“It is just past midnight on the day you were born, sixty-one years ago.\u00a0 You must be seeing flashes of your life pass your eyes right now, tell us about them please.”<\/p>\n
“Piers Morgan…\u00a0 I don’t think I ever watched you.\u00a0 Where’s Keith Olbermann?”<\/p>\n
“Would you rate your life, so far, as more successful or less successful than the rollout of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act?”<\/p>\n
“Um.\u00a0 I think my art career, slow going as it has been, probably started out better than the Affordable Care Act.\u00a0 But my whole life?\u00a0 Who wrote these questions?”<\/p>\n
“Let’s talk about the 1960’s.\u00a0 You grew up in the 60’s, the days of free love, mind-altering drugs and anti-establishment protests.\u00a0 You were there, at Woodstock, when Jimi Hendrix played the National Anthem on his electric guitar.\u00a0 How high were you that morning, and do you remember any of it?”<\/p>\n
“Tell me more about your ordeals in that formative year, Mr. Collins.\u00a0 For instance, did you have friends who were killed in the Vietnam war or in demonstrations against it?”<\/p>\n “Piers, I didn’t know anyone who went to Vietnam.\u00a0 People all around me went to Vietnam and didn’t come back, but I didn’t know them. There were few volunteers.\u00a0 It was the time of college deferments and conscientious objectors.\u00a0 And that gave way to draft lotteries.\u00a0 Based on my birth date, my lottery number was in the mid 200’s.\u00a0 So I didn’t have to go.\u00a0 No army for me.\u00a0 I never would have survived.”<\/p>\n “Mr. Collins, how can you live with yourself, knowing how so many of your cohort died in Vietnam, never to see their own sixty-first birthdays?\u00a0 Not to mention the ones who did return, scarred by that war, what would you say to them now?\u00a0 Would you tell them your lottery number?\u00a0 Would that make everything all right?”<\/p>\n “No.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 The cruelty of this unfair life is that those who aren’t subject to misery are left to feel guilt for not having suffered.\u00a0 If only happiness were the norm.\u00a0 If only the outcome of the roll of the dice was less stark.\u00a0 If only we even had a chance to roll the dice.”<\/p>\n “Mr. Collins, thank you.\u00a0 Happy Birthday to you.\u00a0 This is Piers Morgan, CNN.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Mr. Collins!\u00a0 Mr. Collins, what was it like being 60?” “What?\u00a0 Who are you people?” “Piers Morgan, CNN, Mr. Collins.\u00a0 Pray tell, what was it like being 60?” “Piers?\u00a0 As in Fillmore Pierce Buchanan?\u00a0 What time is it, anyway?” “It … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-content\/uploads\/woodst-300x240.jpg\" "\\"By")
<\/a>“What year was that, 1969?\u00a0 I think I was playing softball.\u00a0 I remember we had an old Woodstock typewriter at home, but maybe my folks had already junked it by then.\u00a0 1969.\u00a0 Abbey Road.\u00a0\u00a0 Give Peace a Chance.\u00a0\u00a0 And I was between girlfriends.\u00a0 I got kicked off the high-school newspaper staff because the teacher-advisor caught and confiscated my pass-around underground magazine.\u00a0 That was an interesting year.”<\/p>\n