getting younger

 Everyone around me is getting younger. Or so it seems. And I need to slap myself in the face for giving in to the concept of being old, a concept I managed to defeat in my thirties but one which appears to have crept back in in the last couple of years. I turned fifty-three three weeks ago and, yes, to most of you out there that is ancient, that is prehistoric, that is dinosauric… but I am generation x, not a baby boomer, so it is not over yet. I don’t cling to traditions or refuse to adopt evolving technologies. I don’t preach traditional behaviours to people, and I encourage them to live freely. 

                  From time to time my knees may remind me of the passing of years. On other occasions it will be the plethora of memories and experiences that I am able to draw upon and surprise even myself with how far back they go. I recall, in the 1990s thinking that 1965 was ancient history… now, in 2026, I look at 1996 like it was yesterday. And yet, I still listen to The Clash, a band I discovered in 1983. I still listen to The Smiths and The Cure, bands I discovered in the mid-eighties, I still love Bad Religion, a band I discovered in 1993… and I still go to see Bad Religion play live any time I can. It inspires me deeply that they continue to be as vibrant and relevant today as they ever have been and that such a cultural, educational, humble band exists… that the members as individuals exist. 

                  Cheers. 

                  

Bad Religion, Dallas, Texas, 18 April 2024

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