missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

The Stranger



A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger

who was new to our small town. From the beginning,

Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer

and soon invited him to live with our family. The

stranger was quickly accepted and was around

from then on.



As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my

family. In my young mind, he had a special niche.

My parents were complementary instructors: Mom

taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey.

But the stranger... he was our storyteller. He would

keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures,

mysteries and comedies.



If I wanted to know anything about politics, history

or science, he always knew the answers about the past,

understood the present and even seemed able to predict

the future! He took my family to the first major league

ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The

stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem

to mind.



Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of

us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to

say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.

(I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)



Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions,

but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them.

Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not

from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long time visitor,



however, got away with four-letter words that burned my

ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.



My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the

stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished.





He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments

were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.




I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked

And NEVER asked to leave.




More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved

in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly

as fascinating as he was at first.Still, if you could walk into

my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over

in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and

watch him draw his pictures.



His name?....


We just call him 'TV.'
He has a wife now....we call her 'Computer.'



Their first child is "Cell Phone".Second child "I Pod "
And JUST BORN RECENTLY WAS a Grandchild:



IPAD

bahmer

Nice connection. Some of that garbage could be thrown away and not missed. We used to read and then we got radio. We still used our imaginations with radio as it was not all spelled out for us as today with pictures and all. Now we don't even have to think do we?

Davie

I was drafted in 1953 just four months after I was married. My wife traveled with me as I spent the whole two years in the states. The first TV I saw was in a dayroom at the army base. Our first child was born six months before my discharge. After my discharge we packed up and drove 1000 miles straight through being very excited about coming home and showing off our baby. We arrived at her parents home in the evening and there were no lights on in the house. We discovered them in the living room huddled around a fuzzy picture of something they described as their favorite show and to "be quiet" till it was over. After getting nearly the same reception at my parents home, I made the statement that "I would never own a TV". Of course that had to change as no one ever visited or had a friendly game of cards anymore. Life had turned around in the two years we were gone and it will never return.

missinglink Loc: Tralfamadore

Time stands still for no man. No one expects it to and I have welcomed the bulk of it. Every generation goes thru the same gyrations. Not to the degree us 60 somethings have witnessed. To much deep routed cultural change to fast in my opinion. Makes it awkward on us old geezers.