Presidents' Day

The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

 

PRESIDENTS’ DAY

Russell Burton, An Old Person

Here it is February the month we celebrate our two most important presidents.  Yes, George Washington, the father of our country, and Abraham Lincoln who saved the union are no doubt the American Presidents who should be celebrated above all others.  Of course, many of our presidents are note worthy and probably deserve to have a day of leave named after them but there can only be a limited number of days off each year as federal holidays.  What that number is no one knows for it is not clear how one would make that decision.

Certainly that was the argument made by President Ronald Reagan who decided, after much pushing by civil rights groups, to recognize Martin Luther King with a federal holiday.  Presidents’ Days were originally George Washington’s birth day February 22 and 12 February was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.   I remember those dates well for I was a federal employee and had two days off in one month which was a big deal.  Now we still have the same number of federal holidays but somehow making one of those days come earlier does not seem right.  I think I feel that way because MLK Day is too close to the holidays we have in December. You know, you just back to work and into the swing of things and suddenly another day off.

There is no doubt that MLK should be recognized as an important figure in American history for he was able to move forward the African American agenda that had become stalled.  Many successful African Americans stand on the shoulders of MLK including our president Barack Obama.  I just finished reading a book on his assassination, ‘Hellhound on His Trail’ by Hampton Sides.  Even though the main focus is the killing of MLK, it provides some insight into the latter stages of his movement when he was taking a back seat to younger Black activist. I highly recommend this book.

I guess an argument can be made that another African American activist leader should be remembered other than MLK.  Malcolm X in a sense began this movement and he too was assassinated.  But he was not as well liked for he took a more aggressive militant approach than did MLK who stressed passive resistance.  When you scare people like Malcolm X did, white people will not name a holiday after you.

Passive resistance proved to be a very powerful weapon in moving forward one’s agenda as shown by the success of Mahatma Gandhi who was able to liberate India from England.  His approached of passive aggression included fasting for long periods that worked, for the English were terrified that he would die during one of them for they lasted for weeks.  Certainly, his death would have started massive riots that would have caused the loss of thousands of lives.  MLK did not do much fasting for I think he liked to eat too much.

American Blacks had a very difficult struggle when they first began to live in America as slaves.  I am reading a fascinating book on that subject, ‘The Chronological History of the American Negro’ by Peter Bergman published in 1969.  Interesting, that I would be reading a book today published in 1969 that was in my house all of those years.  Well, I noticed it on my book shelf the other day when I was looking for something to read.  Now, it was there because I bought it when it was first published as a member of ‘The Book of the Month Club’ and never read it.  At the time, being a member of that club was a must for many people.  So, I was a member and I accumulated lots of books many of which I have not read to this day.

But this book does get your attention even though there is not much plot as it is simply dates beginning when the first Black Man came to the New World as a crewman on Columbus’s first trip. African American slavery in the New World began in 1510 under the orders of Ferdinand of Spain. The chronology of Black Slavery in America explores the horrible cruelty of it all.  For instance an owner could whip a Black Slave to death and when on purpose to kill him was fined all of 25 pounds.  I suppose in those days an English Pound was worth about $5 which was a hefty chunk of money but it is hard to imagine killing someone with a whip.  If a slave was whipped to death but not intentionally then the fine was only 15 pounds.  So, I suppose most slaves’ deaths from whippings were accidental.

Speaking of cruelty of Black American slaves I recently saw the movie ‘Djuango Unchained’.  Fascinating movie depicting Black slavery that is at times hard to watch for it was a vicious practice.  Certainly this movie is not the wonderful treatment of Blacks as shown in ‘Gone with the Wind”. A criticism of Djuango Unchained was that the n-word was used many (89) times.  I agree that it is an unpleasant word but how could you have a movie about those times and not use it?

Back to Presidents’ Day, Washington and Lincoln came along when our country needed great men. It is frequently written that without the stature of George Washington our constitution would not have been adopted by all of the colonies.  And, Lincoln struggled mightily to hold the union together for his political opponents of which there were several wanted the South to form its own nation. He also abolished slavery in America which too was not easy but a necessity as shown in the recent movie ‘Lincoln” one that I recommend. Certainly, our country was fortunate to have these two towering men step forward when someone of their stature was needed.

George Washington was a slave holder during his entire life as was Jefferson.  Supposedly, both men were opposed to the concept of slavery yet they supported it by owning slaves.  Interesting…

I guess the other greatest presidents we have had are on Mt. Rushmore.  And, that would be Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt.  Certainly, Franklin Roosevelt should be there for he too kept our country a democracy.  Then, the entire world was in a great financial depression and the too most powerful nations chose to take different paths to survive.  Germany chose a dictator and we chose an elected president.  Certainly Hitler got Germany out of their depression much more quickly than did Roosevelt. But of course with the unbridled power of their leader Germany lost her way.

Thomas Jefferson is celebrated as a great president because he wrote our ‘Declaration of Independence’ and he argued successfully that religion must be kept out of our government.  Both of these achievements appear on his grave stone.  Teddy Roosevelt is noted for Trust Busting and the establishment of our National Park system both of which are important feats.

Mt. Rushmore was quite an achievement and I watched it happening.  My father’s boss had a cabin near the base of it that we visited on several occasions. It was in the 1930s and I remember seeing the gondolas with men inside chiseling away at their granite faces.  I still have colored slides of them somewhere.

Well, I have written enough on these subjects.  Mixing Presidents’ Day with MLK Day and slavery could be considered a reach. But for several reasons, some of which I have just written they are indeed related as I think they should be.

So long for now.   

 

 

 

       

 

Caution Please When Grouping Old People

The old rusty Nail

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Caution Please When Grouping Old People

Russell R. Burton; an Old Person

 

Placing people with similar characteristics in a group is common, in fact so common that it is probably in our DNA.  Forming groups can be accomplished by the people in the group or by other people wanting to group people for some reason that has some purpose. Now, sometimes there are good reasons for doing this and sometimes there are bad ones.

Grouping people is particular useful for political reasons.  It’s useful because it is very effective in getting a common message usually they are very expensive by the way, to a group of people who tend to vote as a bloc.  An example of such a group would be Black people.  Interestingly, this is a huge number of people which includes male and female, educated and less educated, old and young, rich and poor, etc.

This group for political reasons tends to vote in a similar manner for probably two reasons.  The first is the color of their skin and the second they tend to be socially liberal.  Now I want to be clear that like members of all groups there are many exceptions.  Certainly there are very conservative Black people and some are white in skin color.

Of course grouping people can be very dangerous, especially for those being grouped.  Clearly Black people were first grouped in order to suppress them in the American society.  The lesson here is clear people who are being grouped had better look out for why they are being grouped.

For some reason, a name applied to any group can change.  For instance, Blacks were once called Negros, then Colored, then Black, then African-American, and now back to Blacks. I guess these name changes are because the members didn’t like the previous name.  So, I guess members do have some control over their destiny.  

Now, I use Black people only as an example.  Certainly there are many groups of people formed for many reasons.  Religions come to mind such as Christians who are further grouped into Catholics and Protestants with many subgroups within each of these particular groups, especially regarding Protestants.

But, the nature of this religious group is quite different from Black people because these members joined voluntarily.  This also means that they can leave when they want although the concept of going to Hell might deter some. 

Now, this voluntary thing is not true for Jews.  For some reason, once a Jew always a Jew and in fact a Jew is born a Jew. Of course, this means that it is difficult to become a Jew if you are not born one.  Quite different is the Christian religion for their members are out beating the bushes for recruits.

Of course, a common grouping is called a club and these are strictly voluntary.  People join these things for many reasons one is prestige that goes along with the desire to join but must be invited to do so.  Wealthy people like to form clubs and be asked to join them. Just being wealthy puts you into an exclusive club.  I don’t know of any benefits but just belonging to an exclusive club is fun.

A group sometimes increases the power of each individual in that group so people may want to join for selfish reasons.  Another reason to join a group is for entertainment that requires several people, such as a tour group.

People forming groups like I noted before is a natural thing to do and is probably in our DNA.  For example, when we were barely surviving as a species, we formed groups (tribes?) for two simple reasons, to improve our ability to get food and for protection.  So, we have a deep desire to join clubs.

Of course in modern societies this grouping thing has become common and at times I think has gotten out of hand.  That is sometimes a person has no control over his/her destiny even if there are benefits in doing so.  This situation is especially true if a person is automatically included without any form of consent.  I began this essay using Black people as an example of being part of a group without the consent of the membership.

Another group that has recently formed includes only OLD PEOPLE.  In a way, it is an exclusive club because the only way you can join is to get old and there is some luck to that for half of our birth mates die before they can join. But unlike most clubs you automatically become a member when you reach some arbitrary age.  And, this arbitrary age thing is scary because people age differently!  Not only that, they think of themselves differently.  That is each person in this bloc of Old People is an individual.

Yes, here we have the dichotomy of grouping that can not be solved for the group benefits frequently trump the individual benefits. So, individuals had better be aware of this problem.  I speak of course the perils of becoming an involuntary member of Old People. I was not asked to join, suddenly I am a member.  Well, thank you.  I didn’t give a certificate, take a test, belong to any religious group nor did anyone welcome me.  But, here I am a member of this exclusive club and it bothers me.  I know it gives me some awesome power that I didn’t have before, but I do not have much control over all of this power, good and bad and of course the latter scares me. 

Of course, the first causality is commercial airlines pilots for they must retire from flying at the age of sixty.  Yes, sixty!  My god, if I had a girlfriend that young I would feel like I was robbing the cradle.

But the point here is once you are part of these damn involuntary groups you lose some of your freedoms.  In the state of Texas, when you become 80 which seems to be the start of old age, you no longer can renew your driver’s license on the web.  You have to appear in person I guess to be examined by someone to see if you are fit to drive.  I assume other states have similar laws and perhaps ones that are even more intrusive.

I just renewed my Texas driver’s license when I reached my 80^th birthday.  I didn’t know what to expect except that it would take several hours of waiting.  When they finally called my number, I approached the young lady with some caution as she frowned but she was very nice.    I passed the eye examine even with my glasses off.  So, I got my photograph on my license without wearing glasses.  Of course, I have lost some of my visual acuity and that bothers me, but still not having to wear my glasses when I drive is some accomplishment, I’m so proud I guess.  Still, I wear my glasses when I drive. I want to be able to read the signs.

The other day Chris Mathews on his MSNBC Hard Ball suggested that people who are 85 years of age should not be allowed to drive an automobile!  This really bothers me because Chris, I use his first name because I think I know him because I frequently watch his show appears to be a nice guy and I thought we were friends.  And, we have the same liberal social political views.  Now if some Fox guy said this, I wouldn’t be concerned for this is a form of prejudice and conservatives dislike anyone who is different than they are.  You know, Gays, Blacks, poor people, Women’s Rights, and the list goes on.

Oh my, did I just do what I shouldn’t do.  You see how easy it is to lump people into an all inclusive stereotype.  For instance, my best friend was politically very conservative but was adamant in support of Women’s Rights, especially regarding abortion.

Well, my point here is that I am very concerned, no frightened, that some of my rights will be taken away from me because I have reached some arbitrary age that defines me as an old person and THAT IS NOT RIGHT!

AND, I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!

Well maybe some of it.  Especially the good stuff like when becoming an Old Person I got an extra deduction on my income tax just because of that arbitrary age of 65. Oh well, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.  Let’s hope there is always more good than bad.