Check Your Mirrors
SUE JANE SULLIVAN
In general, I am not one to wish for things to be as they were.
I had to wait 364 days to be able to watch “The Wizard of Oz” since it only came on once a year on a Sunday night at 6 p.m. CST.
Once—and only once—I watched my mother wash out my little brother’s poopy cloth diaper in the commode.
Not being able to write checks out of town meant carrying more cash than I wanted to have on my person.
To advance in high school sports, you had to win first place in district play. No runners-up, no wild card.
Writing letters or making long-distance telephone calls were the primary means of communication with relatives who lived in other towns or states, apart from traveling to see them in person.
Fast food pretty much meant hamburgers, hot dogs or fried chicken.
And secretaries (as they were called then) had to learn shorthand and be able to type at least 60 words per minute.
Fast forward from my baby-boomer youth and young adulthood to 2023.
Streaming movies and shows on a variety of platforms allows us to stay home and save money on overpriced concessionstand candy.
If asked, the majority of new parents and babysitters would fund a monument in Washington, D.C., to honor whoever invented disposable diapers.
A debit card is reincarnated cash.
Many of you have a child or grandchild whose season did not end when they finished second or even third in district play.
Video chatting with my grandchildren from a train, sending a text to my nephew in New Zealand, ordering groceries, and downloading a Johnny Cash song for $1.29 are all possible on my phone.
Chinese food, Mexican food, fried chicken, baked chicken, Chick-Fil-A chicken, sandwiches, coffee and tea with a zillion options are ours after ordering into a faceless speaker. In 2023, business communication is global and instantaneous.
No doubt advancements have improved or facilitated life. But saturation of such progress has a tradeoff. Instant gratification at the click of a remote denies me the wonderful feeling of anticipation. The use of cotton cloth diapers symbolizes patience and frugality, virtues we could use more of today. Credit cards make it easy to ruin a credit score. Eating at home around a dinner table instead of in a vehicle might encourage conversational skills and table manners and prevent trashy cars (personal experience).
Having said all of this, I go on record with this confession: If I am blessed with another grandchild someday, I will be taking thousands of photos on my cell phone. And then I’ll ferry the older grandkids through drive-thru for supper followed by a Disney Channel marathon as we celebrate the newest family member. As for that baby, you better believe that when Pearl is in the house, he or she will be wearing Pampers.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
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