Donald Trump presidency…………….D +… Eighty something days!
There are some days when I really, really miss the good old days. Most people under 30 have not really grasped the concept of the ‘good old days’. The forty somethings and 50 somethings are just beginning to grasp the ‘good old day’ concept. But trust me when I say that those of us over sixty years old have not only grasped the ‘good old day’ concept, but we are trying to grasp it so tightly that we have almost choked it to death. (And we enjoy imparting our good old day experiences on the younger generations.)
Our small Midwestern town had a drug store that had a soda fountain. During my youth, a cherry coke could be purchased for 5 cents. A Snickers bar was 5 cents. There was a marshmallow/chocolate candy bar called Valomilk. It also cost 5 cents, but it had a gimmick. Inside each wrapper was a small cardboard disk. Once you collected 30 cardboard disks, you sent them to the manufacturer for ten free Valomilks! Wow! So, in about a ten day time span, I purchased and ate thirty Valomilks. Yes….I ate them all myself because I was in my non-sharing, bratty stage of child development. (I was also hyperactive from all that damn sugar!) About two weeks later, I received ten free Valomilks delivered in a round cardboard sleeve. I was in hog heaven! And….I thought I beat the system. I figured that if I got ten free Valomilks with the little cardboard disk inside, I would only have to purchase twenty more Valomilks to get the ten free Valomilks again. It was my nine year old mind’s version of a ponzi scheme regarding candy bars. But, alas, the manufacturer outsmarted me. There were no cardboard disks in the ten free Valomilks. I only did that promotion once, as I really liked a Snickers better.
Our small town hardware store provided just about everything. You not only were able to purchase the traditional hardware materials, but you could also purchase shotgun shells, rifle bullets, dishes, baseball mitts, toys, hot water heaters, stock watering tanks, electric fence materials…..well, you get the idea. It was much more than just a hardware store. All of those items mentioned were either purchased by me or my family. Oh….the simplicity of the ‘good old days.’
I also bought the one and only bike I owned until I was over 40 years old from that hardware store. Purchasing it was simple. You picked the one you liked from the 12-15 available boys bikes. That large selection was only available during the spring. If you waited, you bought your bike from the remaining dregs because they did not restock until the following spring. Mine was a pretty red and white bike with the conventional one speed. That one speed being that the faster you peddled, the faster you would go. If you could afford a three speed bike, you were not only rich, but you would be branded a sissy.!
Grandma P never did have a bicycle. Her family of six could not afford them. She got her first bicycle when she was 64 years old. Even though she knew how to ride, it was terrifying for her to start riding again. Now she enjoys riding her bicycle and she rides it with confidence. Our oldest grandson would be surprised about Grandma P never owning a bike. He got into BMX racing and owns seven bikes!
A trip to the local A&W was simple, easy and inexpensive. A small root beer cost 5 cents. A large root beer was a dime. A hamburger was a quarter and french fries were an additional 15 cents. More importantly, the food was brought to you by a beautiful female carhop. The owner of the A&W hired all the cheerleaders during the summer to be his carhops! Not surprisingly, he sold hundreds of gallons of root beer every year!
The small cone at the local Dairy Queen cost 5 cents. They had a jumbo cone that cost a quarter, but you really had to like ice cream to be able to finish that cone. A malted milk cost a quarter and there were many available flavors. My favorite was blueberry and sometimes an occasional strawberry. They were delicious. Occasionally, in order to diversify my calorie laden diet, I would order a sundae rather than a malt. This also cost a quarter. My two favorite sundaes were either butterscotch or hot fudge with nuts.
Because our small town was 60 miles from a major city, our choices for radio channels were rather limited. We had two AM stations that played rock and roll that we were able to receive on our AM only radios. Our cars only had AM radios. It was much later before FM made an appearance in our community. People owning FM radios were either listening to classical music or to PBS offerings. But for us youngsters, AM rock and roll was our choice and where it was at!
Life was much simpler in many other ways. For instance, we only had three television channels, ABC, NBC and CBS until an independent station took our total to four. As a result of this, we only had three different sources of news casts. Each of the major networks had 30 minute time slots, followed by the local channel with another 30 minutes of news, weather and sports. A total of one hour of news beginning at either 5:30 or 6:00 PM. There was another half hour of local news, weather and sports at 10:00 PM. (As an aside, the networks went off the air at night and did not come on again until the next morning! Imagine that…you millennials!)
So why am I writing about all this stuff concerning the good old days? Firstly, I hope that sometime in the future, my grandkids will actually read my blog. Secondly, and more importantly, I do believe life was much more simple during the post WWII years than they are today. This is especially true when it comes to television media and its hundreds of channels.
Did you notice that I began this blog with the ‘Donald Trump presidency……D+ eighty something days.’ Have you followed all the 24/7 news channels that are headlining the following: Donald Trump, the First 100 days? The one thing I miss about the good old days was that after a spirited and tiring presidential election….everything seemed to quiet down as the new president was getting acclimated to his new position and to his new cabinet. The media took a break. Not any more! Do any of you baby boomers remember any other POTUS getting the following and the scrutiny of this President as soon as he took the oath of office? What happens when the hundredth day arrives? Is the newest headline going to be: Donald Trump presidency….the second hundred days? The first year? The second year? Do they realize that his term is over 1460 days? I have watched more White House press conferences since Trump became POTUS than I have for my entire life. Can’t they hold two a week instead of every day?
Here is the problem and the big difference between the television media today and the television media during the good old days. Today, we have more 24/7 news channels than we had total channels during my youth. Those news channels need something to broadcast for that 24 hour period. When we had three total channels, the important issues and highlights were covered, human interest stories were added and that was it…..short, sweet and simple. That was how we got our news. Today? Well, today, just to make sure there is enough content to cover a 24 hour period, every issue is covered in depth, and deeper, and deeper, and repeatedly. Teams of talking heads are assembled to make sure that if one talking head needs to take a breath, another talking head can chime in with a divergent opinion. This creates dissension, which somehow must equate to ratings. Then, if there is not enough worthy news to fill a 24/7 news cast, there are two options: either repeat what has been covered or make something up. Unfortunately, I believe more news channels are reverting to ‘make something up.’ I believe the new terminology is ‘fake news’ or ‘false news.’
What would the liberal biased television media report if they did not have Donald Trump? What acting job would Alec Baldwin have if he could not lampoon Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live? These are almost important issues.
If you have followed my blog, you have surmised that I am a political junkie. But since the Trump inauguration, I have ‘crossed the Rubicon’ when it comes to the news reporting about politics. The television media has worn me down. I find myself turning off the television and watching less and less of what is being reported. I wish these news channels would just report the news in clear and concise terms. But if they did that, there would only be about 90 minutes of news to report every day. And then my dear readers, we would be back to reporting as it was during the ‘good old days.’
Oh well, the good old days are long gone. I think I will eat my $1.49 Snickers and my $5.00 hamburger. I’m on my diet so I will have to pass on the $3.50 malted milk.
Tomorrow is Easter. Never forget the purpose of the holiday. Much was sacrificed for our salvation. God bless.