Peer Pressure is Less with Laid Back Friends: Step 29

Every generation has certain terms that are associated with youth, vitality, and to some degree popularity. Usually these terms either fade away, or become part of the larger society through a broader usage or commercialization. When this occurs youth, being vital and wanting popularity find new terms for their generation. For my parent’s generation a term my father perpetuated was “ace.” The implication being that the item referred to was like the card in the deck the very best. In the eighties the term “heavy” referred to an idea that because of its weight carried great value or reached the level of being profound. More recently the term “rad” assumed to be a derivation of radical implies something is so different it is impressive. During my teenage years a whole new vocabulary, much of which I no longer recall, was developed. I’m sure you would “dig” my meaning if you were “mellow” enough to “get my drift.” Now people introduced many of these terms a half generation earlier. The beatniks, including the likes of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Bruce coined the term that personified the individual who would become my close friend during the Morse era. Ron was “hip.” My only other encounter with a person my age who I thought hip prior to meeting Ron was Gary M. When I attended his bar mitzvah party the summer between Muir and Morse, he was wearing a tailored sport coat and ascot, which he acquired at the Johnny Walker’s Fine Men’s Clothiers where his father was the store manager, and Bob Barry from radio station WOKY was spinning 45s, giving Gary all the affectations necessary to be hip. However, his stated ambition of being the physician he would become in another 13 years, contradicts this notion since he was obviously too driven. If there was anything Ron was not it was driven. He was laid back and all about living for the thrill of the moment. Although he was extremely intelligent Ron did not wish to outshine others with his wealth of knowledge or his astute perceptual and analytical skills. Letting others raise their hands and provide answers was something he had no problem handling in each and every class. It would irritate teachers when they called on him as he feigned a complete lack of attention to hear him recite a flawless answer. For those who did not know Ron the assumption was he must have studied. Nothing could be further from the truth. If he had one ambition, it was to make it through our two and a half years at Samuel Morse without ever cracking a book. Unfortunately, when I tried this I ended up with a different result. Ron thought his time, and for that matter his friends’ time, could be better spent listening to the radio, watching Steve Allen, or hanging out with girls. With his impish smile and wave of hair that fell perfectly across his forehead girls gravitated in his direction. Again, for me this only happened in my dreams. Fortunately, as previously noted Ron was hip. He was not at all selfish, and as his friend I was easily pleased with the overflow. Be sure to stay tuned as we follow Ron Every Step of the Way. Please be sure to add your comments, criticisms, thoughts and ideas to this, our one-month anniversary edition.