I Miss Mayberry

If you're a part of today's world, you have come to know that the speed of "life" has been put into fast forward. Patience is no longer a virtue and I am the most important person to everyone I know... Ha! Right!

Your neighbors used to be your friends, but your friends now consist of the contact list in your cell phone and your facebook profile. Lets be honest, how often do you talk to half the people on your facebook profile? Nine out of Ten of those who have a facebook have hundreds of "friends" to keep tabs on who is doing what, when they are doing and who they invited to do it with them only to be disappointed that although they are "friends" you weren't invited to participate. And then... deleting that "friend" Really???

As I am sure that I am not the only one that has noticed a Sunday afternoon on the couch watching a movie or doing something as a family has gone by the wayside. Everyone always has to be busy doing something. Kids and teenagers don't go outside to play or hang out anymore, if their cell phones had less than 5 minutes of action, they would completely die (truthfully speaking, I know some adults the same way) or if the computer or TV were off or out of service for a day, they might just have a meltdown, they are out of touch with the rest of the world. What ever happened to the slower pace? Why do we insist of using every single minute of every single day just to say we are doing something regardless of the importance of the task at hand.. We're always busy and failing to see that what we are doing is nothing more than passing the time and then complaining we never have enough time to do what "we want" to do. We spend the spring planting the roses but yet we never take the time to stop and smell them when they bloom.

I remember growing up, our Mayberry, if you will; consisted of my aunts and uncles playing horseshoes, riding four wheelers in the 9 mile with my cousins and their cousins, walking in the woods with the entire family after Nana's wonderful nap worthy dinner just to walk, going out on the boat with Uncle Greg and Aunt Wanda, going crabbing down at the dock, and lets not forget the sound of Nascar playing on the radio in the background of each and every family event held outside in the summertime.

Modern Day reality: I was in a local store this week and the cashier was just as pleasant as she could be, in some instances overdoing it but never the less, she was doing her job to the very best of her ability. A local off duty police officer pardoned her counter, there was a line behind him and the cashier was making small talk with the gentleman. She asked him about a service she was interested in as she knew he was an businessman outside of his "day job" the small talk commenced while she was ringing him up and he needed her contact information to set up an appointment to meet with her outside of her work. While he was processing his own credit card to pay for his purchase, the cashier began to write down her contact information (all the while the woman next in line is huffing and puffing and tapping her foot, quite loudly I might add) and then the woman in line said, "of course you're gonna do that before you wait on me" - it took a matter of 2 seconds to write down her info and give to the off duty police officer - and without skipping a beat the cashier said to the woman, "Mam, I'm sorry you're having a bad day, what can I do for you today? Is this all you need today?" just as pleasant to her as she was to the customer before. Mayberry still exists but it is rarely exercised by many. This cashier was not "slow" in ringing up the police officer but she wasn't working on improving her ringing speed either, she was doing her job and interacting with the customers as her job description outlines.
Its as if we are living in the life of Marty McFly in Back to the Future part II. The faster we can get what we think we need to have, the better we like it and if the speed isn't up to par, lets complain about it and see what we can get for free for our "inconvenience". Oh please!.

Has anyone else noticed that these "modern technologies" has in fact made our lives harder rather than easier? I'm guilty too, I don't understand why adobe is so hard to install on a computer so I can send someone a PDF vs. a word document but if it's not a necessity for them to have it, it's not that hard for me to print the paper and give it to them. Although I will admit, I do tease them about technology and their rebellion against it. However, it is that very rebellion that prompted this blog and finding Mayberry again.

Toby Keith's "American Ride" is full blast... If it wasn't for those without a pound of patience to spare we would still be pushing on the old fashioned way knowing that a paper trail never lets you down unlike a computer where you can simply hit the delete button by "accident" and poof all records are gone - or are they?. Mayberry for some has in fact been put in the recycle bin and that bin has been emptied. Everyone is trying to out do each other with ideas, concepts, money, material things and no one is focusing on the outcome of what they are so quickly trying to achieve. The outcome will without a doubt be loneliness, heartache, disappointment and wonder; the wonder of what went wrong and why it worked for one but not them.
I saw a statement asking the question who was the better president, Regan or Obama... Personally, that was a stupid question for someone to even consider asking however... If Mayberry were reintroduced to the American People, our children may not be the future liars and thieves that use laziness as a disability to reap on "assistance" from the government. The government isn't assisting - You and I are, we're footing the bill each and every payday so that one day we can get a retirement that may never come. But that's another blog all in itself. If you have the opportunity take a moment to listen to the song - it's avialable on youtube, but you knew that already.

Bottom line....
Mayberry is family, true friends and a lifestyle that revolves around just that. This year, Mayberry is my goal not my resolution and there is NO app for it.

Try Not to become a Man of Success... but a Man of Value - Albert Einstein