Now that my parents have been gone for some considerable time, our differences come into focus.#
I felt that my life was dispensable, temporary, so I was ready to take risks that they didn't want me to take.#
If you took them at face value, they were sure I was going to fail and be dependent on them. That I would fail at what I was trying to do, and then be a failure at life. That could have been the outcome. I was certainly close a few times! ;-)#
Why I was willing to take such risks is something I don't know. I have theories about it but I'm too close to have a good idea. I am what I am, it never was in question that I would do risky things. I wanted to do big things from a very young age. #
My parents on the other hand valued security above all else. They had steady jobs, savings accounts, were very careful with their money. #
Funny thing was that both my grandfathers were pretty sure I was doing the right thing.#
Even though I overcame their objections, I don't think either of my parents ever forgot the judgement they formed years earlier, that I was a failure. On a personal level I still took big risks even if I had established myself from a productivity standpoint. (This was my mother's biggest value, that we be productive.)#
They were depression era refugees in World War II. #
I think they would be surprised to know that I actually did pick up most of their values re money. While I have been willing to roll the dice on new ideas I either thought had potential or I believed in for other reasons, otherwise I am quite conservative in the way I live, though it took me a while to arrive at that. Acquiring too much is a burden, living as lightly as you can is a good value. That was my mother's thing. I never have been very organized in record-keeping. In that I am original, both my parents were very good at that. Maybe that's my act of rebellion. ;-)#
Also people who think the story of Boomers is written, consider Covid-19. We're still here, it's part of our story too. For all the hardship my parents' generation survived, they never had to deal with a pandemic. I'd love to send them an email about that. My grandparents on the other hand were around for the 1918 pandemic.#
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)