Growing Pains

On March 25 of 2020 my Close to Home column featured a poem about the twenty-first century ‘maturing’ even though the pandemic found us craving comfort foods and searching for security blankets in the midst of the unknown. This Ripley Countian questioned the preponderance of it all.

Neuroscience tells us the human brain finishes development and reaches maturity in the mid-to-late twenties. The part responsible for rational thinking - making wise decisions, planning and setting priorities - is among the last cerebral regions to reach the finish line.The twenty-first century is midway through its twenty-fourth year.

I suggest testing for delayed development. Before the century had its tenth birthday, the ice storm created devastation and trauma most of us here had not experienced, at least on American soil. Then, in the midst of adolescence, it sent an historic flood our way. To celebrate turning twenty, it shared that covid germ around the world. Critical lessons learned, right?

Growing pains supposedly give us character. The century is hunkering down through ever-more-frequent and powerful natural disasters, adapting to intermittent shortages and inconveniences, pouting through preposterous party politics, displaying skepticism and denial despite evidence and facts as violence escalates, and becoming increasingly dependent on technology that blurs the boundaries between genuine and fake, reality and fiction.

The twenty-first century needs a time-out in a boring corner to contemplate its growing complacency and diminishing creativity in problem-solving. Perhaps it should temporarily lose a few privileges to learn a lesson or two…

…I’ve had a few amusing moments toying with a literary device and editing the words above as though on a scavenger hunt. I realize the twenty-first century simply reflects the civilization that keeps track of it.

As one infinitesimal part of that civilization, I failed to exhibit - during the aftermath of the EF2 tornado that roared through our county on May 26, 2024 - proof of any lessons learned.

*I had my carefully calculated number of water containers for such a time, but it was useless. All empty.

*There were no out-of-date items in my cabinet of easily-opened edibles, but I had failed to replenish it as I used it.

*I’d have been in a famished state during a longer outage, especially without a stash of cash to facilitate purchases without card machines.

*My car seldom sits with under half a tank of gas so, even if conditions warrant going nowhere, it can still function as my sacred backup phone charger. This event caught it closer to empty than full, though.

I’ll try to do better. May I get out of the corner now?