Fifty and Furthermore's Blog

Seven Years Later

September 11, 2001 changed our lives forever. Americans understood that they were no longer impregnable and no longer safe from the kinds of assaults that most of the world had already endured We all became a bit more anxious, a bit more concerned, and a bit more aware of the preciousness of life. Seven years later, 9/11 continues to shape our thinking, feeling and actions. This gaping hole in our terrain stands to remind us that it can, and most probably will, happen again. When we vote on November 2nd, we will be choosing a leader to protect us from these threats. I believe that no matter who we vote for, we need to be aware that 9/11 has taught us the single most important lesson. We are no longer alone. America is in fact part of the larger world and part of the global economy. Thus, we cannot bully our way to power. As we consider voting, consider issues, not personalities. Which candidates understand this fact best? Which candidates will build a secure country with minimum chance of war? Who will have learned from the past, and will do their best in the present to keep our future alive and growing? 9/11 changed our lives forever. It is up to us today, and election day, to vote out of our convictions, courageously.

The price of butter...

My mother used to talk about the price of butter. As a young woman I couldn’t understand what she was talking abut. We weren’t poor. So why did the apparently high price of butter mean so much to her and upset her as much as it did? As I’ve aged I find myself doing the same thing. Only for me, it’s ice cream. I can’t remember the price differential that so appalled my mother. But when I was growing up, ice cream was 10 cents - eleven if you added jimmies or as today’s youth might call them, sprinkles. Now it’s common for that same single scoop to cost anywhere between 3 and 5 dollars. Fifty-plus years of living and I’m accustomed to prices changing as I have. But ice cream remains the memory of my youth. It’s a child’s dream of life being forever the same. And for me, as butter was for my mom, I gasp at shelling out 5 bucks for the metaphoric dessert. In my still-young heart, I think the world should have remained the same, and ice cream, irrational as it may seem, should still be 10 cents. It’s not the money; it’s the loss of the dream. Life really does move on in ways a child - or the child residing in each of us - finds totally incomprehensible.