Notes From My Journal
Values and Aspirations
SS, a very successful investment analyst, once told me that certain things we cherish in our adolescence become valuable collectible assets when we hit our peak earning years. For my generation, this was true for baseball cards and Barbie dolls. For his generation, it was tru for surfboards and guitars. For every generation since the Great Generation, it's been true for automobiles.
That was true for me. In fact, when I was in my 50s, I bought three vintage cars – a 1955 Thunderbird, a 1956 Belaire, a 1962 Corvette – all of which appreciated nicely.
I think something similar can be said about cultural fads. The books and movies that are cool in one’s early adolescence shape not just one’s early thoughts and feelings, but also have unconscious psychological imprints that influence our value systems later in life.
I was born in 1950. Thus, the 1960s was the decade that should have had that effect on me. And I think it did. In ways that are obvious and some that are not, my values and aspirations were in part formed by the books and movies that captured my interest back then.