Welocme

After years of thinking about starting a Blog I have finally done it. Since about 2005 I had thought having a blog would be interesting, no real purpose but interesting. So here it is "Life & All Its Quirks" day to day life is truly interesting and I believe everyone has a story to tell so here is my story.....

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Mayberry?

Where has Mayberry gone, or did it ever really exist?  As I look at the world around us and the decline of society I wonder where did the towns like the fictional Mayberry disappear to.  Did they really exist, yes I know that Mayberry (which got its name cam from the Town of Mayberry in Patrick County Virginia) was truly a fictional town for the setting of the Andy Griffith Show; but did those towns exist...  I remember watching the town of Mayberry on reruns as a kid, really the only black and white TV show I ever remember being aired with regularity.  As I watched the town where everyone knew everyone else, people greeting each other on the street and stopping to have a chat on a park bench, and Aunt Bee always baking something for someone else; I wonder was it really like this in the small towns around America?  I'm sure it was within reason, however I'm not sure the town drunk has ever locked himself up but it made for good TV.  The reason I sit here and ponder on this is because how do we get back to Mayberry, how do we stop the downward slide of society and how do we start the trend of looking out for our neighbor, get that small town atmosphere back to life.

I'm not a sociologist by any means, but I am fascinated by society.  I enjoy looking at society over periods of time and the transformation that society has taken for the good and the bad.  In order to get back to Mayberry we have got to realize how we got to the place we are today!

Society after WWII appears in my prospective to have changed drastically.  We went from a society that stepped up for our friends, neighbors and our country in to slow transformation of a society that started keeping up with the Jones.  We stopped being concerned about the welfare of each other and started focusing more and more on ourselves.  The Land of Milk and Honey coming out of WWII our Grandparents (or at least in my case) worked hard to provide for their family.  They started providing for their family the things they never had as a child.  These were the kid's of the "baby boom".  Unfortunately this is where I personally see the downward spiral of society becoming noticeable somewhere in the 1960s.  This my friends is where we lost Mayberry,  ironic to say the least because The Andy Griffith Show and the fictional town of Mayberry first aired on CBS in October of 1960.    The children of the "baby boom" were entering the work force, they were graduating high school some went to college, some started going after the almighty American dollar and many young men went to Vietnam...

Now again I reiterate I am neither a sociologist nor historian, but this is merely my opinion on the matter.  But as the 1960s proceeded, the "Baby Boomers" were swept back in time to the days of their parents with Vietnam.  However the attitudes at home were not that of the 1940s.  The war was apposed by many and the soldiers were not heroes as they were in WWII.  This again added tot he plague of the American society.  Those who stepped up for their Friends, Neighbors and Country were not awarded the same respect as their father's.  This had to have a negative effect on society and stimulate a thought process of why should I do anything for anyone else; I will just look out for me.  I will better myself no matter whom I have to step on to do it.  Climbing of the proverbial corporate latter now has begun full speed ahead; life was now entering the fast lane.

The climbing of the corporate latter further assisted in the diminishing of Mayberry.  Small towns did not hold opportunity, this was the slow lane.  People left home and went to big cities to chase the almighty dollar.  The problem with this is that everyone else was doing the same thing.  Making a dog eat dog world you had to have the upper hand. Life was flying by!

Ok, so here we are Vietnam is over which unquestionably had a negative effect on society.  Now we are keeping up even more than ever with the Jones, this has become a lifestyle.  The "baby boomers" start having children of their own, Gen-X.  This generation only enhances the distance from Mayberry; they have lost sight of those Mayberry values if you will.  It is not totally their fault because they were guided by a more individual focused society than a community focused society.  They become the society in my opinion that nothing was ever good enough for.  They were most likely the kids who got a car once they turned 16, but that was not good enough.  They are the ones in the work place that once every 5 or 6 years have to jump to the next big thing because the last job was not good enough.  Once again a society focused on themselves and not what they can do for others.  Understand this is a pure generalization and not accurate in all cases but I think if we look at society as a whole this is what we see.

Here we are today with the Grandchildren of the baby boom are in school and starting to enter the work place.  Their parents maybe to some degree start seeing the errors of the past but their solutions only move to make a bigger problem.  Because I think the Gen-Xers never thought anything was good enough, now they instill in their children that everything they do is great; to the point that those children, Gen-Y have an unbelievable since of entitlement.  They have a thought process that everyone wins, for example everyone that played little league baseball this year gets a trophy.  Now what is wrong with this you ask?  That is not how the world works, success come to those who work for success.  Though a lot is to be said for determination and motivation but we do not always win.  Sometimes a lost can be better than a win!  It can build your determination and your motivation and realize that everything is not handed to you and you have to work for it!  

Ok, don't think I have gone off in another direction how does this correlates back to Mayberry you ask?  Well society now has become extremely apathetic.  We have a generation of people who believe just showing up is the best they can do... I am sure we have all heard the disgruntled employee make the statement "They should just be glad I came to work today".  If just showing up is our best then how on earth can we help each other or ourselves for that matter?  This apathetic attitude has led to distrust in other, the false since of trust in ourselves and yes a greater deterioration of society. Many people no longer care about the community, they are so in grained with their selves their image and try to keep up that lifestyle.  Many either work non-stop to maintain the lifestyle they hold so precious, while many others just are showing up living for the moment with no ability to envision the future.  To put it bluntly we either don't have time for each other or we just don't care....

This is my brief synopsis of how we lost Mayberry.  Part II will be my thoughts on how we get back to Mayberry...  Comments are welcome!
 

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The First Blog

The First Blog, as I have written in the welcome message I have thought about making a blog for a few years now.  It really serve no real purpose other than a tablet to express your thoughts and share your story.  I think we all have a story to tell, day to day life is a story and as you grow old it becomes a film strip in your mind.  A highlight reel of the good times, the bad times and the quirks of life.  I finally mustered up the ambition to share that film strip, though not an open book but merely the parts I choose to share, and the thoughts I choose to share.

As the internet has made the world a smaller place it has eased communication and made it an every day part of society.  I still remember in the mid1990s when I got my first computer connected to the internet, I could see the world from my Dad's office.  I remember going into a chat room for the first time and talking to kids my own age from around the world.  One of who I still stay in contact with today (though not as much as we should), her name is Lama and she is from Beirut Lebanon we first started talking a chat room when we were both 13y/o.  Then started writing back and forth and now with the advancements in the internet regained contact a number of years later still share a e-mail from time to time.  The internet is an incredible thing, it has changed the world.  Most of us now carry the internet in our pocket or on our belt every where we go.

However with every good comes bad, the internet and this ability to communicate has cause much heartache for many people doing exactly what I am doing now sharing opinion, photos and comments.  Employers now look at these things to get a true character judgment of a person.  With facebook, myspace, blogs etc.  people have opened the doors to their life's to both the good aspects and bad aspects of their life.  However it all comes down to ethics, I was teaching a class last night to an audience of diverse ages and I brought up ethics and gave them what I think is the best definition of ethics and that is " To do what is right when no one is looking"  That is not an easy thing to do but we all must strive for it to make the world a little bit better place.  That is why with this blog I do not really intend on discussing controversial matters or making outlandish opinions, those thoughts are for my own (plus plenty of people are out their every day publishing these).  My purpose of this blog is two fold first to find the good and humorous in life and bring it to light; as well as express the thoughts I have about life in general all while telling my story.  It is not a blog to nag nor complain but hopefully up lifting because Life should be uplifting even with all its quirks!

Enjoy!