When I was young, nobody told me what getting older was like.
My grandparents had the usual complaints. Lumbago. Failing eyesight. Being ignored. Awake all night.
I never thought I would feel l wise like Dumbledore or that, instead, age brings as many regrets as it does. But I look back and see what I shouldn’t have done or could have done–and that I should have learned to forgive.
FDR was President when I was born. Did you suspect that? Most people don’t because they’ve forgotten FDR and history in general. At the time, I didn’t know he was President or that Truman dropped the bombs. I never forgave Truman. My first knowledge of world events came during the Korean War. I never forgave anybody for that mess–or Vietnam, either.
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oking back takes time because it’s a long trip. I do remember reading All Quiet on the Western Front and knowing–even as I read it–I would carry the scars of that story forever. That book is one reason I became a pacifist. I’m not sure about everything I think I see while looking back because I’ve used so many of my personal stories in my fiction. So I wonder, did that really happen or did I make it up. Most of the people who could answer that question are gone or, perhaps, fictional. In my youth, the KKK was real and my first real fear. They were everywhere. They burnt a cross on my minister’s lawn. All that was too evil to make up so it made its way into my books. I changed the names of the people I knew who were members of the very visible invisible empire. The same goes for the real people in my Navy experience.
My writing output has slowed down with age. I didn’t see that coming. In some ways, I’m just too tired to slog through the real and imagined memories anymore. I think that happens to a lot of people who were born when FDR was President. Hmm, I might be making that up.
–Malcolm
If you’re still watching “Survivor,” then perhaps you’ll understand that since I did not grok Yam Yam that meant, according to my experience with this show, he would end up winning. And now we read that the next season will feature 90-minute episodes instead of one-hour episodes. I’m not sure I can cope with that much “reality.”
However, I want to quickly point out that we do watch quality programs like the three-day documentary about FDR. The producers and directors did, I think, a great job capturing many hours of a man’s Presidency and the years leading up to it. We learned about him many years ago in school, but documentaries with actors playing the lead roles clarify those dusty memories from history class.
Upcoming is another Ken Burns film. I think we’ve seen all of them because we enjoy the superb storytelling and great cinematography. The “American Buffalo” will air on October 16 and 17. According to Burns’ website, “This film will be the biography of the continent’s most magnificent species, an improbable, shaggy beast that nonetheless has found itself at the center of many of our nation’s most thrilling, mythic, and sometimes heartbreaking tales. It is a quintessentially American story, filled with a diverse cast of fascinating characters. But it is also a morality tale encompassing two important and historically significant lessons that resonate today.”
Malcolm's Round Table 