The Good ol' Days

Blog #3--(Only 1073 to go!): The "good" Ol' Days        Not to belabor the point, but on charts which list data according to age groups, my group ends with three dots (...) instead of a number. I'm of the generation who talk about their aches and pains, brag about their grandchildren, and tell the same stories over and over (the "Grandpa Syndrome"!). So I know a thing or two about being old. Actually, I'm old enough to be something of an expert on it. However, just being old doesn't make a person an expert; there must be some level of introspection and analysis.
      Now here's my dilemma. On the one hand, if I tell what I remember about my early years at "1076", it can be an asset to folks, like Dr. Ray Heisler, who might update his previous book on the school history. It can also be a unifying device to help younger members of the Ignatius community understand what us "old timers" came through...why we are like we are. Older alums might enjoy having their memories jogged by some shared experiences . "Where were you when you heard that we had dropped football?", "What was Father Nastold really like?", or "Remember when we couldn't eat meat on Friday?" Ah, Those were the days.
      On the other hand, I want to avoid the temptation to relive my past. It is too easy to view my future as behind me. (Forgive the potential for a Zen Koan.) This is where people of my generation fall into the trap of aggrandizing the “good old days”. Frankly, the period from the fall of 1963 to the bicentennial wasn’t all that great. During that period, we experienced the assassinations of President Kennedy, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy. There was racial unrest that ranged from peaceful marches to full scale riots, and we were locked in a war in South-east Asia that tore at the nation's loyalties. Finally, President Nixon was impeached and resigned his office in mid-term.
      Many of these events impacted Ignatius. Following the assassination of Dr. King, school was cancelled until Fr. Nastold determined that it was safe for the students to return. A year later, there was a walk-out by the African-American students. The centers of the anti-war demonstrations were the universities. It was a period of great social unrest. For a time, SICP was in danger of closing because we couldn’t get insurance.
      I heard it said that the reason the good ol’ days were good was because we survived them, and I guess to some extent that is true, but time does blunt the acute edges of our memories. I have friends who blame Vatican II, the dropping the Latin Mass and nuns not wearing their "classical" habits for problems in the Church. Some hold that the internet and other electronic phenomena are responsible for virtually every other social problem. However, the Church was not the same in 1953 as it was in 1000 A.D., and the telephone was not the cause of societal decay in the early 20th century.
      What's my point? Just a reflection, a reminiscence, and, perhaps, a warning to those of us who are "up in age" and those who are in great danger of becoming so. Live in the moment. Don't squander your time stewing about what might have been or what use to be.
      Life is what it is! Deal with it.