With everything that is going on in the world today, it reminds me of my youth.

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. As a Boomer, I was alive and can remember the years when a corrupt president had us involved in an unpopular war. I recall Americans wearing WIN buttons on their jackets. WIN stood for Whip Inflation Now as food costs kept going up and gas prices soared. I saw major protests in the street and threats of nuclear war.

So, in some ways, all that is happening is as Yogi Berra would say, Déjà vu all over again.

But that’s not what I mean when I say that it reminds me of my youth. I’m going back further than that.

All that is happening today has reminded me of the fairy tales and fables my parents told me as they tucked me in at night.

As President Trump thankfully backed down from his threat to eliminate an entire civilization, I was reminded of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The kid was a Shepard working his field and would occasionally yell that a wolf was attacking the flock. He would laugh as he got a rise out of people.

But when a wolf finally did arrive and he called for help, nobody showed up, thinking they couldn’t take the kid seriously.

How many times has Trump cried wolf when it comes to threats of tariffs on countries, only to back down? How many times has he cried wolf when he promised to release his taxes, end a war, or fix inflation?

Does anyone take him seriously on those issues anymore?

Or perhaps this Aesop Fable might be more appropriate. Like the one about the dog that is walking through the fields and finds a bone. As he crosses a bridge, he sees his reflection in the stream. Thinking it’s a different dog with a bigger bone, he loses his bone in the water trying to take the other dog’s treasure.

Could that be a metaphor for oil and our invasion of Venezuela and Iran?

When I see pictures of all the gold in the Oval Office, I wonder if Fred Trump ever told his son Donald the story of King Midas. The king loved gold so much that he wanted everything he touched to turn to it, only to have it ruin his life.

And I think of the biblical lessons I learned as a child about worshipping a false god. When I see the reactions of so many MAGA worshippers or hear of preachers saying Trump is God’s chosen one, I have to shake my head.

I’m also reminded of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale about the Emperor’s New Clothes when I see Lindsey Graham, or MAGA Republicans praise the President. They saw what Trump did on January 6th but are afraid to hold him accountable for it.

Years ago, there was a bestselling book called “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”.

The premise of the book is pretty much what the title implies. It’s a series of fifty essays by a minister named Robert Fulghum. In it, he ruminates about the lessons he learned as a young child, like sharing, picking up after himself, and being kind to strangers and friends alike.

I’m not naïve. I know that life is much more complicated than the simplistic examples I’m giving here, but I think it is food for thought.

Many people have forgotten the simple lessons we learned as children. But those simple lessons we learned have survived the test of time. And they’ve survived because, at their core, the lessons they taught are values we should try to live by.

Old sayings stand the test of time as well. They say that history repeats itself. They also say that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Is getting involved in Iran another Vietnam? It seems the only difference between what is happening in the world today vs days gone by is the addition of computers, AI, and social media. But as a Boomer, I’ve seen so much of this before.

I’ll end with one last old saying I learned as a child.

Everything works out in the end.

I hope they’re right.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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