In the late
summer of 1963 I bought a datebook. It was the Week at a Glance. Every year
since then I’ve bought a new one, mostly the Week at a Glance or Exacompta’s
Space 17. And in summer 1971 I started keeping a journal.
Whenever it’s been 50 years since something in my life coincided with something happening in the world or seemed worth noting on its own, I’ve written something about it either on Facebook or here, on the blog. So here’s my #FiftyYearsAgoToday to remember and pass on, from my March 15, 1973, journal.
“What I’ve been doing for the past three to four years is just bouncing along, marking time, and waiting for it all to start over again. What? Well, protest, revolution, the whole happy we’re-about-to-change-the-world scene. Only now, three months into Nixon’s second term, does it finally become solidly real that all that is over. The women’s movement has peaked and now sliding down into hard work for everyone. I am actually over 30, and my next birthday will make me 31, not 30 again. The fifties are a heavy nostalgia number—and when your very own adolescence becomes some other adolescent’s ancient history-nostalgia, it’s time — to what? Grow up? No, not that yet. Take stock? I do that all the time. Well, what? Start looking ahead, that’s what. Stop waiting for the sixties problems and solutions to come around. Keep on top of what is happening now. The way to stop getting old is not to be old. Stop thinking, ‘back when I was 25’ because you’re not anymore and it’s not anymore. The seventies are going to become history pretty soon, and you might as well know what they were about when they happened. Looking backward with your eyes shut won’t keep them from happening. If all you know is the fifties and sixties, you’ll become obsolescent in no time. So the war in Vietnam, as we knew it, is over. What’s next? What is going to happen next?”
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I’m participating in the 16th annual Slice of
Life Challenge over at Two
Writing Teachers.
This is day 15 of the 31-day challenge. It’s not too late to make space
for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager
to read what you have to slice about. Join in!
WOW! So impressive that you can reach back into a personal archive for this. You were so perceptive, though I had to laugh at your admonishing your 30 year old self to “stop thinking back to when I was 25”! I’ll bet you laughed, too. Your reflection here makes me think, as I often do, that the issues never go away and constant work and vigilance are required of us. My favorite line is ‘the women’s movement has peaked and is now sliding down into hard work for everyone.’ No kidding. You were truly prescient at 30. Thanks for sharing this very interesting piece from the past.
ReplyDeleteI certainly did laugh at my 30-year-old admonishment to myself. It also reminded me of how resistant I was to turning 30 — after all, it was someone in my generation who had said maybe just 10 years earlier, never trust anyone over 30. I hope young people have overcome that prejudice.
DeleteThis is awesome! So amazing to have journaled for so long - and to be able to readily get your hands on a past memory. I love this line so much, "The way to stop getting old is not to be old." So funny to think you wrote this at age 30 - and, yes, it is very wise.
ReplyDeleteI love that you journaled and can keep looking back! That’s what I hope my blog will become for me - I still have some journals from high school or even elementary school filled with silly songs or vacations I took, and it’s fun to look at what was important then.
ReplyDeleteSo amazing that you can reach back in time and relive what you were thinking and doing through your journals. It sounds like you were a pretty wise 30-year-old! I'm looking forward to rereading my journals and blog posts far into the future just like you do.
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