what if - part one - changes

7/27/2019 What if - Part One - Changes

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What If - Part One: The Times They

Are A Changin´

Change seems to come easily to me. Thinking back,

some major events in my life that I choose of my

own free will might really scare me now. For

example, how could I have simply decided to pack

up everything into my 1965 Ford Mustang and drive

from Lansing, Michigan out to California? I had only

a vague plan to get a new job as a chemist in what

was to become Silicone Valley and not much in the

way of savings. However, that's what I did. Or how

could I imagine immigrating to Vancouver, Canadato avoid being drafted? I even went so far as to

obtain and prepare the necessary forms!

Fortunately, such a radical change wasn't necessary. At the time, these were rational, thought

out and planed actions on my part. But other significant changes happened to me, and

contrary to my preplanned moving to California for example, some of them occurred beyond

my active and conscious choice. Here's a short description of some.

In the early 1980´s, I already had been working for almost 10 years as a developmental chemist

in the process research department for a small international pharmaceutical company. The

headquarters were I worked was located in a suburban city in Orange county and I lived in arented one bedroom furnished apartment not far from the original Disneyland. Usually I drove

to work in my Japanese made stick shift compact, but even in those days, I could safely ride my

bicycle to work if I wanted. So you can see that I wasn't into the "uptight" conservative soon to

become "yuppie" scene. Yet, while I had let my hair grow to shoulder length, bought an

acoustic guitar and even had occasionally smoked a little pot, I hadn't ever fully bought into

the hippie movement that by that time had essentially disappeared. I was now a non-active

supporter of all anti-war movements and readily defended pacifism. I was against the death

penalty and in favor of abortion. I even recognized a certain incongruity in this position. An

incongruity still not fully defined and justified among modern day liberals, at least as far as I

have followed the various discussions.

Thinking back to those times as to my social and mental state, I just was cruising along with the

times and culture around me. I was fortunate enough to have a decent college education that

provided me with a curriculum sufficient to obtain a decent paying job. But more importantly, I

believe that I had sufficient liberal education and upbringing during my early formative years in

Middle West, to keep a job and live a "decent and honest" life.

Getting back to Southern California scene of the 1980's, one could say that I was well into

changing my person from a God and Country loving Boy Scout to someone who might be called

nowadays, a "light hippie ". But how did I get onto this track? And what kept me from going

down the road that would lead me to becoming a gun loving right wing Vietnam War veteran



or another road leading toward being a complete "communist lovin' hippie"? Of course, the

tendency towards becoming a "light hippie" had already started before I left home to go to

college. But even after I had graduated and before moving out to California, I halfheartedly

tried volunteering for the US Armies officer-training course to become a chemical weapons

specialist. So neither my pacifism nor my other liberal tendencies were very well consolidated.

Could the following considerations be part of the answers to previous questions? My father

always considered himself a Republican, and probably usually voted that way. Yet maybe

unconsciously so, he taught me to question not only the motives of my friends, but also my

own motives. Of course, he always asked me why I had to dress like my friends, or do what

they did, such as play on the basketball team; typical of individualistic style he valued. Financial

considerations undoubtedly impacted on his always expressing theses thoughts, since many

times he could not finance our families desire to "keep up with the Jones", even if he would

have liked to do so. Additionally, these social environmental stresses and the unconscious

teaching by my parents, coupled together with a natural(?) curiosity on my part, help

counterbalance a strong trait of naivety in me.

It seems to me that within obvious physical and financial restraints, it's natural for everybody

to try to do what they like, read, buy and essentially live, the way they like. What is more

important to me though is for one to know why they like what they want and do. To

understand when their tastes are being manipulated, and whether they are wiling to accept

this manipulation.

Now for a limited case study, let's just consider our tastes in music,. We could also go into our

tastes in cars, clothes, home, food, whatever. But for now, I'll limit myself to music.

When I was considerably younger (back in the 1980's in California), I somewhat snobbishly

prided myself on the fact that I "liked" all kinds of music, from Rock and Roll to Opera and

Classical. Now days, I readily admit that Heavy Metal, Rap, Funk, just aren't suitable for my

iPod. And I've thought over the reasons as to why I appreciate acoustic folk and blues style

music. The ability of an artist or group produce musical sounds that are simple and limited in

style, but still are exceptionally intense and complex in the feelings generated: this is why I like

that style of music. Of course, the super studio produced music, for example take Simon and

Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters. It was produced to be enjoyed and liked by the

masses. I still appreciate the talent and sound that is evident in the final result. And have

enjoyed the sound ever since the first time I've heard it. But, the early songs of Bob Dylan, Girl

from the North Country for example, I enjoy this one and similar songs much more. Simple and

complex at the same time, not something easy to achieve I think.

Getting back to recent 2013 times, I saw a post (card, Sic.) somewhat related to these thoughts

and comments that led me to do some more research on the subject of individualism. The

phrase went like this: "I refuse to apologize for being liberal. I was raised to think for myself."

From someecards / Mary Mikesell and Colleen and Chris Burgen via the site: Being Liberal. This

sounded "right-on" to me, but I questioned myself as to exactly what does "thinking for

oneself" have to do with being liberal, or even with being conservative for that matter.



As in the previous reference to my conservative father, he might have said something similar:

"I refuse to apologize for being conservative. I was raised to think for myself." I'm still

searching (at least through the internet) and studying in more detail, how liberals and

conservatives think. So far, I haven't found any direct relation between one political option and

or the other and how they think. It seems to me, that the original phrase was intended more

to belittle the thinking ability of conservatives. In the political debates going on today in the

US, there seems to have generated a lot more "heat" than critical substance. This post is a

good example. In any case, it's not my intent at the moment to go deeper into the differences

between liberals and conservatives. But I'll put it on my list of topics to return and discuss

sometime in the future.

For now, all I can say is that it sure seems that I've changed. Over the years I've changed from

an up and coming young conservative to an older center liberalist. For better or worse: I'll

leave that up to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_They_Are_a-Changin'

Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon

For the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' whoThat it's namin'

For the loser now

Will be later to win


Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurtWill be he who has stalled






There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls


Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your handFor the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is

Rapidly fadin'

And the first one nowWill later be last


what if - part one - changes

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