She was a pure bred Blue Tick Coon Hound without a lot of the usual speckles or barking. A quiet hound who was good with people, but particular about other dogs. The first time she met the dynamic duo of Artie and Danny (lab crosses who were about her age) she tried to crawl over Liz in the car to attack them. It didn't take her long to figure out they were more useful as her soldiers than enemies. The three of them made up our Best Pack Ever for several years.
Millie was one of the healthiest dogs we've known, rarely needing any vet care beyond annual shots. She aged gracefully, slowing down but always moving - that's a clue, humans. She went on the twice a day field walk every day until last month. At the end she could still climb stairs, eat a full meal, let us know she needed to go outside, and even bark warnings at the new girl Lucky, who quickly learned that Grandma Millie meant business. She was low maintenance, high energy, and a lot of bluster. She tolerated cats, but let them know she wasn't their buddy. She looked like a baby dragon with velociraptor feet when she coiled up to sleep and was stingy with her soft kisses. She could be aloof, but she loved her pack and made us laugh with all her seriousness. We miss you already Sweet Millie. Run, Jump, Fly Good Girl! We'll see you on the Other Side.
Some of the so-called "boomer" posts are memes which reminisce about the past, and they sometimes say things like, "Those were the best times" or "We grew up in the best times" or "We had the best cars, the best music, etc." For some reason, those types of sentiments have "boomer energy." I realize that every generation probably feels the same way. You reach a certain age, and you look back on your past, and there are certain things which suddenly seem really special. It doesn't matter if you're a boomer or Gen X or a Millennial or Gen Z, when you reach a certain age, you will most likely feel that way about the music, fashions, and cars that were popular when you were young.
So why the endless, ENDLESS references to the boomers? These are Gen X groups. Gen X people are sharing those memes. Millennials are probably sharing similar memes in their groups. Why is there so much focus on the boomers? It's getting really old. People can't help when they were born. The boomers can't help the fact that they're boomers any more than I can help the fact that I'm Gen X. And the older I get, the more I look back on my childhood, teen, and young adult years with nostalgia and a certain sense of wishing certain things were still the way they were then. This is not something only the boomers feel, it's universal.
I hope there comes a day in the not-too-distant future when people tire of using the word "boomer" as an insult.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. ~Neil Postman