This time of year always brings for me a sense of reflection. I like to reflect. I like to look back on the things I have and see how they have changed and how time has made improvements on them.
The other day I had one of those experiences.
While we were visiting my parents on Sunday, my son wanted to watch the Lion King. I obliged and went to find the DVD. Not finding it in the DVD player, I scoured the house searching high and low in every conceivable place, only to discover that my parents, in fact, did not own a DVD version of the movie, but rather a VHS copy. And the video was in the most obvious spot of all… the VHS player.
Its not like VHS wasn’t popular in my lifetime. I grew up on them. But today, they are thought of so infrequently that it’s as if they no longer exist. It’s not much to say now, one day it will be, but I can even remember the time before DVD’s existed! Remember when you actually had to rewind it before you returned it to blockbuster or you would incur a fine? Remember video stores?
My son is still young, but his patience for things like rewinding a VHS, or waiting for commercials to end is small. Yet, today I subjected him to just that.
Cassettes are a thing of the past too. And I have no doubt that one day, my daughter will come up to me with an artifact she dug out of my parents basement and say, ”daddy, what is this black circular thing?” to which I will reply “that’s called a record honey.”
For them I am old school, and they very well might not be comfortable using a mouse on a computer because everything will be touch screen.
And yet, I am able to look back on history and feel a sense of pride that I was there and have a deeper appreciation for a life with social networking, tablets and streaming video’s because I was there before them. This, my children will not.
But as a father, I know that one day their children will make them feel just as old as they made me feel today. And that nothing will make them happier.