Friday, May 4, 2018
Word Count – 378
When does the generational shift happen and the dominant group loses its place on center stage?
For me, the American political arena and its operatives are the players in a generational shift that is happening in prime-time. But the bright lights hide the real shift happening throughout the US and Canada.
At the local level, the shift is my parents’ age-group leaving the main stage. Old age and infirmities are forcing them into the wings into their living-rooms. And yet, this is the group that built modern Canada, post-war America. This is the group acculturated on the television and the telephone. (The television is on 24/7 and is the main focus of their living-room. My parents’ house has 8 land-line phones scattered throughout their house. There’s even a phone in their garage.)
What I haven’t understood before was that the age-group leaving center stage has a huge supporting cast. At the national level, these supporting players are represented by Trump and his supporters. And at the local level, they are the children, relatives and friends of the age-group leaving center stage. Making America Great Again is a call to another time, the time when our parents were the dominant adults; when our parents commanded all the attention; when they took up all the oxygen in the room. And in that long ago time, we were young and we loved our parents.
The Dying of the Light (essay-21)
Friday, May 4, 2018
Word Count – 378
When does the generational shift happen and the dominant group loses its place on center stage?
For me, the American political arena and its operatives are the players in a generational shift that is happening in prime-time. But the bright lights hide the real shift happening throughout the US and Canada.
At the local level, the shift is my parents’ age-group leaving the main stage. Old age and infirmities are forcing them into the wings into their living-rooms. And yet, this is the group that built modern Canada, post-war America. This is the group acculturated on the television and the telephone. (The television is on 24/7 and is the main focus of their living-room. My parents’ house has 8 land-line phones scattered throughout their house. There’s even a phone in their garage.)
What I haven’t understood before was that the age-group leaving center stage has a huge supporting cast. At the national level, these supporting players are represented by Trump and his supporters. And at the local level, they are the children, relatives and friends of the age-group leaving center stage. Making America Great Again is a call to another time, the time when our parents were the dominant adults; when our parents commanded all the attention; when they took up all the oxygen in the room. And in that long ago time, we were young and we loved our parents.
What Will Happen Next (essay-20)
A Lover’s Quarrel With the World (essay-22)