Old folks, queued up

                                                                                 
This morning I am using my mother's cup. She doesn't remember this cup. Shoot, she doesn't even remember me. I took it out of the back of the cupboard this morning because all my usual oversize cups are in the dishwasher. I've never used it before.

I'm not sure where it came from or why. It's been around almost as long as I can remember. There used to be a matching Father cup, but it's long since gone. My mother used this cup for years. It's cracked and chipped; I was a little afraid to pour hot coffee into it. And now, because she no longer needs anything but clothing, it rests in my kitchen cupboard.

Until I took on the Mother-cup today, I had a thought in mind for writing ---- witty and political and ironic. Perhaps, I still do. But it is tempered with the reality of what it means to pass the mantle ---- or the goblet ----or the Mother-Cup.

There is a lot of head-swiveling change going on, it seems. Future Shock is well underway. Just look around you, consult the interwebs or watch the talking heads on tv. Not only is there change, it's happening relentlessly, all at once, AND ALL IN CAPITAL LETTERS!!!

One of the things you might hear people say ---- I've even said it myself ----- is "Just wait. All those old white people will die off and things will be ok."  Same-sex marriage. Immigration. War. Racism. Technology. Gun control. Grrrrrl Power.

All very well --- I can hardly wait. That is, until I stop to realize that ----- I AM THEM.
Oh-oh. I'm waiting for my own demographic to die off? That's another tune.

It's tricky stuff, aging and all. We don't all do it the same way. I look at those old guys on tv, with the balding, white-fringed heads, and I don't recognize them as my schoolmates. They're OLD. And too often, they're STUPID. We weren't like that, were we? What happened?

I've been told that I'm stuck in the Sixties. That's probably true. There's no reason for me to watch the Grammys or even the Academy Awards, because I don't know the players. But there are things I do know. Things I learned in the sixties.

MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR

PEACE IS THE ANSWER

DO YOUR OWN THING

QUESTION AUTHORITY

Then there's the old favorite, Turn on, Tune in, Drop out. But we'll save that for another time. 

My Mama's cup reminds me that every age has its learning, every generation has its challenges. I used to envy her the glamorous cocktail dresses, live jazz, drinking culture. That's what being a grown-up looked like to me. I didn't see the underside of alcoholism and broken relationships that went with it. I didn't witness lung cancer, unwanted pregnancies, conformity.

Those old folks I so cavalierly consign to the graveyard have faced their own barriers and emerged into a world they don't recognize. It's not the Sixties anymore, nor the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties.... 

Not everyone in my generation embraced love and peace, and it looks like many still do not. Yes, all the old white guys who are giving everyone fits in congress are gonna die out. Of course, that's also someobody's grandpa. 

My Mom didn't actually pass this Mother-cup on to me, she left it behind. I'm leaving things behind as well, material things (way too many!) as well as ideas, influence and love.

When all the old guys die off and it's a different world, take a breath and look around, because the next newest thing will be right behind you. And guess who will be the old guys then?