Confusing title? At first glance sure, but keep reading. A new year means another chance to change everything that you didn’t quite seem to get to last year. Was one of those changes buying a new cell phone? What was wrong with the old one? Did it make phone calls like it was intended to do? Maybe you wanted to upgrade to a new phone because of the text messaging feature, the camera, the email alerts, or the fifty-trillion applications that you never use.
Buying a new car is always a blessing. Why did you buy one? Was it to get the new model that looks and drives like the old model, but costs ten thousand dollars more? The ten thousand dollars amount – exaggerated I know – is for the added comfort of two extra cup holders on the doors, just in case the four in the center aren’t enough.
The old way of wearing clothes seemed fine. You put on a shirt to cover the top portion of your body, and pants or skirts to cover the lower. The new way to wear clothing is to show as much titty and ass-crack allowed by law. Isn’t there an old law for indecent exposure? Sneakers that light up so kids can see themselves when they’re outside playing at night. Uh, the old way was to have your ass in the house before it got dark.
A savings bank between your mattresses may not gain interest but taking it into the bank opens up a whole new world. It is the avenue for a pleasant exchange with the teller, and it provides security and light chatter to get the teller through the work day. The new – online banking, ATMs, and hidden fees that show up when you have no money to pay them. Overdraft!
Respect. What has happened to teaching our children about or adults living in respect? Adults are not supposed to swear, but we do. In the old days children would sneak and swear when adults weren’t around. The new children? Awww, Lawd! Somebody wash that child’s mouth out with bleach! They don’t use the proper salutation when addressing us either. Somewhere Miss, Mr. and Mrs. was replaced with whatever they felt like saying at the time.
Who decides to keep changing technology? Who are we keeping up with? What is happening to the technology of your family? When a fifteen year old boy texts his mother to tell her that he got his girlfriend pregnant we have gone too far! Sex and texting? Awww, Lawd! Sitting at the dinner table eating as a family isn’t the same when everyone is checking their Blackberry. We really did leave having dinner as a family to Beaver
An old saying that has been around for centuries is to never burn a bridge, because you never know when you might have to cross back over it. How many bridges have you burned to keep up with the new? Understandably old may not have a place in your life. You may have gained so much new weight that your old clothes don’t fit. You may have made decisions that changed the outlook on your life, and old relationships have to remain as is.
Life is forward motion. Standing still or living in the past is coffin fodder. We have to embrace change if we want to stay in the know. Record album, 8-Track, cassette tape, CD and MP3. The joy of going into the fast-food restaurant has been reduced to sitting in a line full of exhaust to receive a bag from the drive-thru. One window for orders; the next your edible delights. Get the product to the consumer as quickly and as compact as possible. Choke and go.
I love new. The internet and blogging, new shoes, new opportunities, you know, the new positive stuff. New is wonderful, familiar is comfortable, but old has always been reliable and reassuring. Can new become old and have lasting value, or is it new for such a short period of time that it fades away without a memory?
We decide what is best for our lives. If new is causing your decision-making process chaos to your megabyte memory storage files, press ctrl+alt+delete and save out with the new and in with the old.
I luv yah’ll
SLS Paradigm Shift: Moving Literature to New Dimensions 