Right Here Right Now
For a number of years, when I was much younger, I would refer to 1993 as my favorite year. I realize that many of you reading this were not born at that time. And the fact that I was old enough to regard such a year as 'my favorite' just accentuates this fact. 1993. I was fourteen for much of the year. I had been skateboarding with a great amount of motivation and drive for a couple of years at that point. I thought of little else. Too young to have a job but old enough to explore the urban landscape by bus and friend's cars. Looking back I can identify a flavor of societal optimism that has been absent since September 11th, 2001.
I remember watching, on a small television in my parent's basement, the Berlin Wall fall -- I remember sitting on the brown plastic couches watching President Reagan tell Gorbechev to "tear down this wall." At some point a pop song by Jesus Jones called "Right Here Right Now" was published and back when I would actually listen to broadcast radio, I remember thinking, as my teenage years loomed large, that indeed, this seemed like a pivotal moment in human history. Of course, everybody was saying this -- this was not a thought originating in my own mind. But I understood it. I was mowing my neighbor's yard when the song came on my headphones. I was paid $7 per lawn mow. Not bad.
The most important thing to happen in 1993 wasn't covered by the evening news, however. Back To The City 1993, in San Francisco saw Matt Beach, a local Portland-area skateboarder, who was only a year or so older than myself, take the top place going against the heavy weights of skateboarding at the time.
We were ecstatic for him -- and for ourselves, by extension! We, as in the small group of close friends I skated with, and had grown up with, weren't even good friends with Matt Beach. We said hi in passing, chatted about this or that, but that was it.
Twenty five years plus a few days have passed since that contest. News travelled very slow those days, perhaps it was exactly twenty five years ago that I heard through friends that Matt had won that contest while skateboarding around town. Nobody in 1993 had a cellular telephone, at least anyone I knew. I didn't have a cell phone until the year 2000. While not like it is now, by any stretch of the imagination, I felt like I was late to the cell phone world way back then. Imagine this, I had a cell phone before text messages were a thing. I actually had to call people.
I'm not mad at how things are now. Well, it angers me when people are terrible drivers because of their phone. I use my phone constantly at work -- and sometimes I even use it to look stuff up; I kid, I kid, but seriously, having reference information so easily accessible is imperative for practicing medicine. Especially in primary care, where things can walk through the door that you've never seen before, at any time. As I spend time with specialists I come to ever greater appreciation for both paradigms in medicine: A foot deep and a mile wide versus a foot wide and a mile deep. Taking this analogy ever further posits that while I definitely fall into the 'mile wide and foot deep' scenario, yes, but I can excavate and shape my "pond" as I see fit and however I desire. This is the benefit of primary care that I had not fully realized until recently.
I sometimes ask myself why those of us who spent portions of our life involved with skateboarding often hold it an a relative esteemed component of our life tapestry, or, whatever. Perhaps you, as a reader wonder this as well. I was busting out kickflips, heelflips in my bedroom last week. The 45 minutes I spent playing around with the most time I had spent with one in quite a while. I think it is the shaping forces that a culture that skateboarding has, or, had. Certainly the attitudes and culture of skateboarding in the early 1990's when I was a young teenager was a shaping force, for me. It is some of these elements that leave me having to check myself in a professional environment. It's not exactly a daily struggle but there are times I find myself filtering thoughts and remarks; this is appropriate and necessary for everyone, but the independent and relatively rebellious nature that skateboarding imbues in skaters is actually a very valuable characteristic that aids in surmounting any of life's challenges. No real poignant overarching, tie-it-all-together point to be made. Just golden weekend rambling.
I remember watching, on a small television in my parent's basement, the Berlin Wall fall -- I remember sitting on the brown plastic couches watching President Reagan tell Gorbechev to "tear down this wall." At some point a pop song by Jesus Jones called "Right Here Right Now" was published and back when I would actually listen to broadcast radio, I remember thinking, as my teenage years loomed large, that indeed, this seemed like a pivotal moment in human history. Of course, everybody was saying this -- this was not a thought originating in my own mind. But I understood it. I was mowing my neighbor's yard when the song came on my headphones. I was paid $7 per lawn mow. Not bad.
The most important thing to happen in 1993 wasn't covered by the evening news, however. Back To The City 1993, in San Francisco saw Matt Beach, a local Portland-area skateboarder, who was only a year or so older than myself, take the top place going against the heavy weights of skateboarding at the time.
We were ecstatic for him -- and for ourselves, by extension! We, as in the small group of close friends I skated with, and had grown up with, weren't even good friends with Matt Beach. We said hi in passing, chatted about this or that, but that was it.
Twenty five years plus a few days have passed since that contest. News travelled very slow those days, perhaps it was exactly twenty five years ago that I heard through friends that Matt had won that contest while skateboarding around town. Nobody in 1993 had a cellular telephone, at least anyone I knew. I didn't have a cell phone until the year 2000. While not like it is now, by any stretch of the imagination, I felt like I was late to the cell phone world way back then. Imagine this, I had a cell phone before text messages were a thing. I actually had to call people.
 |
| Fairly sure this was the model of my first cellular telephone |
I'm not mad at how things are now. Well, it angers me when people are terrible drivers because of their phone. I use my phone constantly at work -- and sometimes I even use it to look stuff up; I kid, I kid, but seriously, having reference information so easily accessible is imperative for practicing medicine. Especially in primary care, where things can walk through the door that you've never seen before, at any time. As I spend time with specialists I come to ever greater appreciation for both paradigms in medicine: A foot deep and a mile wide versus a foot wide and a mile deep. Taking this analogy ever further posits that while I definitely fall into the 'mile wide and foot deep' scenario, yes, but I can excavate and shape my "pond" as I see fit and however I desire. This is the benefit of primary care that I had not fully realized until recently.
Comments