I honesty can't think of the last time I waited on a table without at least one person having a device either on the table or in their hand. The only ones who come to mind is my dear friends the Ferrari's and they were both in their nineties. I know for a fact she had a cell phone because when I visited her in the hospice she gave me her number but warned me she wasn't too sure how to answer it.
I wait on families who have three year old's playing games on their parent's cell or iPad. Most all tweens have a cell phone and stay on them the entire meal. Sometimes it's a couple out for dinner and both stay on their phone the entire dinner.
When I was a kid, us kids were just so excited to go out for dinner we were on our best behavior. Of course going out to eat for our family meant The Varsity on Friday nights. When we went on vacation every summer my parents would take us out to Captain Anderson's one night and BOY was THAT a treat! It's the first place I ever saw a pat of real butter (My momma used margarine) all wrapped up in a fancy foil pack. I could have just eaten those saltine crackers with that sweet creamy butter on them and been satisfied.
And here's the kicker. We simply sat and talked. Well, the adults talked. We kids just mostly sat and listened. I can remember hearing from a young age, my Diddy say to us that his own parent's said "Children should be seen and not heard."
My own parents didn't mind us talking but most certainly expected us to be on our best behavior when we went out to eat. Heck...they wouldn't even allow us to fuss and fight at the dinner table in our own house, much less in public! We were a totally middle class family growing up and to even be taken to the beach once a year for a week was amazing!
We had one phone in our house, a black rotary dial that hung on the wall in our kitchen. I remember thinking we had hit the big time when we got a long cord for the receiver so momma could walk around the kitchen cooking while still on the phone.
We had one TV and it was in the living room. It was as big as a love seat with a sixteen inch screen. It had rabbit ears on top covered in foil and you had to constantly move them around to tune into one of the three channels every household had. I remember it was a banner day when Ted Turner launched Channel Seventeen...then we had four! Granted Channel Seventeen only aired old "Dagwood and Blondie" episodes, "Little Rascals" "Merry Melodies" cartoons and "Wrasling" with Freddie Miller from the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, but it was our favorite channel. We didn't get a color TV til late in the sixties and it was a used one. The first shows I watched in color were Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Granted everyone looked green, but HEY! Green was a color and we were all excited. There was no cable...there was an antennae on our roof seemingly big enough to pick up a signal from Mars. We didn't have computers or cell phones. We didn't have iPods. We DID have transistor radios with a strap on it and carried them with us every where, and tuned in to WQXI 94 once FM radio happened. I can remember sleeping on the screened in back porch of our house during the summer months, stretching that fancy long phone cord out of the kitchen and calling in requests to the radio station and then waiting hours just to hear my song come on. It was usually either "Rocket Man" ... "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks or Helen Reddy's "I am Woman." Then I would cry myself to sleep about the boy who never asked me to slow skate the night before at the Greenbriar Skating rink. It was just a tragedy...but I survived (and by the way, he's a big fat slob now)
Don't judge me.. I was a kid!!
Kids grow up too quickly these days. They seem to skip childhood and go straight to young adulthood and still don't have a clue. No wonder so many seem lost and do really stupid things without thinking about the repercussions. Too many of our youth aren't taught about repercussion or even know right from wrong.
My kids WERE spoiled until the youngest hit middle school. Then Tim and I hit the skids. Then my kids learned ALL about life, the hard way. In hindsight, it was the BEST way.
They all know first hand how life can be taken for granted then seemingly change over night. They have witnessed first hand how you can be knocked now...way down.
They have also learned that if you live your life right and help others, others will help you when YOU need it.
So I'm starting a new phase of my life on Saturday. I've accepted a position with a company starting part time, still with my old job just adding another. If I don't try, how will I know? A friend from high school who I haven't seen in over thirty years but reads my blog drivel has suggested me to her boss. I'm giving it a shot. I may fail or I may surprise myself and be great at it.
All I really want to say by all of this is...modern technology is great, it's fantastic! But don't forget the "Human Touch." Don't forget that pat on the back or that warm hug when someone needs it. Don't forget that no matter what, life can change without someone giving you a warning with a hash tag on Twitter or update status.
We need to rely more on true emotions and physical interactions. It seems to be a lost art in this age of technology and networking. It can be a good thing... don't get me wrong, but you need to remain grounded and remember where you came from before you end up wondering "How in heck did I end up here and why isn't anyone tweeting me back?"
Just my take on it..COTTON
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