In 1949 there were only 146 million Americans (the baby boom would add 76 million more), and the average yearly income for a family of four was $5,292.

Technology makes a good partner; it makes a poor god.

If I've learned anything in my 50 years, it's that our most dangerous enemies (as a nation and individually) are spiritual not physical, and come from within not from without.

Note: This column is the 1st of a two-part series. For the conclusion, see On Celebrating My 50th Birthday.

Well, it's finally here. Later this month I'll celebrate the half-century mark, the mother of all birthdays, the Big 5-0. So in recognition of this tumultuous event in the life of a card-carrying baby boomer, I've decided to devote two full columns to it. Next week I'll tell you what things I plan to do for it; this week I'm going to look at when it all began. Welcome to 1949.

In 1949 there were only 146 million Americans (the baby boom would add 76 million more), and the average yearly income for a family of four was $5,292. I know it sounds low, but the amount was more than double the 1940 figure, a statistic that reminds me it's not what we make that brings contentment, but what we make compared with what we expect to make.

"A son was born to Mr. And Mrs. Robert Bellah, Tuesday, February 22," read the weekly edition of "The Canyon News." It's eerie seeing this now, and it's even eerier realizing that my dad was just half my age, younger than two of my own children are now; from my present perspective--just a kid. I wonder; did he imagine then that his baby boy would one day be 50? I doubt it. I think it's both a strength and weakness of youth that they don't think much about the distant future. The mindset helps their courage but hurts their wisdom. At midlife our challenge is to embrace both.

In 1949 people in Canyon were excited about technology. "Rocket planes will fly faster than the speed of sound," promised one newspaper headline. "Television is in Dallas and soon will come to Amarillo," said another. A commercial for Maytag washers added, "Your whole life will change when all-automatic machines do all the backbreaking work on washday."

Fifty years later, I realize that technology both surprises and disappoints us. On the one hand, people in 1949 could not have imagined the supersonic jets, sophisticated automobiles, TVs, VCRs, cellular phones, and computers of today. The idea of the Internet would have blown them away. Yet, on the other hand, they would be disappointed to know that technology has solved none of our fundamental human problems. We still have wars, sicknesses and broken relationships, and, despite all those "all-automatic" machines, we still struggle to make time for the important things in life. Technology makes a good partner; it makes a poor god.

The big concerns in Canyon in 1949 seemed to be communism and economic depression, things that, according to one editorial writer, go hand in hand. "Communism thrives when a depression hits," he warned. "Just about now a depression would wreck this government. The world is looking toward America as the fort against the commies."

Fifty years later, it seems the fort held. We've had some recessions, but no long-term depression to compare with the 1930's. And when the Berlin wall came down in 1989, with it fell most of the major communist regimes.

Yet this midlifer is not ready to declare victory. Sure we won the war with communism, but I'm not sure we're winning the war with ourselves. If I've learned anything in my 50 years, it's that our most dangerous enemies (as a nation and individually) are spiritual not physical, and come from within not from without. I'm hoping that if a baby born today reads these words in 2049, he or she will say we won the spiritual war too.