Happy Birthday to my oldest (no pun, I just mean I have known him longest) friend, Jay. I would tell you his age, but that would also give mine away. Since we met when we were two years old, I guess that means we have known each other for four decades now! (do the math yet?).
Four decades is a long time. You could do an impressive roll of the things that have changed in those years, the world is a very different place. Here's one for each year since 1967. My apologies to Billy Joel.
1967: The summer of love. Groovy.
1968: Tet Offensive, a major turning point in the Vietnam war.
1969: First humans to walk on the moon. Out there, man.
1970: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio slain by National Guardsmen at demonstration protesting incursion into Cambodia.
1971: Twenty-sixth Amendment to U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18. Doesn't matter though, because we are 6. My future wife is born!
1972: Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. - start of the Watergate scandal.
1973: U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia. Some heavy shit going on!
1974: Patricia Hearst, 19-year-old daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army. Apparently she wasn't too bummed about it, we find out later.
1975: Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space.
1976: United States bicentennial. Coincidentally, the same year the Supreme Court rules that death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
1977: Scientists identify previously unknown bacterium as cause of mysterious "legionnaire's disease".
1978: The new Pope, John Paul I, 65, dies unexpectedly after 34 days in office.
1979: Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation.
1980: Eight U.S. servicemen are killed and five are injured as helicopter and cargo plane collide in abortive desert raid to rescue American hostages in Tehran.
1981: More than 110 die in collapse of aerial walkways in lobby of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City; 188 injured.
1982: Princess Grace, 52, dies of injuries when car plunges off mountain road. Too bad, she was HOT!
1983: South Korean Boeing 747 jetliner bound for Seoul apparently strays into Soviet airspace and is shot down by a Soviet SU-15 fighter after it had tracked the airliner for two hours; all 269 aboard are killed, including 61 Americans.
1984: Toxic gas leaks from Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, killing 2,000 and injuring 150,000.
1985: Supreme Court, 5–4, bars public school teachers from parochial schools.
1986: Space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla., killing all seven aboard.
1987: Reagan says Iran-Contra arms policy went astray and accepts responsibility.
1988: U.S. Navy ship shoots down Iranian airliner in Persian Gulf, mistaking it for jet fighter; 290 killed.
1989: Thousands killed in Tiananmen Square as Chinese leaders take hard line toward demonstrators.
1990: South Africa frees Nelson Mandela, imprisoned 27 1/2 years.
1991: South African Parliament repeals apartheid laws.
1992: Police officers acquitted in Los Angeles beating of Rodney King; rioting erupts in South-Central Los Angeles.
1993: Federal agents besiege Texas Branch Davidian religious cult after six are killed in raid.
1994: Major league baseball players strike.
1995: Scores killed as terrorist's car bomb blows up block-long Oklahoma City federal building (April 19); Timothy McVeigh, 27, Army veteran, arrested as suspect.
1996: Bomb mars Summer Olympic games in Atlanta.
1997: Princess Diana, 36, killed with two others in Paris car crash.
1998: Clinton admits to affair with White House intern in televised address to nation.
1999: First nonstop balloon flight around world completed in 20 days by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones.
2000: The world does not end because of the Millennium bug.
2001: Terrorists fly jetliners into the World Trade Center.
2002: Enron and telecommunications giant WorldCom find themselves at the center of a financial storm.
2003: A deadly new respiratory virus called SARS captures world attention.
2004: Photographs of American soldiers abusing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison surfaced and sparked outrage throughout the world.
2005: Pope John Paul II died after a bout with the flu.
2006: Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man, announced that he would give away the bulk of his fortune—10 million Berkshire Hathaway shares, worth more than $30 billion—to charity.
My gosh. That's alot of water under the bridge of life. What do you think the next 40 will be like?
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