Change Is
I was born in 1965, and grew up in a working class NJ suburb. I’m feeling pretty old now, and from time to time, reflect on whether the good old days were really so good.
Good old days:
Kids played outside for hours on end, pretty much unsupervised, with little concern about safety.
Afternoon baseball on TV.
Front bench seats, three on the tree.
Gigantor and Speed Racer were so much cooler than current anime.
Fall cleanup ended with a leaf burning.
We walked to school - liberation.
Bunk beds were common.
The sound of a phone ringing.
Moms were home.
Not so good old days:
TV was generally lame, offering little variety.
Air conditioning was a luxury item in most cars, and some homes.
No microwave ovens – I think we ate more food that was boiled or cold.
Cars rusted quickly, broke down more often, got flat tires, and besides looking way cooler, were junk compared to today.
We walked to school – often cold and wet.
Small houses were common – I remember a “family room” as something your rich aunt had.
Needing to untangle the phone cord.
I threw this list together in about 5 minutes, and I’m sure I missed a bunch of good stuff, but what strikes me is that while this is presented as two lists, one good, one bad, it also looks like a single list of things that have changed in the 30 or so years gone by.
Change is sometimes good, change is sometimes bad, but if one thing is certain, change is.
Good old days:
Kids played outside for hours on end, pretty much unsupervised, with little concern about safety.
Afternoon baseball on TV.
Front bench seats, three on the tree.
Gigantor and Speed Racer were so much cooler than current anime.
Fall cleanup ended with a leaf burning.
We walked to school - liberation.
Bunk beds were common.
The sound of a phone ringing.
Moms were home.
Not so good old days:
TV was generally lame, offering little variety.
Air conditioning was a luxury item in most cars, and some homes.
No microwave ovens – I think we ate more food that was boiled or cold.
Cars rusted quickly, broke down more often, got flat tires, and besides looking way cooler, were junk compared to today.
We walked to school – often cold and wet.
Small houses were common – I remember a “family room” as something your rich aunt had.
Needing to untangle the phone cord.
I threw this list together in about 5 minutes, and I’m sure I missed a bunch of good stuff, but what strikes me is that while this is presented as two lists, one good, one bad, it also looks like a single list of things that have changed in the 30 or so years gone by.
Change is sometimes good, change is sometimes bad, but if one thing is certain, change is.
posted by Steve at 2/14/2006 11:23:00 AM
1 Comments:
As David Bowie sang "Changes".
I think Change is needed to improve on certain aspect of life. What the problem with change is that people overreact to it.
Take the example of what you need for a new born. It has become a industry of products that you must have. When all your child request is Love, health & you. But the marketers have hit nerves of the consumer to assume you need 30 different products so your child is healthy.
I for one think on my own two feet. When it comes to people telling me about a diaper genie and how you need it to survive with your child I laugh. I use bags, plain old plastic bags that you get from Shop rite, I place a diaper inside the bag and I twist it with a twist tie. If the bag smells too much I place it in the garabage outside.
Yes change is good and it is unavoidable but you still need to see what is needed and what is not.
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