Within a few months, I will have attained the utopia era that we have all heard about, paid into yet always doubted that we will ever see any net return, the Social Security Era. I look into the mirror, seeing before me a face that has changed through the years, a few wrinkles and the graying of the hair. To me, these are only minor changes, very similar to the changing of the seasons. However, to my children and especially my grandchildren, I have grown older. I recall one summer day, my granddaughter Heather and I were planting trees, she was busily helping me dig the holes, place the trees and refill the hole. Taking a break she asked me how long it would take for these trees to be big. I explained to her, that it would take many years and that I would probably never see the trees get big, but someday when she was older she could sit under one of the trees and remember the day that we planted them. She replied, "oh, that will be along time". I asked her, how many years do you think it will be, she replied, "oh, at least three years". From this, I learned that when you are young, three years is forever, at my age it is tomorrow. We planted those trees three years ago this past August.

For the sake of my grandchildren so they can equate from their history lessons in school, I was born during the Presidential Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since my birth there have been twelve Presidents: Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, G.H., Clinton and the current President George W. Bush. Perhaps, my political philosophy was developed from these administrations since six of them were Republicans and six of them Demorcrats. In this span of Presidential history, President Kennedy (Demorcrat) was assassinated and President Reagan (Republican) was wounded in an assassination plot but survived to fulfill his term in office. President Roosevelt passed away while in office, from health problems that he had prior to being elected.

If my grandchildren have aspirations to become the President of the United States, you might want to keep in mind that of these twelve Presidents, nine of them served in the military while Roosevelt, Reagan, and Clinton saw no military service. President Roosevelt was not eligible for military service due to medical reasons. President Reagan wanted to join the military during World War II, however, since he was a very popular movie star, he was encouraged to make patriotic movies and commercials for war bonds. President Clinton chose to go to school. The nine Presidents that were in the military, our current President served in the Air National Guard. Two Presidents served in the Army, President Truman was an artillery officer in World War I and President Eisenhower was the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe during World War II, retiring as a five star general. The remaining six Presidents that served in the military service were in the U.S. Navy. I assume it is coincidental that of the twelve Presidents during my life, six of them were of the Republican party and six of them were in the U.S. Navy.

To my grandchildren, at almost 62 years of age, I am old, but each day as they walk to school they see trees much older than I and never give it a thought. But how many of us really consider our age and how it compares in the overall scheme of life on earth. My sixty two years of life is but a spec on the screen of life, this is old:


This is "Lucy", a full scale model of the skeletal remains of a female hominid who lived 3.2 million years ago. Currently in a museum in Bidon, France. This year, she will go on her first-ever foreign tour. If Social Security was paid to her retroactive back to her retirement age at the national average of $500.00 per month, she would be entitled to over $18,120,000,000.00 Now "Lucy" is old, but what about her mother and father? Or how about:




This fish is a Coelathan, caught in Kenya in the year of 2001. This particular fish dates back to the time when marine animals made their first excursion onto land. However, even this timeline was set back to an even earlier age when a study of rocks collected near Buchan Victoria, East Gippsland yielded a fossil of a lung fish or Coelathan more than 20 million years than earlier finds. That is at a minimum of 16.8 million years older than "Lucy".

So to my grandchildren, on the overall spectrum of life, your Grandpa is just a youngster, I will be there to sit under the trees with you. My love to all of you.