Organizing Chaos and Pushing on a Rope

I started a blog entry in which I referenced the 70’s and I had one of those thumps that get you right between the eyes. Which 70’s? 1770’s? 1870’s? 1970’s Or even 870’s (Not the best time in history mind)? Now most people alive today would know I meant the 1970’s, however the engineer in me screams to protest that assumption. Is it really that big of deal, my engineer ego says yes.



For example instant potatoes and Polaroid cameras were not around in 1870 so a person who thought of the 1870’s when I said “the 70’s” would not understand the quotation this blog entry started to be about. When my great-grandmother or grandmother said “the 70’s” I knew she meant the 1870’s. Up until 1980 when we talked about “the 70’s” in our family it was about the 1870’s. In fact I don’t recall referring to the 1970’s as “the 70’s” until at least 2004 (I still have a difficult time saying ’04). Part of my mind set most likely comes from having the distinct privilege of having elders around as I was growing up. Referring to the 1970’s as “the 70’s” seems to take away from their remarkable achievements. How do you compare surviving cholera and small pox or walking across wilderness to start a new life with disco? (Yes, I know very portentous things happened in the 1970’s. But it was the beginning of disco and how do you make up for that?)
I suppose someday I’ll be one of those old geezers who can talk about “the 70’s” and truly mean the 1970’s. Someday, maybe I will be able to say, ”Way back in ‘04” but I’m only 55 this year and way too young for all that. This time the engineer wins.


Now I wonder where I put that old Bee Gees album……