Looking Forward, Looking Backward
Before I posted the essay “Red Covid” on June 19th, my intent was to write on fewer topics, possibly with less frequency. The political character of the Covid data caught my attention, leading to the “Red Covid” essay posted on that date.
June 19th was Father’s Day. My daughter and son-in-law surprised me with a gift subscription to Ancestry, the on-line genealogy software program. When I retired ten years ago, I hoped to restart my long-term research into family history. That didn’t happen until June 19th. Since then I have been on Ancestry daily, sending messages to other members about missing information about ancestors, and using Censuses to track descendants.
This puts me in an interesting position. Looking backward, I find information about grandparents who immigrated in early 20th Century from Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Looking forward I absorb what is happening in those same countries and what those events portend for the future of the United States, Europe, and the world.
Fifty Year Perspective always has been personal. The complexities of our globalized world, and the impacts of events on us and our future, are less significant for me at age 79, than for my four children and eleven grandchildren. I don’t know about you, my readers, but does coming to maturity in the 2020s sound attractive to you, other than from curiosity about where this is all going?
So, where do I go from here? I’ll continue to write about what is interesting to me and pertinent to the health of the planet and the future of liberal democracy. I am curious to know if you are at a similar stage, and welcome your thoughts as well as your suggestions for topics. I don’t have a Comments button yet, but you can send a message to fiftyyearperspective@gmail.com, or by responding to this email.
We have no choice but to remain positive, without being naïve about what is possible. Our children and grandchildren will have to do the heavy lifting, but we can assure them from our life experiences that it will be worth the effort.