Saturday, December 11, 2004
FOURTEEN DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS....
Shortly after getting started on my day we had a nice phone call from John…and Becky dropped by on her way to Springfield. We are all busy getting some things crossed off our list (and checking it twice). Time waits for no man (or woman) so after this week-end we are down to do or die. I have used several of the little phrases my mother often quoted during her daily tasks. I use them so I don’t lose them and therefore, lose a little more of her.
I well remember singing Santa Clause Is Coming To Town… Up On The Housetop Reindeer Paws….Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and all of the classics we sang in Sunday School. I mention this because I remember going to the Woolworth Five and Dime Store in Omaha, with my mother…. and in the back was a section closed off with a brass rail. Enclosed in the area was a grand piano and a man who would play any sheet music you thought you might like to buy. The music was encased in a nearby area for easy selection and while mom shopped I liked to hang on the rail and listen to the pretty music. This was especially fun at Christmastime when he was most often asked to play carols.
When I think how people make their selections now it is very sad to me. Everything is so impersonal and generic. Do you realize how much “feeling” is being lost by all of this mechanical stuff? We bought meat from a butcher, bread from a baker, milk was delivered by a milkman, ice from the ice man….we even had an egg man come once a week. There was the Avon lady, the Rawleigh man, the paper boy…..there were ‘people’….real live people with whom we made our purchases. When we called for information …..we got a person on the other end of the line who would help us…not 12-recorded messages….to go to the next message.
I realize I am sounding like my maternal grandmother who was the clarion against mass production, more highways eating up farmland, music that was just noise and made no sense…. and young people squandering their youth. The “old folks” are just voices crying in the wilderness who call for remembrance of values, personal contact, common courtesy and a fear of God himself. Sadly, we live in a society where old people are considered ugly, out of shape and stupid. We are not “with it.” I join all those who went before me who shook their heads and grieved over what is being cast aside.
Ugly means wrinkles. Out of shape means we are fat. Stupid means we don’t like what kids like. Those wrinkles are the lives we’ve lived…out of shape means we can give soft hugs frequently…..and as for stupid…We are not stupid. We are informed. The things youth runs after are so disgusting and worthless we have grown as far away from it as we can.
Am I angry or down on young folks? On the contrary. I was young and out of shape and stupid like the young folks once. Now I am old…out of shape and thought to be stupid. My journey is mostly behind me now but the closer I come to the bend in the road, I see it is all easily remedied. Love more, be more kind, more forgiving….get your eyes off of the exterior of everything and look deep within. The answers, the peace and the joy are still there, waiting for the next person to see the Star………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
I well remember singing Santa Clause Is Coming To Town… Up On The Housetop Reindeer Paws….Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and all of the classics we sang in Sunday School. I mention this because I remember going to the Woolworth Five and Dime Store in Omaha, with my mother…. and in the back was a section closed off with a brass rail. Enclosed in the area was a grand piano and a man who would play any sheet music you thought you might like to buy. The music was encased in a nearby area for easy selection and while mom shopped I liked to hang on the rail and listen to the pretty music. This was especially fun at Christmastime when he was most often asked to play carols.
When I think how people make their selections now it is very sad to me. Everything is so impersonal and generic. Do you realize how much “feeling” is being lost by all of this mechanical stuff? We bought meat from a butcher, bread from a baker, milk was delivered by a milkman, ice from the ice man….we even had an egg man come once a week. There was the Avon lady, the Rawleigh man, the paper boy…..there were ‘people’….real live people with whom we made our purchases. When we called for information …..we got a person on the other end of the line who would help us…not 12-recorded messages….to go to the next message.
I realize I am sounding like my maternal grandmother who was the clarion against mass production, more highways eating up farmland, music that was just noise and made no sense…. and young people squandering their youth. The “old folks” are just voices crying in the wilderness who call for remembrance of values, personal contact, common courtesy and a fear of God himself. Sadly, we live in a society where old people are considered ugly, out of shape and stupid. We are not “with it.” I join all those who went before me who shook their heads and grieved over what is being cast aside.
Ugly means wrinkles. Out of shape means we are fat. Stupid means we don’t like what kids like. Those wrinkles are the lives we’ve lived…out of shape means we can give soft hugs frequently…..and as for stupid…We are not stupid. We are informed. The things youth runs after are so disgusting and worthless we have grown as far away from it as we can.
Am I angry or down on young folks? On the contrary. I was young and out of shape and stupid like the young folks once. Now I am old…out of shape and thought to be stupid. My journey is mostly behind me now but the closer I come to the bend in the road, I see it is all easily remedied. Love more, be more kind, more forgiving….get your eyes off of the exterior of everything and look deep within. The answers, the peace and the joy are still there, waiting for the next person to see the Star………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
