Friday, February 10, 2012

That’s Progress ... Or Is It?

When I was young it was often said, “Times are a changing”. I have not heard that phrase in quite awhile. I am not sure why I have not heard it because it is as true now as it was then.

The Smartfella usually gives three examples of whatever to “prove” his Foolishness and he is about to do it again....

First Proof...

A few years back I was watching TV and a commercial about subscribing to the New York Times caught my attention. I am not saying that the NYT is evil because of their commercial but it certainly was a sign of the times.

The scene was set in a beautiful young couple’s living room (yes the male and the female were both beautiful). The dialog did not go like this...

“It’s Sunday Morning. We are just back from Sunday Church Services. It’s at times like this we just love lounging around reading the New York Times.”

Instead the commercial went like this...

“It’s Sunday Morning and we have nothing to do but lounge around reading the New York Times.”

Ah yes, the beautiful couple were not of the sort that went to church. In this case, the Times was a Sign of the Times.

Second Proof...

I was listening on my car radio to a very intelligent sounding lady talking about herself and her life. At one point she said, “My Partner”. The Talk Show Host picked up on this and said she had sounded like a married person from other things that she had said. She responded that she was married but she and her husband had decided not to refer to each other as “Husband and Wife”. They felt that they were more comfortable with, “Partner”.

Shows how old fashioned I am. I kind of like, Husband and Wife.

Third Proof...

There was a time, not so long ago, when American Families made it a point to gather each night for supper. This was a time when we got to know each other and shared what was going on in our lives.

This was when a father got the opportunity to ask, “What did you learn in school today?” Not having supper each night may be a blessing in disguise for our modern day fathers. Ole dad might get indigestion if he were told by his children that they had learned multicultural dancing, so much about sex that he might find himself hiding his face behind his pizza slice or statistics about the number of Canadians coming across our Mexican border (wherever that is).

We don’t have to worry about dinner conversations in Memphis. The schools in Memphis have started serving supper in school. The Family Dinner is dead in Memphis. I just hope the Family is not dying along with it.

I am sure glad I make it a practice to only give three examples in my blog postings because I am getting depressed. 😞

Would I kid u?