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It's July 21st, 1969. 10:53pm.
I don't know what I am more excited about - the moon landing or getting to stay up extra late.
I've just finished second grade at Public School 99 in Queens, NY-and we finally moved to what my parents have been eagerly referring to as "The Suburban Paradise." (Everyone else calls it "Long Island.")
My favorite TV shows are "Hee Haw," "Rowen and Martin's Laugh-In" (although I don't understand the jokes), and reruns of "The Jetsons."
I sit next to my grandmother in our faux-wood paneled den, as Neil Armstrong prepares to take his historic first step onto the powdery lunar surface. Grandma yells at my dad, "move your tuchus!"* as he makes yet another adjustment to the rabbit ears antenna (his 9th in the last 30 minutes.) She passes the jiffy-pop and I cram a fistful into my mouth as she comments on the enormity of the events unfolding on our tiny black and white TV.
"You know," she says in heavily-accented English, "when I was a kid, airplanes weren't even invented."
Huh?
I stop chewing and stare at her.
The implications of that statement ricochet in my brain for the rest of the night -- I almost miss the moment Armstrong declares: "That's one small step for man...."
Days later as I watch George Jetson zooming home in his air car after a day of work at Spacely Sprockets, I make the bigger connection: When grandma was a kid they didn't even have airplanes - now she's a grown up and we can land on the moon! So.....when I'm REALLY old - say 40--when I'm REALLY a grown up - well, it's gonna be air cars for everyone -and who knows what else!?
That was my first little light bulb moment -not a huge one granted, maybe 20 watts or so - but it was "one small step" to a more conscious life.
My mom said simply "Honey, you just grew up a little bit."
All I know is that suddenly the jokes on "Laugh In" started to make sense.
32 ½ Years later -- DECEMBER 31ST, 2000. 9:34pm
Just hours before I start writing "2001" on my checks.
This is big.
The year 2001 carries almost mystical connotations for me - As a child, I was positively memorized by the movie "2001, a Space Odyssey." For those of you who are not science fiction aficionados, this visually-poetic classic includes a stunning vision of the future - regular Pan Am shuttles to massive "Hilton Hotel" space stations in permanent orbit around the earth --all just a part of every day life in the year 2001.
Hmmmmm. And now, decades after I first saw the movie, we're about to get there.
2001 is also the year I turn 40 - the year I get married and start a family
The year I am REALLY a grown-up...
This is my journal entry from that night:
"Well, here we are - less than a couple of hours before the year 2001. I am grateful beyond measure at where I am in life: a job I cherish, a woman I love, a future I embrace.
But I also can't help feeling a little let down.
Where is the "future" I envisioned as a child? Where are all the air cars and jet packs? Where are the robot maids?
Where are the Jetsons?"
The answer to that question is the real reason I wrote this blog.
March 24th, 2009.
A show I produced is going to air on March 24th. It's called "Extreme Life Extension."
As we taped the show, I kept an informal count of the times Oprah said the word "Fascinating!"
I lost count at 6.
"I am rarely surprised by anything I see in medicine," Dr Oz told me, "but what I saw on this show blew me away--I thought it was science fiction..."
This is all cutting-edge stuff: Growing organs in a lab. How science is pushing the envelope in all kinds of ways. We meet a man Dr Oz thinks may be the first to live to be 150 years old! (find out what he eats-and doesn't eat-that could add years to your life).
My favorite guest is a man who accidently chopped off part of his finger -- and scientists grew it back.
They grew back his finger.
And then near the end of the show comes my little epiphany - almost on the anniversary of my first little light bulb moment 40 years ago. Oprah, commenting on the show in general, exclaims "The Jetsons are here!"
Ah-ha. Got it.
There are no air cars or robot maids, but instead: unprecedented ability to heal the sick and end suffering, to replace what is broken and to extend life to unheard of territory.
That's the beauty and wonder of trying to predict what lies ahead: it's always bigger than we can ever envision.
Yes - The Jetsons ARE here, and they are US.
Welcome to the future.
"Extreme Life Extension" airs March 24th.
****************************************************************************************************************************
* Tuchus: Yiddish - pronounced tókh¿es or túkh¿es. Noun: buttocks, rear end, butt.
Hi Jack,
I have an AHA moment that I would like to share with you:I absolutely love reading your blogs! Eloquent and pertinent. And lovingly funny! Thanks for being here.
Never Before
I have always been able to see people as just people, regardless of their successes. When I was in University studying English Literature, I would email the author of books I would study in class because who better to get perspective about your ideas? And it was fun too. They would be excited and you just might make a friend. Same thing with anyone else in whatever profession /passion they were in. That was key; they had to love it.
Of course I was very aware about salaries, finance brackets and the like. WE can all tell when someone is making good money just by looking at their clothes. They look good and walk differently. They also have a stress free look about them. And not that their life is stress free ¿ don¿t get me wrong. Everyone has varying degrees of stress in their lives. Individuals with money or who are financially stable have a different look about them. When money is an issue ¿ it¿s on the person everywhere. You can¿t go very far without money. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere and even then ¿ who is paying for the roof over your head, your lights, gas, food etc.
Anyway I digress.
So, emailing anyone or walking up to a person and starting a conversation is fun; regardless of stature, gender, or caste. IF you are Margaret Sweatman, Martin Short, Oprah Winfrey, Forrest Whittaker, Henry Rolllins, Jon Bon jovi, Krista Ferguson, Sage Tozeland , you get my meaning.
But until I watched the 2009 Inauguration I didn¿t realize how I viewed society. This epiphany started at my toes and warmed me body and soul, all the way to the top of my head and shot right out the top of my crown. My ears burned, my head swished, I cried. Though crying wasn¿t new for me these past few days of inaugural excitement.
My Ah-ha moment came while watching the Oprah show the next day. Watching Jon Bon jovi speak about walking home after wards and for every picture that was taken with him, he took ten of them. And at that moment, I got it; I thought back to everything I had watched - In the humbleness of President Obama, the intimacy that he and First Lady Michelle share. More than two million people came out to see how dreams can really manifest. My television screen showed black white red yellow it showed Dustin Hoffman, Beyance, Sting, it showed poets, steel workers, dancers, artists, Yoyo Ma, politicians, religious clergy, mothers, doctors, lawyers, children, lovers, logicians, psychics, healers singers. On and on and on. And a musician that has been living his dream for over thirty years showed me that he is just a man. I knew that and somehow I wasn¿t aware of it. When I emailed the authors/poets in University I knew I was emailing individuals that had done something cool. But they were ¿Margaret Atwood¿ They were ¿Fred WAh¿ ¿ not the lovely woman with the sense of humor or the man that not only could play jazz but knew how to write books too. For the first Time in my 35 years I saw Gail, Oprah, Forrest, and Jon as just plain men and women celebrating a man. A beautiful humble man and his family that had finally rewrote history right. And in that moment their labels fell away. In that moment everyone on earth, their labels fell away and they were just people. How grand this was.
I used to ride the city bus just to watch people and witness their beauty. And now I truly understand. It doesn¿t matter who they are/we are, we are just people that help each other. People wanting our voices heard. People that need to embrace everyone not just some. And I am so excited.
It truly is the United States once again.
Marni Matikka
Rocanville, Saskatchewan, Canada