Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCI

I don't use the mail all that much any more. I just went to the post office earlier this week and bought twenty of the "Forever" stamps, and the picture on the front is a Christmas scene, which means I'll be using Christmas stamps all through the summer. It hasn't been all that long ago that I had to go to the post office to buy stamps every couple months, and I would buy them in rolls of a hundred, but those days are gone. Now the post office is losing money by hundreds of millions of dollars, which is causing them to go up on postage and cut back on service, which in turn drives more customers away, causing them to lose even more money. It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago that the post office may be about to become a thing of the past. There was even a time in our nation's history when the office of postmaster general was a part of the President's cabinet.

I was thinking about that on the way home from the post office this week, and I've come to the conclusion that we who are alive today are witnessing a cultural revolution like no other generation before has ever experienced. I can foresee a time in the not so distant future when banks won't have so many branches any more. We've already reached the time where we no longer have to take a check to the bank to make a deposit. All we have to do is download an app on our smart phone so that we can take a picture of the check with the phone and send it to the bank, and it is instantly deposited for us. I now pay all my bills online, and on some of them, I actually get credit for the payment immediately. I don't even write checks to my church any more...I make that payment online as well. Remember how we used to count on "float time" with our checks...the period of time between the time we would write the check and when it would clear the bank? Don't try that now! I also believe fax machines are on the verge of becoming extinct, which makes me think that some of the new technology that is blowing our minds today may be already outdated tomorrow.

I could go on and on about how all the technological advances we're seeing today are changing the way we do business, but aren't we also seeing some big changes in the way we live our lives from day to day? I grew up in the era of "Andy Griffith" and "Leave it to Beaver," when certain topics were not discussed in mixed company, much less in front of small children. Now people talk about anything in front of anybody. Not only that, I don't believe friends visit each other the way we did when I was a kid. As I look back on my childhood, it seems like at least every other week, we would go visit friends or those friends would come to our house, and the adults would sit on the porch and drink coffee while the kids were having a great time playing in the yard. We don't do that any more. I can also tell you that all our homes were very simple, and with three or four kids, I can assure you our houses were not always immaculate. I just don't think all that mattered as much back then. Sometimes I wonder if it's because I grew up in a rural area, and now I'm living in the city....or has is changed everywhere?

When I was a kid, there's no telling how many miles I would ride on my bicycle each week, yet I was an adult the first time I ever even saw a bicycle helmet. I stayed hydrated by drinking my water straight from the faucet; I'm not sure if bottled water had even been invented by then. I was probably a teenager before I ever saw the inside of a "sit-down" restaurant....99.9% of our meals were eaten at home. Does it sound like I grew up in an era when life was boring? If it was, I sure didn't know it....I had a terrific childhood and life was good.

I'm really not complaining about all of the advancements in technology; I actually like most of them. But I do have to wonder if life will ever get back to being as simple as it once was. Are we just in a cycle that will eventually rotate back to the slower pace that we used to live? And if so, how long does one of these cycles last? Chances are, my own grandchildren will some day look back to the way things are today and reminisce about how simple their lives used to be. I will say, however, that I'm glad I grew up when I did. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Preston