It is mindblowing to me. I'm still stuck in 1977, but on Wednesday, we'll be a quarter of the way through the 21st Century. In my head I'm somewhere between 18 and 21, until I start to walk anywhere and my ankle hurts, throw the ball for the dog and my wrist hurts or have a beer and have to go to the loo fifteen times in the night (actually that doesn't happen so much since the prostate was whipped out).
And then I see actual 18-21 year olds and I realise I am actually three times their age and totally out of touch. I was brutally reminded of this, when we watched "The hits of the '80's" with the kids and they were outraged that the biggest selling song of the 1980's was a racist song! What was this terrible travesty of racism and 'white privelige'? Band Aid. A song which raised millions to feed millions starving to death in Ethiopia. I'd always thought that was my generations finest moment, but to millenials, it was a bunch of rich pop stars insulting a whole continent, patronising them, by writing an awful song that reinforced stereotypes, which keeps Africa enslaved to the west. The argument I responded with "So if you were Bob Geldolf watching the news and seeing millions dying, would you just change channel" was simply met with disdain and "You don't even realise how wrong you are". I sort of get that it ain't the best number in the world, but that isn't the problem for them. It is the whole idea that a bunch of entitled pop stars had the temerity to use a famine as an excuse to massage their own egos at the expense of the starving millions. I don't think millenials wanted millions of people to starve to death, but I've yet to hear how they felt the likes of Geldolf should have addressed the problem. Geldolf was a minor pop star, not a millionaire. I'm all for private donations. I keep my charitable donations quiet, but sometimes you need to kick people into action. Without live aid, things like Children in Need would never have come about. By all means do thinsg different and better now, but I really think they are wrong headed slagging off Geldolf et all. I don't even like Bob, I met him a couple of times and he was less than pleasant, but he did what he did for the right reason. It really underlines to me the difference in attitudes between the baby boomers and the current bunch of kids. By the time another quarter century has passed, today's 25 year olds may well have their own 25 year olds telling them that everything they held dear is rubbish. Much as it annoys me when they go on like that, I did the same with my Dad. I once lectured him (a former RAF bomber pilot) on why he was out of touch and how CND were right. He was more blunt than I am and told me I was an idiot and smacked me in the gob! The older I get, the more sympathy I have with that response.
But that isn't really what I wanted to say, that is just an illustration of how we change and how generations differ. Today is the last Sunday of the first quarter century of this millenium. I'm still alive. In truth, I'm having a blast. The band did more gigs in a year than ever! We've just had a wonderful Xmas (debates on Band Aid aside), I am lucky, I am blessed. I live in Mill Hill. Just imagine how different I'd be if I'd been born in Damascus, Gaza, Bahgdad, New Dehli, Moscow, San Fransisco etc. I've been to the last three and I have to say, Mill Hill beats them all. I saw an interview with a resident of Gaza on the news, He was fifteen years younger than me but looked fifteen years older. He'd lost his family. I am not making a wider political point, however we are all failing when we let wars start. Every political leader who has ever started a war of aggression or terrorised a population is to my mind a tyrant. I get that sometimes, when resisting a monster like Hitler, there is no choice, but usually there is. Those of us living in Western democraciers are lucky and we should give thanks that an accident of birth spared us those privations. I have no idea if this is true, but a friend who knows about such things told me that over half a billion people who are younger than me have died since I was born. Wars, disease, floods, famine, plagues, bad water, lack of medical care. Just about every one of those deaths was either preventable or avoidable. Half the world lives in poverty. When the clock ticked around from 1999 to 2000, I was optimistic that the world was finally becoming a better place. How wrong was I.
In 1986, I had a curry with my Dad, he gave me some wise words. When things are good, enjoy them as the tide comes in and the tide goes out. The weather can change in an instant. So here I am, heading into 2025. Personally I've had a great year, but half the people in the world haven't. All I can do is give thanks for the blesings I have and to hope that sooner rather than later, we actually have leaders who give a shit about the mess which the world has become. In January, to start the second quarter century of this era, Donald Trump will become the next president of the USA. I hope he is the best president ever and he lives up to his own hype. I pray that I am wrong about the man. If he does stop the Ukraine war and the Gaza conflict on his first day, I will be the first to acclaim him a genius, so long as the settlement is just.
My guess is that if you read this blog, you probably are not being bombed, gassed or starving to death. I hope that your Xmas was peaceful and pleasant and we are all here in a years time toasting a classic year.
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