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Call Us
Survivors.
from Don Bosco's Madonna India, for September, 1999 reprinted CATHOLIC Melbourne, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen
food, photocopiers, plastic, contact lenses, videos, and the Pill. Abortion was
a crime. We were born before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and
ball-point pens, dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air
conditioners, supermarkets, test tube babies, microwave ovens, Walkmans, mobile
phones, the Internet, and before man walked on the moon.
We got married first and then lived together. We thought fast food was what
you ate during Lent and a Big Mac was an oversized raincoat. We existed before
house-husbands, computer dating and disposable nappies. We never heard of
muesli, stereos, cassettes, CDs, duvets, word processors, yoghurt, pizzas,
virtual reality or saw young men wearing earrings.
Graffiti and muggings were joys unknown. For us, time sharing meant
togetherness. A chip was a piece of wood or a fried potato. Hardware meant nuts
and bolts, and software was not even a word. Made in Japan meant junk. A stud
was something that fastened a collar of a shirt, and going all the way meant
staying on a bus to the bus depot.
In our day only debutantes came out. Smoking was fashion-able, grass was
mown, coke was kept in the coal bunker, a joint was a piece of meat you ate on
Sundays and pot was something, you cooked in. Rock music was a fond mother's
lullaby. Soaps were only for washing. A gay person was the life and soul of the
party and nothing more, while aids just meant help for someone in trouble.
We who were born before 1945 must be hardy stock, when you think of how the
world has changed and all the adjustments we have had to make.
By the grace of God we have survived! Hallelujah!
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