Saturday 3 September 2016

They are showing That's Entertainment on the TV and for the first time, I find it painful viewing.
Why on earth? Because it reminds me of an era of innocence that was my and many others  childhood. I know someone will leap to the defence of today and insist that advances in medicine, education, the Internet have rocketted evolution into the stratosphere. Maybe. But when I look about me, I am driven to asking, is this world really as fantastic as we are brainwashed into believing?
Fifty years ago , we experienced a dual blessing; contentment with our lot because we were igorant of anything different and a real childhood. A childhood of playing with friends out on the road, roving through parks and woodlands, our parents unafraid that anything would happen to us. I was brought up in Birmingham and remember being dug out of a snowdrift taller than me, my mother drying me off, and putting socks on my hands so I could go out again. Of course there was poverty and child cruelty - that has not changed, if anything it has worsened with time, not improved, because many of today's parents think only about enjoying their life, and never give a moment's thought, that having brought children into the world they are now responsible for them.
And the movies ... okay, so I hear the cries of, 'it was all a sham.' But, hey, it was a magical sham, that sent us home wit light hearts and beautiful dreams.For me, it was always musicals, addicted to the voice of Frank Sinatra and the dancing feet of Fred Astairs and Gene Kelly. And Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
When I went to Amsterdam with my granddaughter, we visited Anne Frank's house. On her wall were her Hollywood pinups, the pages torn from movie magazines. If I remember Ray Milland was one.
I hear cries of, what about the Internet? Really, is it such a blessing? No one disputes that it is an amazing creation. Yet because of this amazing creation, our high streets have died, banks are closing their doors, and our children are rapidly forgetting how to read. I mean how can you compare Treasure Island or Heidi to minecraft and zapping monsters with explosives, guns, knives and grenades? Already alarm bells of ringing as to their affect on the mental health of our youngers, with millions addicted to mobiles phones, which never leave their hand. I swear my granddaughter showers one-handed! And really, does it help to know about the death and destruction taking place in Syria when there is nothing we can do? All it does it corrode our happiness with guilt that we are not doing more.
Our present world has much to offer, but I still prefer the technicolour version of fifty years ago.

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