Perhaps, my father did in 1940. His youth had been hard, even desperate, as it was with so many midwestern farm families in the dust bowl and depression of the 30's. Unable to cope, his father, my grandfather, moved to California leaving his debts and family behind. My father, as the oldest child, took up the man-of-the-house role as best he could. But in 1940, the family had largely recovered as Dad had secured a job with the railroad; he had a car, his draft notice was still two years away, and he was falling in love with the woman he would be devoted to until death parted them 56 years later. Yes, I think he might have thought in 1940 that THAT was a pretty good time.
But I don't mean it in that personal kind of way.
I mean that we are poised at the brink of some big developments, some of which will not be pleasant. Some, such as climate change, have been heralded for a number of years. Will there be massive crop failures, famine, horrendous storms and rapidly rising oceans? We'll see soon enough. But not yet.
I just (today) finished reading Sam Harris' The End of Faith in which he warns of widespread strife with Islamic nations. A real danger, I think, especially after 6 years of Bush (43) fanning the flames. Yet many think we will leave Iraq and it will be over, and they could be right...we'll see.
On more positive fronts, science is pelting us with exciting new discoveries on a near daily basis. Planets are being discovered at an increasing rate, and supercollider experiments may soon unravel another layer of physical law and reveal more secrets from the first milliseconds after the big bang.
Then there is the appearance in this country of so-called "aggressive atheism" as a series of books by Dennet, Harris and Dawkins have recorded impressive sales, and now Christopher Hitchens has joined in. Just last week, a prime time debate between the "Ratonal Response Squad" and apologists Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort drew a large enough audience that cable channels are now wondering how to cash in on the new phenomena. Of course, many who read these books and most who watched the debates are hardly atheists; the interest is something new and exciting.
Most atheists of my age would talk about how isolated they have felt. For so long, I met so few who saw the world as I did. But this is now changing. Our local atheist group just celebrated its 10th birthday earlier this year. For many years here in Austin, local viewers have been exposed to "The Atheist Experience", a live, call-in cable access show where the god/no-god debate is waged weekly. Our group also produces an internet radio show call "The Non-Prophets", which just a few years ago had a tiny audience. Now both shows are popular podcasts with listeners around the world. And...I have an iPod!
So here we are. The economy is good, the war is half a world away, the gulf still stops at Galveston, and there is water in Lake Travis.
In the final scene of the original "Terminator", the heroine mother of the unborn savior of humanity gases up her car for the drive deep into Mexico to escape the conflagration only she knows is coming. The attendant observes the clouds and comments that there is a big storm coming...
Maybe so. We'll see.
bfa
