I opened my e-mail today to find a note from someone I don’t know about a beautiful young man who died in Vietnam almost 30 years ago. Our connection is apparently a mutual friendship with that young man. What memories came flooding back when I saw Paul DuCharm’s name in the subject line. It took my breath away. Sometimes we get so busy living in the present that we forget the emotions of the past, of the time when we were young and hopeful and out to change the world. That time is gone now. And I believe my generation has proven that it can screw up this world better than any generation that preceded it. So much for the boomer impact. But this young man died too young to be part of that. And so, in my memory, he will always be frozen in a certain time and at a certain age. I have a picture of him in the back of a red convertible. It was taken just a year or so before he was killed. In my mind and heart, he will forever be that smiling young man. And his name and memory will forever bring to mind a wonderful time of youth and hope and turmoil and change.