You hear a lot about the Baby Boomers, and growing up in the Sixties. Funny, but as one who is a "Boomer," I haven't heard anything about the effects on us of the previous decade.

The point here is that some very basic things we were taught were dead wrong. Let's focus on the late 1950's and early 1960's. I was in grammar school and junior high.

A major, major theme of that era was that by the turn of the century (meaning approximately NOW) the biggest problem in America would be what to do with all of our leisure time! No doubt, this idea was based on the observation that our society was becoming more mechanized. Machines would do all the work, so we could play.

True, this was a silly oversimplification, but can be understood in light of misplaced nostalgia for the early 1800's. We were taught about how hard the early pioneers worked--from dawn to dusk, the history books said. And, aren't WE lucky today in 1958, that we have all these labor- saving devices.

Think about it. Dawn to dusk--exactly!! With no electricity, life pretty much wound down by dusk. You couldn't do anything but relax until bedtime--which I'm sure quickly followed dinner.

Now, with all of our labor-saving devices, we get to work pretty much all the time, and pick up a big dose of stress along the way. We don't die of typhoid anymore, but I'll bet there are a whole lot more folks with stress-caused chronic conditions now, than there were back then.

Add to the mix that in the late 1950's-early 1960's we heard endlessly of the promise of "Science." Cancer would be cured, and we would have unlimited electrical power (nuclear). Why, this power would be so cheap, that we would only have to pay a monthly connection fee, and use as much as we wanted.

Instead, we got toxic waste and Napalm.

We were so full of ourselves in that era, that it is no wonder that a few years later, many of us were marching around, convinced that we had all the answers to change the world. Well, we didn't then, and we don't now. The only nostalgia I have for the sixties is for the music and some girl friends.

One more thing: In the late 1950's-early 1960's the importance of having meat--especially red meat--at virtually every meal, along with three, then four glasses of milk a day was drummed into our little brains constantly. Is it just a coincidence that heart disease peaked about 25 years later?

HOLY WEEK--1997

Only one man could take a week filled with treachery, betrayal, and murder, and turn it into the holiest week of the year.

Happy Easter!!