Seriously, where has all the time gone?
Wednesday, Dec. 1, marks the 60-year anniversary of my arrival on planet Earth. It’s been a pretty incredible ride to this point. The world I was born into in 1961 was vastly different from the one in which we live today. I’m sure a lot of younger folks might see that time as a semi-modern version of the Dark Ages, with no handheld telecommunication devices connected to a worldwide computer network. Computers then were huge mainframes that had to be kept in separate rooms — very primitive by today’s standards.
The year 1961 saw John F. Kennedy inaugurated as president, as well as the beginning of manned spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit the Earth in April; Alan Shepard rode a Redstone booster into space on a sub-orbital flight in May. So began the Cold War race to the moon, which the United States won but JFK sadly didn’t survive to see.
Because all this took place at the apex of the Cold War, Kennedy urged Americans to build bomb shelters. Those of us who are a certain age can remember the “duck and cover” exercises we practiced in school — as if that would actually help us survive a nuclear bomb blast. The Soviet Union tested the most powerful nuclear device, the Tsar Bomba, and this propelled the Soviets, the United Kingdom, and the United States eventually to ratify the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Construction of the Berlin Wall began after East Germany closed the border in August to halt emigration to West Germany. Throughout the years it was up, many died trying to cross over into West Germany. Thankfully, the Wall came down in 1990.
The Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Cuba’s Fidel Castro failed — out of 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles, 118 were killed and 1,202 were captured by Cuban forces. Across the globe, the first direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam took place, setting America up for years of a badly run war.
In 1961, Kennedy established the Peace Corps. The United Nations General Assembly condemned apartheid, and segregation ended on railways in the South. The worst of the racial violence, however, was yet to come — and sadly, racial issues and bigotry are still prevalent in America to this day.
In 1961, the average cost of a new house was $12,500, and the average annual income was $5,315. The average new car cost $2,850, and a gallon of gasoline was just 27 cents. A pound of bacon was 67 cents, and a dozen eggs went for 30 cents. Mister Ed, the talking horse, first said “Hello” in 1961. Other popular TV shows included “Andy Griffith,” “Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Twilight Zone.”
Popular songs the week I showed up include “Hit the Road, Jack” by Ray Charles, “Runaround Sue” by Dion, “Crazy” by Patsy Cline and “The Twist” by Chubby Checker. I swear I’m not making this up: the number one song the week of my birth was “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean.
Famous people who share my birth year include Wayne Gretzky, Lawrence Fishburne, Michael J. Fox, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney and Barack Obama. Famous Dec. 1 birthdays include Richard Pryor, Sarah Silverman, Bette Midler, Jaco Pastorius, Lou Rawls, John Densmore, Lee Trevino, and … um … Rick Scott and Woody Allen.
A whole lot has changed since 1961. We sent men to the moon and all sorts of men and women into Earth orbit. We’ve built and occupied several space stations and successfully sent rovers and helicopters to Mars. We carry devices in our hand that have more computing power than all that NASA possessed back in the 1960s. We have unlimited information at our fingertips — but we also have unlimited disinformation as well.
It seems that as far as we have come in some areas, we are seriously lagging in others. Race relationships, poverty, unnecessary ignorance, repression, senseless violence, global conflict — hell, we can’t even get along as Americans any more. From the 4 billion people who inhabited the globe in 1961, to the 7.75 billion who call Earth home today, it’s obvious that the Brave New World we were all told about in the 1960s never came to pass.
As I sit here from my perspective 60 years on, knowing what I know about human nature, I hope and pray that we will somehow get past that and work toward a better future for all of us.
– Catch John Mondays at Boondocks, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Key Colony Inn, and Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing. www.johnbartus.com
