Forty-Eight

When thinking about what to write for these posts, I often start by looking through the past birthday posts. I wrote the first one in 2002 when I was 24, literally half a lifetime ago! At the time I was unemployed and looking for a job and spending my time playing too many video games. A new Spider-Man film had just come out. The US had started to become enbroiled in mideast conflicts again (as a result of 9/11). A couple of years earlier the PH president was impeached and the dotcom bubble had just burst. A very familiar environment. It feels like the more things change, the more they stay the same. As the saying goes "History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes." I think the difference is that back then I was still young, idealistic, bright-eyed, optimistic, and dreaming big. Today I'm old, worried about health concerns, taking care of my parents, aware of many of the world's ills, my optimism and faith in humanity severely challenged by the past decade and current trends, and…