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by Tom Anselm

You’ve probably heard the adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” And I guess that is true in some respects, such as the silliness of politics, the disregard they have for the voters intelligence, and the inevitably of war. But there are other parts of this here journey called life that just don’t meet that standard.

The Lovely Jill and I were enjoying a soft breeze the other night on the deck and talking about some certain things that have really changed in our lifetime. And just like that Farmer’s Insurance commercial says, “we know a thing or two , because we’ve seen a thing or two.”

Let’s start with homes. We both grew up in houses that were as big as some current homes’ garages. Bissell Hills and Glasgow Village homes were usually two-to-three bedroom, one bath, some with garage, others not. Square footage about 800 to 900.

In our neighborhood, we see mini-mansions popping up around us like Monopoly. This is really nothing new. It is a trend that the housing industry has moved us to over the three decades. And with this has come the need for two full-time incomes to afford the mortgage.

Now, the idea of women going full into the work force pretty much came about as a result of the revolutionary period known as “The Sixties”, with women becoming more aware of what they had to offer in the workplace, and opportunities for careers and higher education blossoming.

One result was more family income and thusly, larger homes, newer cars, everyone goes on vacation every year, houses at the lake, boats, etc., etc.

Not that this is a bad thing. Just an observation. So ladies, don’t take me to task. If you recall, a few columns ago I declared myself a feminist, so cool your jets. (Pretend I just typed in a ‘smiley face emoji.’ Ha!)

Another big change we talked about as the setting sun turned the horizon pink was when stores decided to stay open on Sundays. It was due to the repeal of the Blue Laws, or Sunday closing laws. Up until this time, most businesses were just plain shut down for the day. I seem to recall this happening around mid-to-late-1960s, because I worked at Schnucks in college, and we were still off.

Of course, if your business was open, you had to work, so that was just one more nick in the societal piece called family. Along with this came the Catholic practice of having Mass at 5 pm on Saturday, called the ‘Sunday vigil,’ helpful for those who had to work. Today, that Mass is populated by lots of white-haired folks who don’t work anymore, some who have to work, or others who have sports games or other activities the next day.

Which brings us to one of TLJ’s pet peeves… select sports games on Sunday mornings. And for the record, select sports in general. I know a lot of folks are part of this phenomenon, and in many cases, it is good for kids. But it can be overdone, with the subsequent loss of a kids free time, undue pressure on a child to succeed and win at all costs.

Several of our grandkids are in this world, and I am a big proponent of their participation, but I have seen how kids can burn out on a sport, or get significantly injured from over-use of certain muscle groups. Too many games and no down-time are not a good thing for developing bodies. Not to mention the expense, with team fees and uniforms and out-of-town tournaments.

The select trend has sometimes been characterized as a clever “Pay-to-play” scheme, where clubs will take anyone who signs up, resulting in big bucks for the club. We see it in soccer, baseball, softball, hockey, volleyball and swimming. I call that, not select, but ‘write-the-check’ sports.

Sure, widespread participation is fine, but sometimes moms and dads (okay, and grandpa’s) forget that this should be the standard of success. Not the trophy.

Let me jump off this soap box for a second, one from which I sometimes preach, and move to another topic: How about neighborhoods?

Community has a new definition. It is who you spend time with away from the home. Like your church group, swim club, service organization, charity. Less so is time with your next-door neighbors. Again, there are exceptions. But with the advent of garage door openers and air conditioning (maybe one of societies greatest inventions, along with indoor plumbing), people tend to be secluded in their own cozy homes. I mean, who sits on the front porch anymore? Who HAS a front porch, the outdoor gathering place having been replaced by the patio or deck? (In our first house, we had four concrete squares outside our back door. I told the kiddies if we watered them maybe they would someday grow into a patio. They believed me. Bad daddy!)

But enough grousing. We love our a/c, garage door openers, grandkids’ sports, stores open on Sunday, a dwelling twice as big as our childhood homes.

And of course, indoor plumbing.

Yeah, nice job there, Isaiah Rogers with privies inside the Boston Tremont Hotel in 1829. Hey, look it up on the interwebs… geez, how could we leave out this change?

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