved it more than Springfield, or Medford, or Baker City.

Sure there was some possum throwing incidents, some Occupy activities, along with more recent events that left the city battered and beaten.

But the city, like the citizens who are its riches, are working to make a full recovery.

Before you start thinking about the last time you strolled down sun dappled sidewalks under the shade of municipal trees; before you walk past another tent, or tent city, and wonder why everyone looks like they ought to be in some kind of recovery program, consider this:

While Portland may not have the BIG of bigger cities, it has some of the same conditions.

I remember the first time I saw a block of guys stretched out on the sidewalk with their heads toward a building and their feet toward the street and wondered, ‘What the fuck is going on here?’

It was the Bowery in 1970’s New York City. Were they Bowery Bums?

They sure were, and it was a shocking sight to step over.

My dedication, devotion, and public empathy weren’t what they are now.

I was a single guy out looking around the big world to see what was going on.

Let me tell you, the view is different between minding your own business and minding wife and kids.

But maybe you know that?

That’s when the BIG QUESTION pops up:

What happened?

 

What Happened Is Dedication, Devotion, And Looking Forward

I’m not the first baby boomer to ask what happened.

I’m not the first to say I know what happened.

Or the first to pretend not to know.

Too many guys portray themselves as loosy-goosey dudes who bend any which way the wind blows.

It’s all cool. It’s all good, Everything is fine, right until it’s not.

The loss of dedication and devotion didn’t start with the first guy who stepped out on their wife and bought her a nice ring to apologize.

But losing gains momentum when public figures pass off their indiscretions off as normal male behavior.

It gets accelerated when slimy behavior becomes normalized.

“I’m famous. This is what famous men do. Women want us, men want to be us.”

The challenge for the rest of us is trying to understand how some dooshy old guy with a poor record of dedication and devotion can convince the true believers in the goodness of life that he’s one of them.

What’s worse than an old freak working his magic? A middle-aged freak on the road to ruin.

What’s wrong with knowing your place and staying in your lane? Does that make me a big old loser for even saying such a thing?

Historically, it makes you a big old loser for ignoring your place and crashing into others working on a decent life.

The question ends up being how big a loser do you want to be?

The Bowery has one answer, or did.

What’s yours?