No: The English army did not just win the war (for those out there who can catch the Beatles reference). I was on the bus today and next to me an older gent was reading the news paper. I have been snoopier as to what others have been reading over the last several weeks since I’ve had some genuinely interesting conversations because of it.
However, amidst the news of gunshot victims, oil spills, the monotony of armed conflict, and the standard reports of North Korea being a dick: there was a human interest piece. Normally I ignore these as while I appreciate that fluffy got out of the tree, I don’t consider it real news. Instead of showing REAL positive news, papers and TV journalists throw out feel good hallmark bullshit. This one, however caught my eye.
“San Diego woman turns 111, making history”
I didn’t read the article at the time (I have though and it’s kind of cool, I’ve put it here for posterities sake).
I was just struck at how old she was. 111…after some grinding gears upstairs I figured that means she was born in 1899. RIGHT at the turn of the 20th century…holy shit…That is awesome. Think of all she’s seen? Of all the ages to live through, I think living through the 20th century with its remarkable changes and complete game-changing social upheavals has got to have been the coolest ever.
She saw 2 World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and 2 Gulf Wars.
She saw Cars go from a luxury novelty to a necessity.
She was alive for the invention of airplane and the full course of its evolution.
She got to see it go from ‘Man will never fly’ to ‘Okay, maybe man CAN fly’
She got to see it go from ‘Man will never break the sound barrier’ to ‘for serious?’
She got to see it go from ‘Man will never walk on the moon’ to ‘STOP THAT!!’
She had the white-knuckle thrill ride of sixty years of potential any-minute-now apocalypse as the Soviets and US squared off.
While we are on the topic she was around for the entire course of the Soviet Union.
She witnessed the rise of America as a world power.
She witnessed the shrinking of the world as global networks have allowed us to instantly talk to people on the opposite end of the globe, people who would take months or YEARS to contact when she was born.
She saw not only the rise of the information age (which many of us have seen) but also its prologue.
There was the Civil Rights movement and the beginnings of a color-blind future for humanity (we are still working on that)
There was Women’s lib and with it the complete upheaval of gender roles that have been in place for thousands of years (And unfortunately we got Fiona Apple out of it too, but you can’t have EVERYTHING, right?)
She saw the assassination of one major US president and the attempted assassination (sometimes on multiple occasions) of at least ten others.
The fundamental building-blocks of all life and those of the universe have been discovered.
Pluto stopped being a planet (Which I still choose not to believe).
Penicillin and Latex contraceptives have been invented and made life infinitely more fun
There was the rise of Rock & Roll and its slow decline into Pop music & Justin Bieber
That’s all I could think of without turning to looking at stuff on Wikipedia. That feels like cheating for the purposes of turning this into a published rant. So I am going to just stop here.
For the cheap seats: What would be YOUR ideal century to live through? Why?
