Yesterday

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A few weeks ago, I met a new friend who was about 20 years my junior.  About the same age as my oldest daughter.  And as you can imagine, my conversation soon turned to politics and morals.  It wasn't long before my new friend informed me that as we grow older, we become reluctant to accept change.  And change is often better.  Well, as you can imagine, that conversation has really made me think.  Is it really better now than ever?

For me Yesterday was a time for a Sunday drive, stick ball and 15 cent burgers.  Chevy Impala station wagons and 15mpg.  Televisions with dials to tune and transistor radios.  Kites at the beach and crabbing with a chicken neck tied to a string.  Trading cards flapping on bicycle spokes and shovelling snow or raking leaves for a buck.

It was a time when all my friends had both a Mom and a Dad.  The Mickey Mouse show, Rin Tin Tin and Roy Rogers.  There were Sissies and Tom Boys but no Gays or Lesbians in my world.  We wore ties to church, Mom stayed at home tending the kids and fixing dinner for my Dad when he came home from work.

I choked trying to smoke cigarettes but the only drug I knew was aspirin.  One pair of shoes for church and school, and PF Fliers for play.  Duck Tails and Crewcuts, but no Mohawks colored blue.  Abortions were illegal and effective birth control means did not exist.  Young men married their pregnant girlfriend and raised their children together.

I knew people in wheel chairs but none with hip replacements.  My Mom was blind but somehow she watched me.  We Potty Trotted houses but never did drive by shootings.  There were fights at school, but the fighters became friends afterwards.  A school teacher paddled me in class but no one ever called my Mom.

Well that was my Yesterday and I'm sure that everyone has their Yesterday.  For most, Yesterday is dead and gone.  But for me, it has not passed.  It is the very essence of who I am and how I came to be me. 

Speaking words of Wisdom, let me be Me.
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