RIGHT THING? YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IT

Doing the ‘right thing’ used to be easier.

Maybe is was because baby boomers didn’t have as many choices for doing wrong?

I didn’t see a lot of choices besides ‘Do what you’re told’ growing up.

From parents, to teachers, to coaches, scout leaders, and beyond, we were told what to do by people we trusted.

What happened? Here we go:

I saw my neighbor on garbage pickup day.

Me: I only had on bag of trash, but a full recycle bin.

Neighbor: I miss the days when we didn’t recycle, didn’t have to handle everything over and over, and instead just threw everything in one bag.

Me: How about the days before trash pickup where you could burn everything in a backyard barrel. Pay some company to shred sensitive documents? Nope, burn them.

Neighbor: You can still do that, just not around here.

Me: But if you had one of those patio burn pits you could.

Neighbor: I’ve been thinking about that.

 

Since the days of boomer youth, grade school boomer in the sixties, not high school or college boomer, there’s been a constant effort toward cleaner air, cleaner water, and better policies.

It’s the right thing to do, but remember, today we’re sixty-odd years past the sixties and it’s the same thing: cleaner water, cleaner air, better policies.

I remember as a kid taking a family trip to SoCal and Disneyland. My eyes started burning. It had to be my brother’s fault, but I couldn’t find a way to blame him.

Then my mom mentioned her eyes burned and my dad said it was air pollution.

Since we were a family from the pristine Oregon coast, no one’s eyes had ever burned.

Sure we had the occasional overnight pulp mill discharge on our morning windshields, but that was a different vision problem.

We wiped off the old man’s windshield, he’d hop in the car and fire up a dart, and drive us to school.

With the windows up.

 

The Right Thing In Changing Times

You’ve got a tricky brain if you look into the mirror and see Mario Lopez staring back.

(I’ve always seen Paul Newman, if you’re wondering. Who do you see?)

Calling a generation delusional is easy when memes like this come up.

The old guy has to be seventy?

Hmmm, I’m sixty-nine and Paul Newman is dead. Now what?

The right thing is to confront reality and accept who you are and what you are.

So I’m not Paul Newman, but I’m not anyone else either.

All those roles are taken, so it’s me and me alone.

“Oh, BoomerPdx, you’re never alone.”

Save it, sister. We’re all alone until we know different.

Besides, I’m talking about personal identity and accepting yourself, your appearance, not alone as in separate from the rest of humanity.

We’re all on the same journey here, but you just stay in your lane, mister, and I’ll keep in mine.

Does that sound lonely enough? It’s supposed to.

 

The Other Side Of Lonely? Get Married And Have Kids

This is me, David Gillaspie, doing the right thing.

From the look of things, it must be tiring.

What is tiring is all of the interpretations people come up with for doing the right thing.

The repetition of laws for cleaner air, cleaner water, and better policies is tiring.

 

Although recent exposure turned out to be more dangerous than pollution inhaled in the past, pollution was around five times worse in the 1970s than today, the team found. As a result, someone who has been alive since then is just as likely to die from the effects of past pollution as they are from current pollution.

 

Call me extreme if you like, but our future depends on clean water and clean air.

Food production and delivery depends on clean water and clean air.

How? Cooking with funky water in a house barricaded against the outside with air purifiers running in every room is not optimal.

I’ve been alive since the mid-50’s and find no comfort that I’m likely to die from the effects of past pollution as I am from current pollution.

More alarming, now that I’m wearing my Granddad hat, is that current pollution may affect two of the sweetest kids I’ve had the privilege of knowing.

See. you don’t get that sort of long term view if you spend your time dodging relationships and denying science.

If that’s your lane, then you get different road signs.

 

As a continuing ‘do what your told’ guy, I talk to myself. A lot. Writers do that whether they’re writing or not.

This blog is a result of one blogger, me, taking notes. This is where I write them down.

If you’re a parent, do the right thing and stick with your kids.

We’re on the shorter end of the stick time wise, so if you’re a jerk and don’t want to leave a jerk legacy, let the kids know you’ve changed.

Start with explaining why it’s important to vote for candidates in electoral politics who know the difference between doing the right thing and being a self-absorbed a-hole. (Hey JD Vance)

Try explaining that a defective leader draws defective followers who support defective policies.

Ask yourself, do you want to hear about finger pointing cry babies whining about rigged elections, rigged games, rigged everything if they don’t go their way?

More trickle down bullshit dressed up as solid economic policy?

The right thing is never seeing scuzzy people anywhere near the levers connected to truth, justice, and the American way.

That’s pollution no one needs. Breathe that in.