When I was growing up there weren’t all these rules as you have today. You shoulda seen the things we got away with, you wouldn’t believe it now. But that don’t mean nothin’ really. It wasn’t any better or worse then than it is now. Don’t let anybody fool you with all that nostalgia crap. It seems every generation is destined to see things as better “back then” and no generation is open to seeing it as pretty great “right now.” Maybe we’re just programmed that way as humans. Maybe things always seem better when you didn’t have to live through them. Maybe we only remember the good stuff so only the good stuff gets passed on and remembered.

It’s hard to believe anyone looking back on World War I or The Great Depression as “good ole days.” But they will. They won’t call it WWI, but they’ll be pointin’ to the early 1900’s and waxin’ poetic. Ain’t nothin’ poetic about war, famine, rationin’, food lines, gas lines, children workin’ in factories, none of it. But these are the same people who blame the time change on farmers.

What do these people even know anyway. How can you possibly think the farmers are responsible for the time movin’ back or forth. I mean really. When have farmers ever been given an ear by anyone in any space of power. And these people think they’re responsible for the movements of time. Please. Now honey, you wanna know about time change you gotta think money. We are in the United States after all, ain’t nothin’ happenin’ around here if it ain’t for money. Money and time, time and money. That’s what oughta be printed on the bills, cause you better believe it ain’t got nothin’ to do with God or trust.

What were we talkin’ about? Oh right, growin’ up and life and stuff. Well, lemme just say I feel sorry for the way these kids are growin’ up. They don’t walk anywhere anymore. They don’t spend time with they friends. I ask my great great grandbabies what they learnin’ in school and they can’t hardly tell me. Sound like they don’t rightly know they own selves. But they can tell me what time the bus comes and what time they get home and what time they favorite television show is on. That’s just sad, it is.

I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched television. I think it musta been back when I lived with your grandmama for awhile. They always watch so mucha that box. Seems they had it on all night and day, got to where you couldn’t tell if whatcha were watchin’ was real or not. Is this still the news or we watchin’ one a them stories. You ask me that’s one a the things wrong with people today, they still don’t know the difference. Is it true or is it a story, they almost seem like they don’t much care either way. Like it don’t much matter to them if it’s true or not so long’s they can play on they phone while it’s happenin’.

You don’t get nothin’ outta your life if all your life is spent on a phone. I can tell you that right now. I can see the value of ’em, sure. It would have been right nice to know where my kids was at on a summers day when I needed to run to the store for somethin’ but it wasn’t necessary. Back then I’d just run to the store. Maybe leave a note on the kitchen table case they came lookin’ for me. Like as not I wouldn’t have to go to the store at all. Just call out the back door for one a the kids to go for me or ask my neighbor for whatever it was I needed. I bet you don’t even know your neighbors name. Am I right.

It’s not just connection though, y’all are missin’ much more than that. You have all kinda connections too, don’t ya. You got the interweb accounts that let you see what everyone’s doing all the time, and that makes you feel connected. Right. It’s why they keep trying to teach us how to use the computers. They got these real small ones now you don’t have to plug in or anything, ain’t heavy at all, like a magazine just about. They keep tellin’ us that usin’ those things will let us keep in touch, just like television but with our families. Well, that ain’t no kinda connection I know. And sides that it don’t get you any closer to the point does it.

Everyone’s always askin’ for the secret, the purpose, the point of life. I heard some great theories, lemme tell ya, but none of ’em are right. Truth is the whole purpose of life is failure. You wanna fail at so many things you can’t even count, but you don’t want to fail at the same thing twice. And the thing is, after all that failure, at some point there’ll be a thing you don’t fail at. It’s statistically impossible to fail at everything. Trust me. So you just go on now, go out there and give it all ya got, as many times as it takes to fail at all the things you wanna try, and then you just let me know when you hit upon something you can’t seem to lose at.

~~~That’s one hour~~~