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Yesterday I wrote a little about one of the differences between now and when I was a child.  Specifically, I wrote about caller ID, and the lost mystery of answering the phone without having the foggiest idea of who was going to be on the other end.  It got me thinking…

When I was a kid, we used to eat our corn on the cob from one side to the other, and when we reached the end we would “ding” and return the carriage to the other side to start anew.  I did this in front of 4 children, ages 9-16 a couple of weeks ago (foolishly thinking it would get a laugh)… crickets.

When I was a kid, the best way to reach my mother after she left the house was to leave a note on the kitchen counter.  When she hopped in the car, or was in the grocery store, etc. she was, quite literally out of contact.  When my son fails to reach me (by calling my cell phone from his) he sends me a text message, his virtual “note on the counter.”

When I was a kid, and I had to type up my term papers, well, see “ding” above.  My children “type” it on a computer (none of those around until I was in high school), store it on a thumb drive and print it wherever it is convenient for them to do so.

When I was a kid, I had a record (yes, vinal records) collection that filled an entire bookcase, and was the talk of the town for having it.  My son has more music on his ipod, a limitless supply on youtube, and his own streaming customized radio station on Pandora.

When I was a kid, we had three tv stations, there was no cable (it wasn’t that we didn’t have cable… it’s that it didn’t exist).  There are now three digital version of each network (public, non-cable) station, and quite literally countless stations out there once you delve into cable or satellite.   Although, kids these days don’t grow up with the unique pleasure that is scanning the UHF dial, especially late at night, when you get twice as many stations…

When I was a kid, making popcorn was an adventure!  You’d fire up the oven, place the foil covered tray on top of it and watch the magic as the foil rose into a giant bubble of goodness.  The same tray, by the way, worked with a camp fire up in the woods.  If nothing else, the current microwave variety of popcorn is not likely to stand up well to a camp fire.

When I was a kid, Isreal and Palistine were at odds over the land on which they co-existed, Iran and North Korea were our enemies and a major issues in our foreign policy, and NASA had their sights set on the moon and stretching the limits or our capacity to travel in space.  Hmmm… I guess some things haven’t changed all that much.

It’s interesting to me that, in the brief span of my lifetime, we have come up with Microwaves, cell phones, cable and satellite tv.  We have traveled to the moon, put a rover on Mars, and a telescope in orbit.  We have taken information that would have filled rooms, or buildings, when I was a child, and placed it on a keychain… and so much more…

Nevertheless, over the centuries of human existence, throughout generation after generation of technological, medical, and artistic growth and achievement… we have yet to learn how to get along with one another.

Perhaps a closer look at our priorities is in order…

Just say’n.