Fortunate Enough to Be

 

Another holiday season is over.

All the gifts are given, get-togethers

and well-wishes have been passed.

For some, time has left them behind;

others luckily or grudgingly go on.

14-billion years to get here. 2023

is but another speck in the incom-

prehensible span of time. As indi-

viduals we place ourselves in the

center of relativity.

As a grade-schooler back in the

1950s I recall the world population

of the human species being about

3-billion. Today, some 70 years

later, mankind’s numbers are ap-

proaching 8-billion.

Now, at age 75, all these humon-

gous numbers tend to flummox me.

I’m pretty sure that in my more

than 270, 380 days on this Earth,

I have never before used the words,

flummox or humongous in a writing

of mine before.

Rest assured, folks, historically

speaking, I am neither the first

nor shall I be the last to make

such an indistinguishable and

nonsensical claim.

Besides, in the universal scope

of things, who in hell on Earth

could give a good goddamn?

In my time, I consider myself for-

tunate enough to remember what

day of the week it is.

                       -30-

Chris Hanch 1-3-2023