I, Troglodyte

            The other day I marveled at my son Marc's ability to put together a  superb Power Point sales presentation.  Although I spent the major part of my career in Marketing, I never possessed the computer skills that he enjoys almost as a second nature.  Even now I know I am way behind the times.  I keep a Tracfone in my car for emergencies, and I do all my writing on a desktop, but I don't carry a fancy phone on my hip, nor do I have a laptop, a tablet, or any device beginning with the letter "i".  When my son asked me what word might describe my backwardness when it comes to modern electronic conveniences, I said that I may very well fit the definition of a troglodyte.

            Well, I might not quite be a caveman or a Luddite, but as someone who learned how to type on an old Remington 55 years ago, I might qualify as a curmudgeon when it comes to comparing today's customs and values to the ones I acquired growing up. 
            Sometimes it's just the little things, like holding the door open for my wife as we enter a restaurant, or holding her chair as she sits down.  I never wear a hat in a restaurant, much less with the bill on backwards or to the side.  And I never wear shorts or jeans in church.  I resent the ones who use parking lots to empty their car ashtrays.   Or who dump their trash along roadways.  Last week I even saw a young man drop a bag out his driver-side window before he had even left McDonald's driveway on Ehringhouse Street.
            I don't mind drivers who exceed the speed limit a little -- I used to do that myself when I was young -- but I do mind those who pull out onto the left lane of a highway and stay there, especially if they drive under the speed limit.  In my old commuting days I kept my distance from the guy with a newspaper spread across his steering wheel.  Now, I fear becoming the victim of someone texting while driving.
            I was born before Pearl Harbor, so I inherited my values from the Great Generation.   But times have changed.  Teenagers in my day might have engaged in necking, but never sexting.  Every kid I knew had two parents at home, but hardly any had a TV, and we played our games outdoors, not in front of a screen.  Few kids failed to graduate high school, and, with only the rare exception, girls put marriage and pregnancy in the right order. 
            Yet, looking back at the decades since, I have to marvel at the advancements in the fields of science, medicine, and technology.  We only dreamed of the luxuries that most people now take for granted.  But perhaps there are dormant seeds of corruption in all this abundance.  It's the growing sense of entitlement among people today that makes me worry about the future.  The spirit of self-reliance and hard work has been replaced by the right to free food, free housing, free medical care, and welfare; independence and free enterprise by dependence on government largesse; and equal opportunity by the demand for income equality. 
            Let's HOPE that this New Year will bring CHANGE for the better.