Reflections
 
In just my 29 years of life, I have seen the first microwave, the first cordless phone. I have witnessed the falling of the wall, and remember buying candy bars for a quarter. I could walk to the store and buy cigarettes for my Dad. I didn’t fear my neighbour, and knew most of them by first name; although you always said Mrs. or Mr. There were no fax machines then, and you didn’t have to hurry so much to get things done. You went inside to buy your food instead of pulling around in the car. I played with Barbies until I was almost thirteen. I didn’t even know what getting a period meant then. It was okay to give your kids a smack on the butt when they didn’t listen. If you got really mad at someone, you just didn’t talk to them. If it did blow up into a fight, it was between you and that person and you ended up being friends in a week anyhow. No one had a computer in their home, least not anyone that I had ever heard about. Phone calls used to cost a dime then. “Yo” wasn’t a word and there weren’t any posses in my town. If you didn’t have an Atari and MTV you just weren’t cool. I remember when suspenders and nickers made a brief comeback, and if you didn’t have your pant cuffs rolled tight, you at least had them tucked into your socks. If you dated someone for more then two weeks, it was considered a serious relationship. I don’t remember the weather being so freaky then either. You might take an antibiotic once in a year. HIV would have been considered as roman numerals then. We said “awesome” a lot. Wearing a shirt with the neck line cut out and a tank under it was really cool. I don’t remember taking a calculator to school, and no one I knew owned a video camera. I remember my mom telling me that my life was hard compared to hers one day, and telling me how I had it made the next. I understand what she meant now because I have children of my own. The conveniences in life get easier, but living life gets harder. Everything is rushed now and nobody ever has any time. I worry about my kids. They are growing up in an era where drugs are everywhere despite all the TV ads about their harm, and parents aren’t home as much because they need the over time to keep up with the cost of living. It seems to me that a lot of our modern conveniences are keeping us from the things in life that are most important. I don’t want to work ten extra hours to own a video camera to capture a moment in my child’s life that I won’t be there to see because I’m working to get the video camera. I’ll stick to the good old days where you took a picture because it lasted longer, thank you. My computer has challenged me into a contest to see who can teach my child more and I have to compete with the TV for quality time. When I was a kid, we used to sit at the table and eat dinner as a family. I don’t remember anyone getting shot in school, nor do I remember anyone bringing a gun to school. I could take aspirin to school and even take it without getting expelled. Yes, I am worried about the era my children are growing up in. But, if this much changed in just my 29 years on this Earth, what I worry about more will be the era my grandchildren grow up in. Everyone is worried about everything from the schools to the environment, and yet both are at their all time worst. Maybe the good old fashioned days of my parents, without all those conveniences weren’t so bad after all. I just don’t ever remember my Dad having to find time for stuff. How can this be when all we do now is look for time to be able to do almost anything. Who said they were conveniences anyway? Seems to me that modern technology should be called annoyances. I’d like to go back to the days that the only time you had to hurry up and wait was if you were in the military. As for now, I’m going to sit my family down at the kitchen table and go eat supper.

 Copyright Joey L. Eddins
 
Poems about similar thoughts (by Allen Jesson):

When I Was Young - Or why was it better then ?

Time - That just goes too fast.
 

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