Summer time is usually my favorite time because I feel best when the sun is shinning and when it is warm, but this year it has been really too hot to enjoy being out of doors. Of course it was hot when i was young and we had no air conditioning and haymaking and thrashing on the farm were hard, sweaty work. I wonder now how the older men endured it, but they were used to it and knew the work had to be done.
Last Sunday was our family reunion, and my cousins and I are now the oldest living generation. I am fortunate to remember well all of my grandparents who were still living when I graduated from college. They were farming families who came from farming backgrounds, and all of my aunts and uncles lived on the farm except Ada Mae, and her husband Landon worked mostly on a farm. We all lived within a 30 mile radius so we saw each other often, and had large family reunions almost every summer. Now our families are spread out, particularly the next generation, so it is likely that when we cousins are gone, the annual reunion will probably become a thing of the past. We used to have our reunions at parks or at someones farm house, but now we have it in an air conditioned VFW hall, and that was a good thing this year!
Attendance by the younger generations was sparse, although I was very pleased that my grandson and great granddaughters were there. Of course we older ones remenisce with each other about fond memories and probe each others minds for answers to questions we now wish we had asked our parents while they were living. There are a lot of experiences we could share with our children about what it was like growing up in rural Indiana during the 1940's, but our lifestyle then does not much interest most of them until they reach 50, and then our times together are occupied mostly with entertaining grand children and we want to know what is happening in their lives. Our mortality really doesn't sink in until we near retirement, and it is not particulary healthy to look back too much. Whatever the purpose of life is, it is to be lived, and the more active we are the fuller and happier our life experience will be.
So, yesterday Marcia and I went to the Indianapolis International Film Festival at the Indianapolis Museum of Art which is not far from where we live. We saw Summer Pasture , a documentary about nomadic life in the highlands of Tibet. At least there they are not concerned with the heat, but their livelihood depends upon the milk from their Yak herds, and the dung from them is their source of heat. At 15,000 ft. it is a harsh environment except in summer. Recently these nomads have found a new source of income, Caterpillar Fungus , which is in great demand for use in medicines. This is a poignant film, depicting the nomadic life and the particular hardships of the female who is expected to do most of the work. It is no wonder that these nomadic groups are disintegrating as more and more of the younger ones leave for life in the remote towns. I was touched by the young mother's experience and her endurance, and I strongly recommend seeing this film. It will make you appreciate that life is difficult around the world, but more difficult in some places than others.
I continue to read, having recently finished F. Scot Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night, and currently slogging through W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. Fitgerald's book is interesting both for its description of affluent life in France in the 1920's and the treatment of mental disorders by the self-centered psychiatrist who is the main character. His wife is a patient, and he himself is flawed, as of course we all are. Maugham's book is about the life of a physically handicapped man, his search for love and an occupation, and struggles to overcome his feelings of inadequacy. Thrown into both books are passages regarding the author's views on life, religion and politics of the day. Just the stuff I love to read for its historical insight.
I find myself now taking little time with the newspaper and television news reports. Most of the news is not encouraging. Sure I care about what life may hold for my children and grand children, but most of the people who are in a position to influence the future of our country are really more concerned about the next election than they are about doing what is best for the U. S. of A., and the World! I vote; I abhor the money spent on elections. Just think what good could be accomplished if that money were spent "for the good of the people"! There isn't much I can do at my age to influence the future. All I can do really is to encourage young people to seek knowledge, beware of slogans and sound bites, be tolerant but do not abide fools! Read!
