I am now 73 and the road has been filled with wonders

Terry

I appreciate all my friends who stop to read what I write and post.
You help me more than you know simply by BEING THERE as a sense of 'family of friends' for me to talk to and 'share' thoughts with.

I guess if I didn't have stories left to tell or people to listen, I could pack it in and join Elon Musk in a colony on Mars.

January 15, 2020

WHICH WORLD is this?
_________________
When the doctor pulled my screaming body out of mom all those 7 decades ago, I landed in a post-WWII world.
It was--compared to today's world--an alien planet.

The world I live in today has nothing in common with the world in which I grew up.

There were no cell phones back then--there were black telephones with a dial-tone and an Operator who placed your call.
Everywhere you found telephone booths! A call was a nickle.
Where did all those telephone booths go?
I dunno.
Where did my whole world go?
I dunno.

TV sets were huge boxes with tubes and small screens. Images were black and white.
It was an idiot box. It still is.
A "computer" was a Science fiction trope and in reality, consisted of vast rooms full of blinking lights and hardware.

Men wore hats, women wore stockings with a black seam down the back.
Everybody smoked cigarettes. Everywhere!
There was "easy listening" music filled with lush melody.
Movies were vivid storybooks filled with comedy, song and dance, and noir.
Only sailors, convicts, and primitive tribal communities had tattoos.
Kids said, "Yes Sir" and "No, Ma'am".

And so on...
I've lived in several worlds on different planets--not literally, but essentially for all the extraordinary dissonances, customs, attitudes, and ethos. (Good word "ethos", look it up.)

Today--what world is this?
Have I lost the thread?
Who knows their next door neighbor anymore?
Who spends time sitting on the front porch in the evening in a swing, sipping ice tea and waving at the folks across the street?
Who reads actual Literature?
Who buys paintings or objet d'art?
Who knows the classical music repertoire?
Who is conversant with dates, names, movements in human history with any certainty?

I was there when TV arrived and the first commercial jingles were created.
I lived in the radio soap opera era.
I was there when Bebop lived side by side with West Coast jazz and the Big Bands faded as Rock n' Roll was born.
I lived among Beatniks, Folk singers, Doo-Wops, Hippies, and the birth of the Long Play record and the death of the 78 shellac platters.

The year I was born, the transistor was invented. (1947).
I was 7 years old when the first transistor radios were sold (1954).
The very first satellite went into orbit when I was 15 years old. (1962)
I was 18 years old as 8 Track tapes were all the rage.(1965)

I was 22 years old when man first walked on the moon. (1969)
I was 32 years old when the Sony Walkman revolutionized portable music. And it was just a cassette player!
By 1975, the first mass marketing of Video Tape Recorders was sold at about a thousand dollars each.
The personal computer was barely a dream in the future!

So what? What point am I making?
If you aren't 70 then:
I'm from a different world than YOU are!

My ways are not your ways.
My thoughts and feelings and ideas and opinions are just plain weird to you because you haven't lived my lifetime.

I've seen people become famous, fade, and pass into obscurity.
I've heard fearful predictions for the future which turned out to be absolute hogwash.
I've seen the rise of horrible political leaders who later fell.
I lived through a great many wars and spent time in Federal Prison, a religious cult, four marriages, and produced 7 children.
I've been Nerd, a religious fanatic, an artist, a composer, a writer, husband, father, best friend, and generally a pain in the ass.

BUT I'M STILL HERE.
It isn't MY world--it is your world.

I AM A LIVING TIME MACHINE.
When I speak--you are getting a message from another era.

stillin

Hey, Terry, Happy Birthday! Glad that you're still with us and that you are still coherent. I'm only a couple of years behind you and I'm realizing, too, that the world had come a huge distance since I was a kid. It is hardly recognizable!

Thanks for waxing philosophical "out loud,"

iwantoutnow

Happy Birthday! Hope there are many more for you!!!

Still Totally ADD

Happy Birthday Terry and many, many more. I am only 65 but remember many of the things you have lived through. Take care. Still Totally ADD

tiki

So so true! Our lifetime has seen much change. Lot of fantastic technological and scientific advances....but sad deterioration of appreciation for true art, nature and ones fellow man. Education is going downhill...the dumbing down of society in general...and love...romantic love....falling in love. People hook up for personal gratification and couple based on convenience....and they miss out on one of the most awesome human experience.

BluesBrother

Yes that's right Terry, I am a little younger than you but have essentially the same memories. As a boy :-

I grew up expecting to go to jail at 18, since Britain then had National Service in the millitary.

Perhaps one house in the street had a black and white telly and all the kids would crowd in to watch at tea time.

We were taught to offer a seat to a lady or old person

I wore short trousers untill I was 11 or 12

When I went House To House for JW , I had to learn a 3 scripture sermon . My older companion had to be able to discuss the Trinity, Hellfire etc. We could expect a long talk at least once every time

Was the world better then? In many ways yes....

truthlover123

Love it!

Remember when kids going to class used their minds - poems, alphabets-back and forward, writing skills, practise, practise....

I do remember my grandmother having a PARTY line - one line carried 5 other homes and they would have a certain ringtone for their house- then everyone on the line could listen to the conversation...

Picking berries and making home jams and jellies - no get you fresh meal delivered for you to make - WoW! How crazy is that...

The first tv we had - watched the black and white sign on before the 30 minute shows started later in the day - never had tv 24 hours. Alfred Hitchcock, Ed Sullivan, wrestlin',

Looking back- things seemed so good and even though technology and science has made great strides, now we see resurgence of diseases once thought eradicated - every kid had a vaccination and took meds for polio, locally each kid had to take a cod liver oil pill every school day, supplied at school. No drugs, mom was always at home with meals, worked part time at xmas to make some money..... Skating on ponds or backyard rinks, playing hockey on the street - just hollered out -CAR", move over and wave as they passed.

Makes one just sad thinking about what has been lost...

Have a great day Terry... your only as old as you feel.

truth_b_known

Sometimes I think the modern world has robbed my children of a happy childhood or maybe it is just I look back at my childhood fondly. I heard it said "You know you're getting old when the future gets darker and the past gets brighter and brighter." Then again I heard that age is just a number and how we feel and think is what shows our tru eage.

In any case, happiest of birthday wishes to you Terry!

LoveUniHateExams

Happy birthday, Terry!

Terry

A big THANK YOU to one and all...
I had no idea so many old fossils inhabited this discussion forum.
I appreciate your POV on things.

I am now 73 and the road has been filled with wonders

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