Stereos and televisions and personal MP3 players and such… a
few more things that take away from quality time, for the most part, but on
rare occasions can add to it if properly applied. “Music is the gift that keeps
on giving,” I was recently told by a close friend of mine. Of course, I think
they just wanted a copy of a new CD that I had just purchased, but the thought
was still a good one. Although I have to say that music has been a great part
of my life. It has helped me while I was writing, drowning out the hustle and
bustle of the outside world when it threatened to encroach upon my efforts. It
has cheered me up when I was down, and brought back many memories both good and
bad depending on what song it might be. Music is everywhere… in the stores, in
our vehicles, in toys, in greeting cards even. “Music soothes the savage
breast” the old saying goes… but you can tell it is an old saying, and that
they never listened to any Gangsta Rap.
Televisions are
getting bigger and more technologically advanced every day, it seems. HDTV…
plasma… flat screens… I guess next they will come with special effects built
right in that spray water on you when it is raining, or puts out fog for that
scene where the girl is heading down to the lake where the killer is, or maybe
even smacks you upside the head if you are watching Jerry Springer.
We spend too
much time watching television and movies and what have you already. When I was
a kid, we got to watch television… on Sunday… if the television worked.
Sometimes it came on, sometimes it didn’t. If it did, us kids were treated to
the Wonderful World of Disney, the Lawrence Welk show, and then the high point
of the evening… Hee Haw. For those of you who do not remember or never knew
what that show was, consider yourself blessed beyond all possibilities. That
show has haunted my dreams for years and I am sure did more to steer people
away from country music more than any other single event in history except for
the movie “Deliverance.”
