On My Back Porch

Music of the 1960's and 1970's plays in my ears as I contemplate what it is like to again be out on my back porch enjoying the warming weather while listening to the Cream and Hendrix softly whispering into my imagination and memories of what it was like to be a teenager again...  for me, it was not like what others endured because I was white and theoretically was being raised on white privilege...  curiously, my parent's house was smaller than the house my wife and I live in 60 years later.  

We had one bathroom with a shower for 5 of us to use and our outside yard could be mowed in about 30 minutes.  We lived in a community that was considered to be in the country...  4 miles south of Alexandria and 8 miles south of Washington, DC.  My father walked two blocks to catch the bus into Washington where he worked.  My mother did not work and we had 1 car that did not have a heater or an air conditioner because those features increased the base price.  We wore coats and sweaters in the car in the winter and rolled the windows down in the summer.

However, my parents lived better with children than they had lived in North Carolina as children with their parents...  BUT, according to the critics, both my parents and I were raised on white privilege.

WHERE PRIVILEGE ENTERED THE PICTURE was when I attended high school in Cairo, Egypt and attended classes with students of all colors from countries all over the world.  Our 1966 graduating class was 28 in number with 15 different nationalities; in fact, the VALEDICTORIAN of our senior class was a HUNGARIAN COMMUNIST who was flown to Russia after he graduated.  Whites, Blacks, Browns, Asians, Africans, Canadians, Europeans, Chinese, Japanese shared life together, never realizing we were different in color or different in our religious beliefs, or different in our political ideologies.

In the summers and since we could not work, groups of us 10-15 would travel through Europe for 30-60 days.  At that time, we could travel through Europe between $3-$5/day.  We oftentimes purchased a EURAIL PASS that gave us UNLIMITED mileage for 30 days for about $100.  So, the total cost of traveling throughout Europe was about $500.  And...  the education we received was invaluable and had nothing to do with white privilege...  as color was present all around us...   if your parents worked for the US EMBASSY, then you were privileged...  there were just as many blacks as there were whites...

After graduating from high school whatever privileged I had previous enjoyed VANISHED into the thin air of LIFE.  I worked while I attended college because I no longer wanted my parents to control me and require that certain grades be achieved.  I dropped out of college and ENLISTED into the US NAVY and there is no privilege associated with being an enlisted man in the military.

After two years, I was honorably discharged from the active duty military but had to continue 4 more years as a RESERVIST.  Using the GI BILL, I finished my undergraduate degree and also had enough money to complete an MBA.  There was no white privilege there either as I earned the right to have the government pay for my education, especially since we were engaged in the Vietnam War at the time.

Throughout my 45 year career, I was FIRED because I challenged the incompetence of management and refused to kiss the ass of management or violate my integrity.  My behavior was not an example of white privilege...  in fact, it was an example of having no privilege at all.

At the age of 60 I experienced a serious heart attack and my Cardiologist recommended a triple bypass...  My brother was on the Board of Directors of NY Presbyterian Hospital and opened the door for me to fly to NYC and have my arteries cleaned out and five stents inserted over a period of 3 operations.  THIS WAS CLEARLY AN EXAMPLE OF PRIVILEGE and to be quite honest I am glad that MY BROTHER had been in a position to have forced this to happen.  And...  13 years later, my heart is responding perfectly for a man of my age.    

On my back porch, I reflect and remember a not so glamorous past and I wonder if I would have changed anything if given a second change since this is what actually happened and since this is what actually happened why would I ever want to change it?

Similarly...  what's happening now is what is happening...  and, when it is done, why would we ever wish for it not to have happened?  Life happens because it is supposed to happen... and, there is a reason for it to happen whether or not we understand it at the time.  If we loose our freedoms, we were meant to loose our freedoms.

Classic Rock Memories

Radio Station:  Classic Rock '64 -  '71

Commercial Free

• The Beatles
• The Rolling Stones
• The Doors
• Bob Dylan
• Neil Young
• Jimi Hendrix
• The Birds
• T. Rex
• Chicago
• Credence Clearwater Revival

Not too many days ago, I decided to buy some noise reduction/cancellation headphones so that my wife could listen to her music without disturbing me...  and...  while that purpose was not full achieved, I started listening to the above online radio station and just about every song took me back to memories of my past....  most of them good, since I was a carefree soul back then...

Most of these songs and groups were the ones I listened to when I was in High School in Cairo, Egypt and VOA (Voice of America) was the only radio station we could receive...   What we typically listened to was recorded music when someone returned to the US on what was called "home leave.".

The years '66-'68, I was attending college in NC and from '69-'71, I was in the US Navy, stationed at Little Creek, Norfolk, VA.  I received an honorable discharge in 1972 and returned to college...

Importance of an Education

In 1966, I graduated from high school in the Spring and entered college in he Fall of that same year.  Two and a half years later, I left college because I was not happy, worked for a year then enlisted in the US Navy and after 2 years realized that in the military was not the place I wanted to be, so I left and returned to college and two years later received a BA degree.  Five years later, I entered Grad School and after 2 more years, I graduated with an MBA.

While my MBA opened doors that would have otherwise been closed, I hardly ever used the knowledge from my MBA in the discharge of my duties until I started designing and teaching classes in Project Management which lasted from about 3-5 years out of my 45 year career.

SO...  what was the point of my education?

From my standpoint, my education provided me with a lot of knowledge but did very little in the performance of my job or in my pay raises or advancements, except opened door as I mentioned.  Therefore, my career could have been just as successful had I received no education at all outside of high school.

First of all, when I left college in 1968 and entered the military, I could have remained in the military for 20 years and retired in 1990 at 43 years old.  At that point, I could have used my military experience and secured another job doing whatever for another 20 years and retired a second time in 2010 at 63.  I still would have been below FULL RETIREMENT AGE to receive Social Security, but I would have income from 2 other pension plans.

During my career, I had an opportunity to talk with a restaurant owner, who after high school got a job at that restaurant as a bus boy...  worked his way up to a waiter, then a cook, then chef, then assistant manager, then manager, and after all those years working for the company was given the opportunity to purchase the FRANCHISE and became owner.

He had no college debts that he had to pay off but when talking with him he came across as a well educated person.  During our conversation, he told me that he read a lot and learned most of his knowledge by reading as there was no tests or pressure on him to retain the knowledge he was reading so it was easier for him to remember.

When one speaks of the IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION, one is always assuming that this means going to college, but college is not for everyone.  I was lucky because the GI Bill paid for all of my college education after I returned to college; otherwise, I would have had TONS OF DEBT to pay off with very little to show for it...  and, because of all that debt, I may have been forced to move out of the South where the wages are traditionally LOW...

Cairo American College

From 1962 through 1966 I attended Cairo American College, in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt because my
father worked for the American Embassy.  The school housed grades 1-12 and those who attended were the children of Diplomats stationed at their respective Embassies in Cairo, Egypt.  My graduating class totaled 28 with about 12-15 different nationalities.  I remember that the Valedictorian of our Senior Class was a Hungarian Communist.

During those years 1962-1966, it was possible to climb up the pyramids which I understand is no longer possible.  My fellow classmates and I climbed to the top of one of the pyramids, carrying a goat-skin water bag full of wine that we drank once we got to the top.  It was also possible and very easy to buy little blocks of hash from street vendors but I suppose that is no longer possible either.

CAC had no cafeteria so all students had to bring their lunch and sit at picnic table under a covering to protect us from the sun.  While there were trees and a little vegetation, most of the area inside the walls of the school was compacted sand.  The buildings were made of substance that reminds me of sandstone or a plaster/clay like material.  The buildings had tall ceilings with fans and openings covered with wooden shutters with no glass or screens.  I guess the idea was that heat rises and it would remain cool where one was seated, but that was never the case.

Our sports teams basically consisted of basketball and field and track and volleyball.