Relative Something

Ah, the good old days. Not only do they not make things the way they used to, there are a lot of activities that we just don’t get to do anymore. I can remember the days we raked leaves into piles and burned them. It smelled great, …while it polluted the air. I don’t recall there having been warnings not to drink water from the garden hose. We did it all the time. We used to let our pets roam the neighborhood without a leash and I don’t recall anyone following their dog around with a bag and a scoop. Well, I guess there are still some people that don’t clean up after their pets to this day, based on the many piles appearing on my property –even though we don’t own a dog.

We used to get rides from strangers by hitchhiking. As kids, we were allowed to ride bikes without wearing helmets. We played around in the back of the station wagon without wearing seat belts.

I think most people have accepted these changes that have evolved over time without really expecting to be able to have things be the way they always were.

Sometimes, I wonder about some other activities of the past that people are still set on keeping alive. Take hunting, for example. In many families it is a big tradition. I can understand a desire to have things be the way they have always been. But as the population continues to swell, and wilderness shrinks due to development, there are more people eligible to hunt every year, and on a continually shrinking amount of available land. It gets harder and harder to maintain the family tradition in the manner it has historically been held. I’ve heard hunters argue that outsiders shouldn’t be allowed to hunt in areas where they have no history. There is a desire to maintain ones tradition, but this may be one of those activities that is destined to fade into the past.

I don’t expect hunting to go away completely, but I see it changing, most likely changing enough that it will become one of those things where the memory of the way it used to be done, hardly resembles what it will evolve into as it adapts to the 21st century world.

Although there are many who lament the changes that come with the passing of time, plenty of the changes are for the better. I remember a time when I couldn’t go out to hear music, or even watch a Vikings game at the old Met Stadium, without coming home smelling like an ash tray. Remember making ash trays out of clay in grade school as gifts for our parents? Ah, the good old days.