This just in from my buddy, Will Campbell way down in Florida. Thanks for reminding me, Will, and may all us older folks remember these days. In 1953 (I was sitting and shooting in Korea) the US population was less than 150 million... Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better... And that was good. (I was sitting and shooting in Korea) The average annual salary was under $3,000...Yet our parents could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And that was good. (I was sitting and shooting in Korea). A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents... But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one...(I was sitting and shooting in Korea) And that was good. (I was sitting and shooting in Korea) Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was good. (I was sitting and shooting in Korea) We didnt have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike...And that was good. (Even though I was sitting and shooting in Korea) Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... (Draft Dodgers) But not Ms Becky or Mr.Dan... And that was good. The only hazardous material you knew about...Was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner... (And the fact that I was sitting and shooting in Korea)...And that was good. You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried on the clothesline... And that was good. (But not in Korea). People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives... So child care meant grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was good. Parents were respected and their rules were law.... Children did not talk back..... and that was good. (WE didnt talk back in Korea, either.) TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious color....And that was certainly good. Your Dad knew how to adjust everybodys carburetor... And the Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs... And that was very good. (Not where I was sitting and shooting in Korea)........... Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard...And chickens behind the garage... And that was definitely good. And just when you were about to do something really bad... Chances were youd run into your Dads high school coach... Or the nosy old lady from up the street... Or your little sisters piano teacher... Or somebody from Church... ALL of whom knew your parents phone number...And YOUR first name... And even THAT was good! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REMEMBER.... (OK.that was good, even where I was sitting and shooting in Korea) Then, there are those who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, And...and... Oh! And summers filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubblegum cigars (We only saw it in magazines where I was sitting and shooting in Korea, and we used to use magazines to shoot with.) Didnt that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! And was it really that long ago? (If your absence didnt make any difference, your presence probably wouldnt, either.) (I was sitting and shooting in Korea) WILL...Remembering.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:12:35 +0000