Sometimes I feel sorry for kids growing up today.
Not that life is more difficult now, but that life is probably too complicated.
At least it’s not as simple as when I was a kid.
Growing up in the 1970’s was special.
We spent a lot of time outdoors. In fact, in the summertime we would leave the house in the morning and not come home until night time when mom would holler for us at dinner. (Holler is a technical term, look it up.)
We’d skate. Ride bikes. We’d build ramps for both. No helmets of course.
We’d Jump rope, play home run derby, basketball, kick the can. We’d swim in ponds, creeks, and rivers.
There was no internet. No cell phones. Hell, most people had one rotary phone in the kitchen with a 20 foot handset extension so you could have “private” conversations. Fancy people had push button phones. Fancier people had two phones.
My baseball team had one or two games a week and we played at the local field.
Gas for cars was expensive so folks didn’t make unnecessary trips. Most families had only one car, which we would pile into without seat belts and head to the local drive-in movie.
Yeah, the seventies were special. In a weird kind of way, what made things so special was a certain sense of scarcity.
Instead of an infinite amount of television options we only had four channels to choose from and on a good day we could pick up a few channels from Dayton.
Baseball was on television but only the away games. Home games were only available on the radio. Going to a game was a rare event.
Kings Island was a special trip. We’d normally only go on GE day! Thanks Uncle Jerry. LOL.
Believe it or not, going to a restaurant was a treat.
Attending a movie for most people wasn’t a weekly event. It was rare. Special.
As a kid, a visit to the Dairy Whip was only once in a while. It was truly a treat.
Cartoons were only available on Saturday mornings. After my morning cartoons I’d start looking for my favorite show of all time, This Week in Baseball, a half hour show that covers the entire major leagues in one show. No ESPN. No 24/7 coverage. That show was special!
As I think about today’s land of plenty, and our 24/7/365 internet connected world, I feel like it would be good to consider that simpler lifestyle.
Maybe we only visit restaurants and movie theaters on special occasions. Maybe the drive-in.
Maybe we consume less in general.
Maybe our kids don’t play on teams that play 60 games a summer.
Maybe instead they ride their bikes, play in the creek, and build some ramps.
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