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Even for the children of the ’60s, getting old is a better alternative to not getting old

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Recently, The Wall Street Journal did a piece on the 1960′s rock singer David Crosby’s passion for sailing on his schooner (“David Crosby’s Schooner Muse”, Mansion, June 7, 2013) which was enlightening on several levels.

For starters, the “children of the ’60s” now own and are sailing big boats (although Mr. Crosby started back then). That’s a far cry from the materialism they denounced in the height of their youth. Whether it is Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones or any other  ’60s icon, these people have teams of lawyers and accountants to grow, protect and count their riches. It’s good to know capitalism is not just for the haughty few.

Despite best efforts, David Crosby and his generation have enjoyed their wealth and reached old age regardless of their disdain for Geritol

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Second, Mr. Crosby seems to have mellowed and realizes both his limitations as well as the error of his ways regarding free-range substance use. In short, sailing on his boat provides a greater high then whatever he can pump into his body.

Finally and related,  Mr. Crosby, against his best efforts, has reached the age of 71. I seem to recall The Who singing “I hope I die before I get old” and many of their contemporaries in the ’60s conveying such thought but it appears that like every generation before them, including the World War II generation that they butted heads with, the children of the ’60s followed the same path of life (aging, materialism and yes, general reality) that the rest of us have and will follow. The weekend at Bernies’ concerts they now hold show that the alternative to old age is not an alternative. If only their parents were around to see it.

And to borrow another thought from The Who, not only are the kids alright but they have grown up, perhaps to their chagrin.

-I.M. Windee

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 at 7:08 pm and is filed under Ruminations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.