Reclaiming the Past

A news clip reminded me of a time when I was growing up. I was raised in the 70's. I lived in a fairly small Midwestern town. Americana. There was a downtown and there were factories and there were the neighborhoods where people lived. Subdivisions were new and there were not many in my town.

The most complicated device we had in our house was either the electronic calculator (a huge device by today's standards) or the microwave oven. We did not get the latter until I was in high school. But oh, that was cool! Put a hot dog on a paper plate, push a few buttons, and in about 2 minutes, it was cooked! Amazing!

We have so much more stuff now. Technology and science has made our lives so much easier. And more complicated too.

Why do I yearn for those days? Is it because in my memory, they were carefree? That could be true. I was in school. My parents paid the bills. I didn't have a whole lot of worries.

I should have. That was definitely the beginning of my various neurosis. But that's another story.

Was it that I was blind to the various cares of the world? Did my parents do all the worrying for me then, just as I take that burden from my child now? Did my mother and father long for their childhood days of the 30's?

Maybe.

Or is it the simpler time that I want? Do I want a time when we had 3 channels instead of 300?

No, I enjoy the technology now. But think we have a completely different way of thinking now. There is a new middle class. There are so many more opportunities for a young person now than existed then. But along with those opportunities has come a false sense of entitlement. We have a different perception of what we should and should not get out of this life. Conveniences have been necessities. The cell phone is my perfect example. We'll be 15 minutes away from our house and my wife will use her cell phone to call the house to see if there are any messages. This is a pet peeve of mine because I talk on the phone everyday on my job. My time away from a phone is precious quiet time for me. But that's just me.

My daughter complains that one of her backpacks is too big for her school locker. Another won't hold all of her books. She just rolls her eyes when I say that I did not own a backpack until I went to college. "How did you carry your books," she asks? "With my hands," I answer.

So will this generation gap continue? Probably. She'll tell her kids that once she had to type on a keyboard to do her school research on the computer. Her kids will roll their eyes too.

Then, they'll look at the computer display (inside the backpack) think about a question, and the answer will appear.

She'll long for the good ol' days too.