Copyright
© 2020 John
F. Oyler
January
10, 2020
New Year Musings
Although
it is still 2019 as I write this, it will be a brand-new year by the time it is
published. In addition, we will be deep into a new decade, the tenth one which
I will enjoy. Even more impressive is the fact that my nonagenarian friends
will be celebrating their eleventh decade – that is impressive!
Like
any other year, 2019 was full of ups and downs. We lost half a dozen “best
friends”, each of whom had lived long, productive lives. This makes our
continued contact with current friends and with family members even more
precious.
Rather
than focus on my New Year’s resolutions, which seldom come to fruition, this
column will discuss our wish list for the new year and for the new decade which
it begins. A good place to start is with
the sorry state in which we find the world today.
Younger
folks keep asking us octogenarians if times have ever been as bad as they are
today. Certainly the Depression, World War II, the Vietnam discord, and the
shock of 9/11 were worse than today’s world-wide unrest. Nonetheless the
continuous conflicts everywhere are frightening, and one must hope that they
can be resolved sooner rather than later.
It
appears that no part of the world is immune to this disease. There are protests
and/or open rebellions in Hong Kong, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and
a dozen other hot spots. Catalonians want to secede from Spain; Great Britain
wants to leave the European Union; and the Muslims in India want autonomy.
It seems impossible to reverse the
trend toward the splintering of multicultural nations into individual
ethnic-centric countries. Yugoslavia was invented following World War I as a
diverse Balkan country made up of a variety of ethnic groups; today it has been
dissolved into seven different countries.
My New Year’s wish is that we find a
way to reconcile the desire for ethnic independence with the necessity for
different societies to cooperate for the common good. We thought this was
working with the European Union; Brexit is a blow to our optimism.
It is our opinion that extremism is the
foundation for much of this problem, and that that is as evident in our own
country as it is elsewhere. The experiment that is the United States has
evolved through a sequence of extremist eras punctuated by eras of compromise.
One hopes that the lessons we learned in our Civil War are sufficient to
encourage moderation between today’s extremists in both parties.
My New Year’s wish for our country is
that the moderates in both parties flex their muscles and work together for the
common good. Let’s quit stalemating on controversial unresolvable issues and
concentrate on things like infrastructure, public transportation, the budget
deficit, etc. – things that everyone believes can be resolved rationally.
My wish for the Pittsburgh metropolitan
area is that its economy continues to diversify in a fashion that provides
meaningful, adequately reimbursed employment for all levels of society. I hope
they can find a way to support our major cultural institutions as well as they
do our professional sports teams. Of course it would be nice if the Pirates’
management could provide us with a consistently competitive team. We sports
fans are fortunate for the continued success of the Steelers and Penguins.
Closer to home I have a number of
wishes for our local communities. They have managed to survive the transition
from their coal mining/heavy industrial beginnings to today’s emphasis on high
technology, health care, and education as well as most of their Allegheny
County neighbors, and much better than some others. I hope they continue to focus
on providing the amenities that make them the kind of home towns we all want to
live in.
The Andrew Carnegie Free Library and
Music Hall is a perfect example of such an amenity. Their prolific schedule of
musical, educational, and historical programs is a remarkable asset to this
area., as is the Chamber Music series at Old Saint Luke’s Church.
Regular readers of this column are
aware of my obsession with local history. We are fortunate to have Woodville
Plantation in the heart of our region. Their year-round program of events is an
equally valuable amenity. Last summer’s “Market Faire” was particularly impressive.
We hope they will be able to expand their already impressive program/event
schedule even further.
We also hope to see the Bridgeville
Area Historical Society continue to grow and prosper in the New Year, and we
hope the informal cooperative effort by the Collier Historical Society and
Pioneers West, the caretakers of the Walker-Ewing Log House, can exploit its
unique potential.
We are impressed with the resurrection
of Carnegie’s business district and the old time “Main Street” feel that has
returned. Bridgeville’s problems are dominated by McLaughlin Run flooding and
the consequent deterioration of the Baldwin Street neighborhood. Although
recent funding will help reduce the problem, the solution lies in the
communities upstream which do not control storm water runoff. Perhaps a “new
decade” wish for me would be a change in their attitude.
As far as I personally am concerned, I
am selfish enough to hope for continued good health for myself and for improved
health for several members of our extended family currently having
difficulties. I’d like to be able to spend lots of time with my family and with
my friends, especially the Octogenarian Brunch Club. Throw in a bunch of
Pittsburgh Symphony concerts, a handful of Operas, and continued informal
involvement with the Civil Engineers at Pitt, if I may be greedy.
As for our readers, my wish is that
Trib Total Media continues to allow us to produce this column each week and
that it provides enjoyment to you.
