Fifty Years Ago Today...

Fifty years. Half a century. Once again, it’s my birthday! Yes, I am now officially old, as my grandkids have made sure I’m aware. I really don’t think they needed the occasion of my birthday to make their point; they seemed to have the same opinion when I was 49. Trouble is, I fear they may have a point now! How did this happen? Sometimes it’s hard to believe. Seems like just the other day, I was a kid. And I remember it all very well.

But while I have a fairly decent memory, strangely, I do not recall anything about my birth, although I’m quite certain I was there. Positive almost. Still, I have no recollection of the momentous occasion.

Since I can’t relate any of the details, I had planned to share some pearls of wisdom; things I’ve learned in my fifty years on the planet—then I realized I don’t really have any because the older I get, the less I know. Maybe it’ll turn around now though and over the next fifty years, I’ll learn something. Hopefully it does, because if not, and things continue as they have been, I’ll be completely devoid of knowledge by the time I reach 100 I’m afraid.

But that’s okay, I guess. I doubt I’ll need to know much at that age. And it probably wouldn’t do any good if I did know things; no one would care, or listen, and I’d be too old to use any of it.

In light of all that, I’m not convinced birthdays are not really that meaningful; they haven’t as yet made me any smarter, but they have dramatically contributed to the aging effect—gray hair, increased aches and pains and the like. Of course, birthdays ARE significant in one respect—I’m still alive and kicking!

I guess that’s the only bit of wisdom that I can impart... "Birthdays may be the leading cause of aging but they are one of the best indicators that a guy is still alive!"

Okay, I’ll stop rambling now and start celebrating as the clock just struck midnight. It’s now April 3rd and I’m... fifty years old! ~

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Missing History

Never trust the history books. Sometimes they get it wrong. Or, they simply leave out important events altogether.

Take for instance, the year, 1967. Many significant things happened that year, not the least of which was me being born. Yes, contrary to the popular speculation of some (my wife), I was indeed born and not hatched.

Sorry, I get sidetracked easily. Back to my point.

Among the notable events of 1967 are: the Apollo Missions, the first heart transplant, the first Superbowl, and as I already mentioned, my birth. I may be biased but I view the latter as the single most important event of the year. (It’s okay, I’ll understand if you don’t see it quite that way).

On the darker side, other events of the year include: the Six Day War, Colorado becoming the first state to legalize abortion, and the forming of the Department of Transportation. 1967 was also a year marked by nationwide race riots.

All this I knew. In preparation for this post, and to see what other stellar events occurred that year, I turned to the history books, which these days are on the Internet. Visiting a well-known online encyclopedia website, I learned that 1967 was the year of the first live, nationwide satellite TV production, the first ATM (then called an automatic cash machine), Sesame Street made its debut, the pocket calculator was invented, and the first Boeing 737 took flight.

I found these somewhat trivial facts to be interesting and impressive. Yet, strangely missing was anything that occurred on April 3rd of that year. I refined my search. The results?

“No significant events for this date.”

Really?

I checked several other websites. All of them agreed – nothing worth mentioning occurred on April 3, 1967. Hmm. Are they all in cahoots with my wife, or what? I was sure that’s the date I was born. Just to make certain, I dug out my birth certificate, and there it was in black and white. I was born on April 3, 1967. For some odd reason, that earth-shattering event has been overlooked; omitted from the historical record! I’m shocked! Appalled! How could this have happened?

Shrug. Sigh. It just goes to show, you can’t trust the history books.

Bruce A. Borders, author and songwriter has over 500 songs and 9 books. Over My Dead Body, and The Journey, his latest books, are available on Apple I-Pad®, Amazon Kindle®, Barnes & Noble Nook® and Sony Reader®, Kobo, Diesel Books, and Smashwords. For more information, visit http://www.bruceaborders.com/. See Bruce’s Amazon Author Page at www.amazon.com/author/bruceaborders or view his Smashwords Profile at www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BruceABorders