Jeff,

Greetings to a fellow Torrance CA resident.

The era between the end of WWII and the early 1970's is an era i have some familiarity with being born in 1954. While i have fond specific memories, when asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, the common response was "if the bomb doesn't fall..." we expected it imminently.

In my lifetime (and being nationally parochial); the Missile Crisis, JFK, burning cities, social sanctioned racism/sexism, Vietnam, Nixon, Reagan... nothing fond for me in any of those cycles. These events also had their offsets; mostly due to the generation that my mother and father were members of and their efforts were and are the zenith to date we all exploit and have evolved.

The self-esteem programming thing that you mention is very real, but i have 3 children who teach me a lot and seem to understand and investigate world and national history in a way that i re-learn and learn a lot. They will pull their weight.

The internet exchange of ideas convinces me that while there are a lot of crazies in the world, there are also a great many of talented, thoughtful people just now being freed of historical social paternalism. New voices from impressive individuals with a lot say and do are just being heard.

The next while will see all of us in collision with the groups who would enforce 300BCE/1st century/6th century traditions (usually in direct violation to the source philosophies).

Oh well; more missile crisis, more assassination, more greed, hate and yet i remain optimistic. It is all of you out there that bolster my confidence and beliefs for future progress.

regards,
p