Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
He Had All the Breaks
OLD MOM SENT
clippings over the years on school peers, each time noting in the margin:
He
had all the breaks.
The breaks included a stable home with adequate money to meet suburban
standards. The clippings were invariably about success for one dipshit dullard or another who
had feared to step out and risk anything. In routine confinement, furnished, all expenses paid,
they lived the norm as expected, waiting to take the family baton.
Mom could not see the gain in a life of freedom, a life of no regimen. She sent a clipping
when Charlie Dunham became president of his father's company. Charlie was a pimple-faced
nitwit whose father died long ago, but the trustees could not give Charlie the helm till he was
“ready.” At twenty-two, Charlie got the money and helm. Mom inked in the margin:
He had all
the breaks
.
Another guy made partner in his law firm where he'd worked since marrying the senior
partner's daughter two decades prior. Yet another guy had a part in a community theater play
and expounded on community and theater. Every guy was noted for all the breaks. I went to
Sunday school with Tommy Rosen from '57 to '62. Mom sent word that he'd made “a fortune”
as a CPA and had a heart attack and fell over but would likely recover after having, of course,
all the breaks.
I asked if she admired those forgettable boys. Of course she did; look what they'd done. I
asked if she could sense anything, uh, er, boring in what they did. She said, “You're crazy. You
smoke that LSD and take so many risks.” She hung her head on that critical note to allow, “But
what you had to go through, with those miserable jobs.”
I took a lead from Jimmy Levin in cutting Mom some slack. No way could she see the light
of the 60s. I could not rub two nickels together and come up with 15¢, but I got by on marginal
return. Things can get tough for anyone, and risk remains ambient, because nobody has noth-
ing to lose. A man pays sooner or later, and I paid sooner. The clippings showed no risks. Now
it's later. They're paying. She shakes her head, still concerned. Old Mom got over no lawyer or
doctor in the family but could not value a free spirit who stepped up to adventure.
Parents of the 60s suffered a split-level, cul-de-sac frame of mind. Many of their children
got haircuts and jobs on first reasonable offers. Some offers were wildly lucrative but of ques-
tionable ideals. Copping out was idealism surrendering to stability, security and appliances.
Many 60s youth co-opted. Some claimed to have fought free of war, not comfort, or that the
60s introduced peace and love as building blocks for a better future. But back then, the future
remained on hold.
