I’ve had a running email debate with an old friend over what he sees as disrespect to our Judeo-Christian culture. Dilution.

The latest round concerned his belief that new coins are omitting “in God we trust.” An indication of the further erosion of our J-C culture.

By the way, i t’s not true, as a check of Snopes.com proves.

For me, though, the bigger issue has to do with the inevitable evolution of culture. Culture will evolve and does evolve, as anthropology teaches, and some things will go away as others come to the fore.

That’s the way it’s always been.

The world went from polytheistic to monotheistic over centuries and centuries.

Maybe one day “in God we trust” will be omitted from our coins. I have no trouble with that, because I don’t need a coin to tell me to trust God.

And I don’t need society to be the way it’s always been.

I’m sure people were attached to rubbing two sticks together to make fire, too, and it took a while for flints to gain a popular foothold.

People can keep their traditions….and should keep them…and also culture evolves over the eons. Changes. Takes new forms and directions.

As anthropology teaches us.

Any visit to the Bay area shows that Asian and Latino cultures have taken hold and in fact, are now predominant. This is not the Bay area I moved to in 1984.

Things change.

In fact, the only constant is change, and that’s just the way it is.

My friend is not happy with the way things are. There is a lot I’m not happy with either. After all, I am a child of the 60s in a world that’s not so tolerant of peace, love and social justice.

But now that I’m older, I have learned to set limits for myself. Things I will and will not engage in, pay attention to, read. For example, I rarely read the news or view it on TV. Even as a media relations consultant, I consumed only the bare minimum of media content these past years. Because it’s so bad that it made me angry. Too angry.

Anger is toxic.

I choose now to surround myself with the things and people I love and focus on that. Only positives for me now.

My quality of life now reflects that.

Why let life’s inevitable toxicities take hold?

Too many of my friends have been diagnosed with serious diseases. Have died. Been disabled. I don’t want to waste my time on negativity. Not even a minute of it.

And frankly, I’m tired.

Yes, the world is imperfect. But our generation has had our chance in the spotlight. Our chance to change humanity. It’s in someone else’s hands now and it’ll either stand or fall.

I don’t have kids so maybe I look at it differently, but really, it’s up to their generation to be the change they want to see. We had our shot. Nothing more we can do.

And really, nothing more that I WANT to do.

Except be happy.

Peace.

Love.

Namaste.

Out.