Listening to the news this month started me thinking about the idea of “firsts.” It’s the first time so many nations around the world have faced a deadly virus like COVID-19 in such a short time period. It appears to spread like the seeds of a dandelion in the wind. Most countries are not prepared to treat so many sick people at the same time. This notion of firsts sent me down the rabbit hole of events in the past sixty-plus years I experienced for the first time. The following list included those personal and political events that were and are significant to me.
Dear Reader, your list, oftentimes depending on your year of birth or your belief-system, will likely be different than mine. If you are averse to looking at political opinions that may be different from yours, please stop or read this blog at your own risk. Commercial photos borrowed from online sources and one personal picture are included. I often escape into the world of Star Trek to imagine another way for the world to be.
My timeline of ‘firsts” recalled.
JFK’s assignation, blood spatter on Jackie Kennedy’s pink suit
Rural District 60 that I attended closes for three days to give us a chance to watch his funeral parade
Johnson’s rise to power, Lady Bird’s roadside flowers bloom on today
Vietnam war – veterans still battle PTSD
Black Power – urban riots
Women’s Movement for equality – fifty years later women still make a fraction of men’s income
Peace marches – draft numbers, veterans and college men burn draft cards
1968 National Democratic Convention violence
National Guard kill students at Kent State in 1970, sobers the country
Star Trek provides another vision of peaceful exploration in space
I begin freshmen year at UNL – Johnson’s Great Society programs pay for my undergraduate degree
Move to Syracuse NY for grad school
Watch Nixon’s “I am not a crook” speech, stoned in a hotel room
Watergate break-in – Nixon’s resignation
Ford, a place holder pardons the crooks
Began first post-graduate school job same year Carter is elected President
Carter’s one-term marked by Americans captives in the Middle East
Reagan’s election begins nation’s slide to conservatism
My son was born and my daughter three years later, both during Reagan’s presidency
HW Bush serves one term, starts a war with Hussain and calls it Desert Storm
Clinton’s legacy forever tainted by the affair with Monica Lewinsky, ruins Hillary’s political aspirations in the process
911 attacks change the national psyche
Islamic terrorists rise to power
George W, nicknamed “Shrub” by Molly Ivans, elected President, blames Hussain for 911 and escalates Middle east hostility fighting his Daddy’s war
2008 recession Stock Market plunge – greedy inside traders, risky banking practices
My marriage breaks up after eight years of George W, divorced as Obama takes office
Obama rescues economy, pushes progressive agenda, the healthcare overhaul gives my daughter health insurance that covers pre-existing conditions like her Type I Diabetes
“The history of the Affordable Care Act – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. It is more commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (or ACA) — and it’s most commonly referred to by its nickname, Obamacare.”
I retired in 2018, start living on a pension
The Donald elected because he is White and obnoxious from my perspective. His election is the US retaliating against Black President Obama
Lost and ill-prepared, Trump dismantles everything he doesn’t understand, including pandemic planning office
COVID-19 spreads around the world – National response shows our country unprepared, Trump wants to be center of attention, NYC becomes the epicenter of US
A deserted Times Square is pictured following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo AllegriREUTERS
Stocks in free fall as economy shuts down, pensions drop
States are on their own, some better than others respond to the crisis – death toll rises
Need international cooperation to beat a virus that doesn’t recognize borders
Senators learn about the virus before they tell the public and sell off stocks making millions in dirty insider trading – politicians both sides of the isle bought and paid for by lobbyists
Get past this national illness, file charges against crooked Senators
Head of UN calls for halt to all hostilities worldwide, establish health corridors between warring parties, countries, factions – unite to fight the virus
2020 Summer Olympics postponed a year
Star Trek Picard finishes a second season moving war off-planet
Some people may be naturally immune to COVID-19, scientists investigate
LLZ Ranch 