Modern Toys and Backseat Memories

When I was a kid, I didn’t have all the “toys” they have today, I know, you don't give a crap, but anyway.... Even now I don’t have all the toys men my age have. I was watching... no point in denial, Ellen. She was in the process of giving away a new GMC SUV. For those not acronymicaly inclined, General Motors Company, Sport Utility Vehicle. This “Toy” had something I would have loved having when I was a kid sitting in the back seat. Each front seat had a video monitor built into the headrest. Two kids in the back, each with his/her own screen. One playing a game the other watching a movie, heaven for the driver, but perhaps not time well spent for the kids.

When I and my siblings were travelling with the family we read books, and chatted about life, usually ours, but sometimes the lives of other, more interesting people. We would also look at the sights, asking questions which were occasionally answered in an informative way. We used our imagination to fill the sometimes long hours we travelled over many years.

When I saw Ellen talking about that car on her show, the first thought that jumped into my head was “where were these things when I was a Kid?” On second thought, I may have been pretty fortunate. Instead of each of us being engrossed in a private movie or game, we talked. Sometimes we argued, but we did interact and that had to be good.

My parents did a lot of driving around the country. Dad was a preacher, so he often spoke at churches in other states. Sometimes the drive would be along roads we had travelled before. These drives were occasionally boring since the sights were familiar, I remember watching for the familiar landmarks judging how soon we’d get there, and keeping a eye out for anything new. I liked the trips that took us along country back roads, even those we’d been on many times. Something about the closeness of the surrounding trees and fields, made me comfortable, perhaps it was knowing that if an emergency pit stop was needed a tree to hide behind was just there. City driving was fun of course, being a country boy the crowds and buildings were exciting and new. The country though had something that drew me. Open fields, narrow lanes between fences stretching toward houses with barns and out buildings, each lane ending at the road with a mail box, like the dot at the bottom of an exclamation point. What went on there? Who were the people? Dozens of questions popped into mind with every passing farm. This guessing game was one we never grew tired of, even today I always wonder about the places and people I see.

Each season presented its splendour as we drove. Autumn with its colours, the leaves swirling across the road behind the car as we passed by. The smell of dusty dryness and the many shades of red, orange and purple foliage. Winter was always an adventure, especially when my mother drove. When very young there seemed to be snow every winter, even if it came late it was always there. It really was like the Currier and Ives prints, except with cars instead of horse and sleigh, you just had to use imagination to see it. Mom could never get the hang of snow driving, if the car was sliding sideways toward where we wanted to go, fine... if sliding in another direction, cover your ears. Spring with the fields newly ploughed and planted, Green shoots in rows and wild flowers bordering the roads. Spotting and naming trees and flowers was a good spring car game. In spite of enjoying winter, the spring always uplifted the spirit, to me it was the prospect of summer freedom just around the corner that made me fly. Summer never arrived soon enough, school out and kids in fields playing ball, how many hours could we spend with ball and bat, endless. We didn’t use air conditioning when travelling, wide open windows, wind and summer smells beating against your face. Who could last the longest with mouth open letting the wind flap your cheeks? Making that sound like a wooden ruler on a piece of string being swung around your head, a few seconds was all my sister could manage. These fond memories come back now and then, as though I might be wishing for a return to that clichéd “simpler time”. That might be true, or maybe not. I don’t get confused by the “modern” pace of life we find around us. When talking with people younger than I, my mind seems to always be a few steps ahead of where their comments lead. Experience, knowledge, or just plain common sense could account for this. Or it may be that the pace of modern life isn’t so much faster than the past, just different.

I mentioned the Currier and Ives days of horse and carriage, can’t claim to have lived them, though I would have liked to have experienced them just a little. I didn’t live through those early days of the automobile which started during the finial decline of the “Wild West”. Wouldn’t it have been great to actually see Butch Cassidy or Bat Masterson hop into a car and drive off into the preverbal sunset. Missed the war to end wars, the roaring 20’s and the next war. I joined life just in time to greet the 50’s, It looked fine from my point of view. The 60’s found me old enough to know what was happening but not quite old enough to be fully involved. Saw the first computers invented, hell, I saw the first electronic calculators introduced. I learned the language of "today" as the language was forming, DOS, , hard drive, ram, Bill Gates, back-up, well I forgot the last one a few times. The time we experience is simply a constant flow of change. Whether we say the change we see is good or bad is a matter of personal perspective, the only people who would argue that, simply see things differently to me. A period of time doesn’t start with our birth or end in our death, like a moving average, as one point drops into past another approaches into present.

The “Toys” kids have today are the same as the toys we had as kids, just different. One day they’ll look back and remember with fondness the nights sitting in front of a plasma flat screen having a chat with someone 15,000 miles away. They’ll probably say “Where were personal transporters when I was a kid? It took three months to get to Mars back then.”

All these “new toys” are great, but sometimes I think we should remember some of the old stuff too. My son asked me to buy something from the store for him a few days ago, I said write it down so I don’t forget. A few minutes latter he handed me a printed sheet of paper from his computer with two words. Printer cartridge.

JAWhite
February 2010                                                    Return to Main Page

Child with computer: Image by, Carl Wuerz

I love this image, brilliant child bright future. I just know it.
Currier and Ives print: The Road Winter