My classmates and I have all reached our early sixties or late fifties. Our younger siblings are now well into their fifties and it all happened fast.
Many of us remember this Dickens quote from "Great Expectations," the book we read during junior year in high school. I didn’t care for it much at the time.
We were born in the 1960s, showing up in our parents’ home somewhere in the middle of that Billy Joel song where he sang about the world being on fire before our arrival.
Since the rise of MTV, we have done our best to carry the banner for Generation X.
Life bent and broke many of us along the way...
...cracks formed from the strain of simply living.
Some of us couldn’t put the pieces back together. Others did their best to make something stronger from what remained.
Our grandparents came from America’s “Greatest Generation.” Our parents were raised by people who survived the Great Depression, World Wars, and the Holocaust.
Whether it served us well or not, those experiences were handed down. We were taught that pain forges perspective. That suffering sharpens empathy. That hardship builds resilience and teaches us to face life with clearer eyes.
Still, if I could tweak the 19th century ChuckD's quote, I’d replace the word hope.
Hope often gives way to hopelessness when our expectations aren’t met. It clouds clear decision making, becomes a false net we rely on instead of the solid ground we walk upon.
BUTT life... the real, messy, heavy, glorious life, has brought hard tackles and high hurdles. And I believe that those hits have shaped us into something better.
An old Chicagonese quote comes to mind here....
.... "Make da best of what youze got!"
The Latin phrase on the board today, Virtus mea est, means “My strength is my virtue.” Fitting for the theme that Dickens left us on this beautiful Sunday morning.
Yesterday, I listened to Gershwin while making breakfast. I might do the same today. I chalked it then and I’ll chalk it now...
...June needs a shit ton of Rhapsody in Blue.
It brings astonishment and great expectations to the day.
