I wanted to share a couple recent cultural happenings that you may not be aware of. Frank Buckles had a birthday. And singer Ke$ha knocked Susan Boyle off the No.1 spot on the album sales charts.
Now, you may not have heard of either of these two people. Or, if you have, you may be at a loss as to how they fit together. But bear with me for a few moments and I’ll elucidate.
Let’s start with Frank, the last living veteran of World War I. This aged “doughboy” just turned 109. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, Buckles was an ambulance driver for American forces in Europe, and he once met commanding Gen. John Pershing. The seasoned gent offered some thoughts on how he has managed to reach his second century: “The important thing is the desire to live, and a purpose for living,” he told CNN.
Ke$ha, on the other hand, is all of 22. She’s the latest party-till-you-drop chanteuse who made it big not too long after dropping out of high school. Of course, her life experience has taught her a thing or two. She’s feeling a little sheepish about bumping Susan. “I feel like a jerk,” Ke$ha admitted to the New York Post. “They act like I beat her up. She’s sweet. I’d kiss her. Hasn’t she never kissed anybody before?”
When asked about his long life, Frank told the Knoxville News that, “Longevity has never bothered me at all, I have studied longevity for years.”
When Rolling Stone asked about her life, Ke$ha said, “Society has taught us to suppress certain things, but if I want to do something, I let the animal inside take over, no matter how uninhibited or irreverent it is. Who cares? Crazy people are what keeps life interesting.”
“If your country needs you, you should be right there,” Frank told the News about service and patriotism. “That is the way I felt when I was young, and that’s the way I feel today.”
“I think people can stand to take themselves just a little less seriously,” Ke$ha said to Billboard magazine about her own battles. “I’m fighting the war against pretension.”
“I had many different assignments and I was doing things that I thought were important … no, I didn’t either: I didn’t think they were important. But I found out afterwards when I read up on my history that some of the things that I did were quite important,” Frank told Tampa Bay Online.
“If you come to a live show, it’s a sensory assault. You will leave covered in sweat, beer, glitter, and, just maybe, you’ll get a special edition Ke$ha condom. If it breaks, you have to name your daughter or son after me,” Ke$ha recently told Billboard.
Anyway, I just thought you might like to hear from two people in today’s cultural news—two distinct voices that ought to be heard, for one reason or another.
Oh, and Frank told The New York Times one other thing about the secret to a long life: “When you start to die … don’t.”
Just “don’t.” Well, Mr. Buckles, it seems to me that in a number of life’s situations, your admonition is pretty wise. I wonder what Ke$ha would say?
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