When I was a kid I used to hate the phrase "When I was your age..."  I would sit passively listening to some old person rattle on about how things were far better or far worse when they were young depending on the point being made.  And my outward demeanor was somewhere between blank and interested but inside I was rolling my eyes and looking for a trap door in the floor through which I could escape.  Respecting my elders could be taxing sometimes.

But now I'm the elderly one and I cringe every time I hear that phrase escape my lips.  But I say it.  Sometimes I just gotta.  But the nice thing about being a geezer is that I'm not required to be polite in these circumstances.  I once actually had to answer a question with, "Yes.  We had gay people when I was young!"  That one made me roll my eyes out loud.

It seems to be the way of things.  When we were young my friends and I talked about dating.  Later it was beginning a career, marriage(s), and children.  Then family stuff, grandchildren, and occasionally our aches and pains.  Now we compare medical procedures and complain about our "idiot" doctors.  And we reminisce about the old days.

One of the things that I miss about the old days is the "rabble-rouser" artists.  The disruptors who pointed out that the Emperor was naked.  The comics seem to have a corner on that market now, but there was a time when poets were arrested and singers were put on government lists.  And although I don't miss those consequences, I do miss the actions that prompted the consequences.

If a joke is made on late night TV about something current, it will show up on YouTube and everyone will watch it for a day or two.  But we sang "Blowing in the Wind" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" constantly for years.  The guitars would come out at a party and those two songs would be played and everyone sang along.  Not just making fun of a moment but criticizing a concept like war, poverty, racism, etc.

Today our poets are largely ignored.  Except, it seems, in the African-American community.  And popular music?  I realize that no one wants to be a "starving artist", but if todays artists would spend a little less time burnishing their brand and a little more time kicking sand in the face of society I think we would be better off.  We would, no doubt, squirm.  But we need it I think.  Bob Dylan used to really tick people off back when I was a kid.  But the times really are a-changing.....