12/27/16 Grif.Net - BACK THEN Life Was Simpler
Robert Griffin
Thinking back to when I was 9 (yeah, sixty years ago) and how life has changed since. Not on every matter, but on so many I’d wish it was back in a simpler time.
*BACK THEN, I asked my dad for a penny for the gumball machine. TODAY, kids ask for $300 for a new phone.
*BACK THEN, if I called someone and they didn’t answer, I figured they were out and I’d call back later. TODAY, if kids don’t get an immediate response they become depressed and wonder why everyone ignores or hates them.
*BACK THEN, I’d sit with awe and watch the gas station attendant fill the car (18.9 cents a gallon), check the oil, and wipe our windows. TODAY I stand alone in -25F and 35 mph wind for the privilege to doing it myself for 15 times the cost.
*BACK THEN, if I got a bad grade in school my parents would apply the board of education to the seat of learning, and it hurt. TODAY, kids would be coddled and parents blame the teacher, demanding she be fired.
*BACK THEN, if you saw me looking up in the air, it would be to see my kite. TODAY, kids look up to take selfies with selfie sticks.
*BACK THEN, my Brownie Starflash allowed me to take 12 pix, send them for development, and paste photos in an album a couple weeks later. TODAY, kid’s phones take 4000 pix, and none are printed and they wonder what exactly IS an album??
*BACK THEN, a computer filled the room and 5 megabytes cost $120,000. TODAY, a watch is more powerful and a 65,000 megabyte chip (size of my thumbnail) is $40.
*BACK THEN, if I had a couple minutes to spend waiting I played with a yoyo, played jacks or catch or tag, or <gasp> read a book. TODAY, kids have a cell phone to play virtual games and never break a sweat on interact with another human.
*BACK THEN, I listened to the radio stories and used my imagination to “see” what was happening. TODAY, kids have movies on demand, 680 channels on cable, and don’t have to use their imagination. And I can’t mention what they “see”.
*BACK THEN, I got cards, gifts or a party on my birthday. TODAY, kids get notifications and likes, and think the universe revolves around them.
Methinks that nostalgia is not what it used to be.
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"