There Was A Time...Then We “Grew Up”

There was a time, not too long ago, when it seemed we could get things to make sense, once again

But, now, dear friends, as we grow so old so quickly, it’s gotten far too late to make any real amends

We had our chances and our great potentials, lives starting out below clear skies and fresh rainbows

That was a time before the pursuit of our happiness morphed into a vapid, blind & destructive greed

We had a chance to make a difference but instead chose to lurk beneath a dark corporate anonymity

But there really was a time when it would not have to have turned out in this reckless & empty way

It is not evil that drives us now, but rather a hedonistic, shortsighted lifestyle filled with empty noise

As CEOs, huge bonuses met by a responsibility to stockholders for short term profits became our goal

Once we stood tall, lean, long-haired & clear-eyed with a mind to make things better in this world

Now our strength lies in an angry bellowing catechism of for-profit Faux News Neocon soundbites

We looked upon our elders as some strange & alien race with which we had nothing in common

Today we friend our kids, expensively trying to curry their favor as we helicopter their every step

There was a time when we learned to work with our hands – building, repairing and improving

Now our people do all that sort of thing for us, our precious time being far too valuable to squander

Once we cooked for ourselves & others without any factory food containing 50 or more ingredients

Today, the processed food industry meets our needs from Natural to Lean and everything in between

We were filled with yearning for the Great West and hitched all across the Intermountain wonderland

Currently our vacations are lame cruise ships, lumbering RVs or tacky, polluted tourist destinations

Our work had to challenge us, make a difference and contribute to some kind of progress for society

We morphed into a herd of brown-nosed suckups, shoulder-climbing & down-kicking towards success

There was a time when we searched for soul mates to walk with beneath that rainbow for a lifetime

Laying awake after another brutal verbal slugfest we wonder - Where has that other person gone?

Peace and good brotherhood would help remake the world in a kinder, gentler and safer way

Now we uncritically support each dEfense increase and clamor to bomb places we can’t find on maps

Somehow we didn’t think it was stupid or useless to study earth science to try & help save the planet

Luckily, we got our MBAs part-time at night and worked our way up to empty project manager jobs

Long ago learned the lesson that alcohol was a whole lot more dangerous than Mexican ditch weed

Graduated to designer vodka martinis every freakin night and learned to mainly ignore the hangovers

Took up meditation and brain wave control with an eye towards cultivating an inner spiritual growth

Now we make irreversible and guilt-free decisions in private council with our mass Personal Saviors

Took long hikes & backpacking trips far out into the glorious mountain wilderness savoring the silence

Now we clamor for all our national lands to be accessible to our unmuffled ATVs & snowmachines

Spent years trying to become educated reading hundreds & hundreds of diverse authors & subjects

All information is now but a simple click away and we no longer require any studious concentration

We would hold politicians to high standards of decency, honesty and morality, for the good of us all

Now we parrot their marketer’s soundbites & vote for those whose masters outsource our way of life

Openly Gray

Filial piety is a Confucian value that sets an expectation for children to respect and care for their elders

We’re shuffling slowly out of assisted living, squinting against the sun, to demand our equal rights

I’m dropping the shoe polish color hair dye that doesn’t even fool my smartass grandkids anymore

The wife’s not gonna get botoxed again, but she hopes to keep the frozen smile for a while

It’s just that we’re plain tired of simply looking really stupid trying to act more like the living again

Sick of paying all these different doctors just so we can have somebody to talk to

Tired of continually searching for reading glasses I can’t find, for ten minutes, ten times a day

Gonna stand up for my god-given and constitutionally-enshrined right to a freedom from ridicule

I’m done volunteering since we’re simply viewed as bumbling & irrelevant, no matter what we do

TV has simply got to stop giving bit parts to us elders merely for the easy, but degrading, laughs

We’re sick and tired of merely being some greedy, amoral ad man’s cheap comic sales props

And they better let them wave proudly from atop the gay parade float in their bikini Depends

Yes, we demand the same politically-correct media treatment as the blacks, gays & handicapped

Everyone needs to recognize my virility, driving by in a shiny new sports car, searing my bald spot

Henceforth, you must listen to me about the spiky hairs sprouting in every direction from my ears

Gonna tweet all the dramatically incriminating pictures from my daily dog turd inspection tours

And you best believe that I am allowed to keep telling the same tired stories over and over again

They need to start portraying liver spots as sexy and attractive in their slick marketing campaigns

I’m driving slow to save on gas & enjoy the scenery - not just cause everything’s moving way too fast

You’ll have to get used to seeing these yellow, fungused toenails that I can no longer reach to trim

Further, I declare that I must now be able to cast off my shame at having to pee every 20 minutes

We reject your ridiculously-prejudiced & totally false stereotype that we all look alike, even if we do

We must get rid of all these moochers - but don’t you dare touch the benefits I’m clearly entitled to

And you just quit gawking at these clown-sized, but quite safe, no-tie, athletic shoes that I wear

They must be made to stop forcing us to ‘Ask your doctor about’ like 1800-odd costly Medicare drugs

Look, just because my world is gone & I try to avoid yours does not mean that I’m totally useless

You must once again humbly accept that my wrinkles represent a hard-earned dignity & real wisdom

We’ll no longer permit them to make lighthearted sitcom humor of our handicap-friendly death spiral

Yeah, and you just keep your damn kids off of my perfectly-manicured, artificially-green lawn, too

Listen, I don’t need any more stupefying psych meds just because you want me to shut up & sit still

Everyone needs to start appreciating the vital newsworthiness of my daily bowel movement details

Hey - I really am starting to watch my health, after 3 heart attacks, high blood pressure & diabetes

Why, I take sawdust fiber supplements & shuffle slowly around the mall - Sometimes twice a week!

80 is, after all, the new 60 and I’m still healthy enough to enjoy my Viagra, so just buzz off, sonny!

In fact, I refuse to be ashamed of any of the 14 government-subsidized drugs I take every day

I’ve earned the right to eat, drink & be merry now - Without any fear of a healthcare bankruptcy

So don’t you dare touch my social security or medicare & grant me the respect that I know I deserve