Feb 25, 2009
Getting nostalgic ahead of time: What still exists that you’re afraid will disappear?
Like this post?
What things will you miss that you think will probably disappear in your lifetime?
Letter-writing, hymnals, properly spoken English, light-bulb-shaped light bulbs?
* * * * *
Spreading out a fresh newspaper in the morning.
Southern culture…
“Traditional” church buildings
It won’t be in my lifetime, but I fear that the English language will disappear. Rather, it will be a family of languages.
Also, books. The Kindle is convenient, but I love the look and feel of a book in my hand.
home delivered newspapers
pitchers hitting in baseball
fair and balanced reporting
my 100 year old grandmother
two-buck Chuck
my health
E-mail. All the kids these days with their Facebooks, not recognizing that we have this established, portable, widely-usable communications medium.
In general, old-fashioned network services and applications. The current fad of rewriting every computer system known to man to run through a stupid web browser really gets on my nerves sometimes.
Mountain Dew Baja Blast, the Nintendo Wii
Hmmm,
Hymnals and letter writing won’t be disappearing. Just because some people don’t have or do them, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. They are both widely popular.
(Should I write you a real letter, Abraham?)
Repairing things. Seems like more and more stuff has to be thrown away and completely replaced even for minor faults.
Children Playing outside!
this will surely disappear because, of any number of the following reasons and most likely a combination of all three.
1.) fear of Ultraviolet waves and melanoma.
2.) Environmental Protection of grass, because we must save our planet.
3.) over-technologized lifestyle of children, the will soon only “virtually” play outside on their wii or Xbox.
Does anyone else see the irony of lamenting the downfall of real letters and even e-mail while communicating through a medium which helps to revitalize neither?
I’m not sure if the English language will vanish entirely, but the beauty in it will be lost. Go back and read any author from 100, 200, or 300 years ago and you’ll be astonished at how ugly our language has become.
Matt
Christian2.0
Land-line telephones
Clocks with dials
Pennies
Civility
VHS movies
Cassette tapes
Privacy
-”real” mail
- CDs
-magazines
-maybe books (though I don’t realistically see them disappearing altogether…just doesn’t seem the same to curl up on the couch with a cup of coffee and a small electronic device).
Magazines
Children’s books printed before 1985
Book stores and small businesses
Land lines
Pot lucks
Freedom of speech
Honey bees
Family farms
I’m convinced that when this past generation of grandmothers dies away, all good cooking will go with them. Not even Le Cordon Bleu artists compete with my grandmother and all her contemporaries: they were artists with only love as their training and tool.
Gmail
iPhone
clean beaches
cinemas
my parents
Johnny Cash songs
A real person on the line when you call customer service.
here, here to the potluck. it would be a sad day if that were to go..
incandescent light bulbs
747s
glass jars
getting grandma’s piano (I don’t think pianos will disappear, but it seems like the # of homeowners with a piano is probably on the decline. Thus, maybe, no more handing down a piano that grandma played for years)
Petrol cars.
The dollar.
Coffee-flavored coffee and the Dave Matthews Band.
Excellent post, Abraham- it was so creative and well-written!
My present nostalgic experience is missing the Jordan era with the Chicago Bulls. :(
dine-in fast food – it’ll all go to drive through, which I hate.
pizza delivery (except in places like NYC).
Tunnels.
Major League Soccer.
Good Music (we will all complain about what kids listen to these days at some point in our lives).
Live, face-to-face, reach-out-and-touch-someone contact and conversations.
CD booklets – There is something cool to me about being able to open up the artwork that goes along with the album. It helps me maybe understand the artist’s inspiration (plus I’ve always thought printed material was cool). I know you can get the artwork along with your digital download, but its not the same as holding it in your hands.
DVD’s. I’ve already seen records go, 8 tracks, cassette tapes, video tapes, now DVD are heading toward the chopping block. I mean, what am I suppose to do with my DVD collection?!
“. . . properly spoken English . . .”
you had to include that, didn’t you.
i can’t think of anything right now that i’d miss. i do miss TGIF on friday nights on ABC though. family matters, boy meets world . . . we’re never getting those back.
I wrote a 14 page letter today – wahey for being old fashioned!
I would have to agree with you – properly spoken English, always a treat to listen to
film
Names with meanings.
This “I named my child ‘Bwahkeeshia’ because it sounds cute” stuff is overwhelming.
Never before in human history and culture have people given their children such a collection of alphabet letters and called them “Names.”
CD players in cars. Makes me listen to an album straight through, rather than constantly shuffling.
Hand-drawn animated films.
The New York Times print edition.
Leisure time
Baseball
Religious liberty
Bill Cosby.
I’m sure I will cry.
religious and personal freedom
picnics
blogging
The “clicking” sound a film camera makes as it advances film while taking pictures.
My sanity.
my body before children destroyed it. already nostalgic.
the skills of craftsmen and people knowing how to do math in their heads.
productive topsoil
realized interdependence
Toilet Paper
My memory. Or my parent’s memories.
Don’t even want to think about it.
Oops, *parents’.
I hate bad grammar and there I go.
internet.
the office.
my vision.
- picnics
- hop-scotch
- Sunday drives
- playing without play dates
- lemonade stands
- shop class
- family doctors
- Girl Scouts at the door
- public Nativity scenes
- Saturday mail delivery
- libraries
- Christmas pageants
the milk and Schwan’s men
kids building forts (instead of playing video games)
my favorite writing pen (Pilot Dr. Grip ballpoint – NOT gel ink; they are hard to find these days)
growing your own food
whistling
Playing tag, gravel, sharks and minnows and other playground games. Legos (best indoor toy of my childhood). Comic books, but mostly Calvin and Hobbes. Playing outside all day until it was time to catch fireflies. Reading aloud.
Social Security.
Handwritten notes. My own penmanship is terrible, but I love the personal quality of hand-written notes. Every word seems to mean more.
My childrens’ laughter, singing and playfulness. Their innocence to certain evils.
I wonder if our great-grandchildren will be amused
when we tell them
we once manually turned sink knobs for water,
pushed levers to flush toilets
and used PAPER towels to dry hands?
Also: I wonder (fear?) if old-fashioned neighborliness, but more specifically, “neighborhood connection” will disappear or has already disappeared.
Zach W. above mentions cd booklets. Yes!
I remember 33 rpm album cover and liner art. Part of the treat and thrill of buying an album was to get the artful & lyrical goodies. Oh yeah.
Just on the English thing; a topic dear to my heart. Lynne Truss & Bill Bryson’s books on this are hilariously fun.
Language has always been and will continue to be an ever changing thing…it moves with the times, and generation to generation rue the changes. C’est la vie.
churches that look like churches
tungsten lightbulbs
analog instruments
skilled artisans
American money in one color: green
And as someone already stated:
Southern Culture, its charm and gentle attitude is evermore being taken over by the shopping areas.
“taking a trip” for a vacation, instead of flying to a destination
going for hikes or picnics without cell phones (it’s already probably considered almost irresponsible to “go off alone” without a phone)
going back to our home towns for summer parades
kids climbing up on building roofs for fun without adults having a fit about it
walking outside and watching sunsets happen or dahlias bloom just because I want to and I can…I suppose the day may come when I’m not mobile enough to do that…
People who liked “Dumb and Dumber”
Steep and Cheap.com
Litter-free hiking trails
Unexplored parts of the Earth/Ocean
Interest in Space Travel
Jack Handey
I agree about the mobile phones. Sometimes I just wish there were no phones.
Freedom of speech in America
the middle class
asphalt
Family Dinners around the dinner table.
Manners
Print Photography
Childhood Innocence
“Family” safe television
Ice Cream Trucks
Walk up Banking
This is why I am trying to learn to knit! I am intrigued by movements like “slow cooking”–
good manners
and sophisticated humor
As a transplanted resident of the South, and as someone who is married to a Southerner, here’s my take on the value of suthern culture.
We lived for almost 10 years in “the North”, and we came to the conclusion there that people from the North are more guarded in their common interactions with people (this is often interpreted as “unfriendly”), but once they get to know you they they would throw themselves off a cliff for you.
When we compare that to living in the South now as an adult with kids, we see Southern culture as superficially friendly, but almost impossible to move relationships from “acquaintance” to “close friend”. Everyone may wave at you at the traffic light, but you can’t find anyone who really cares about you in the South.
That sounds excessively harsh as I re-read it, and we have great friends down here — people who would give up a kidney to save us if necessary. But on review, all our really close friends are transpanted Northerners. The Southerners we know hold us at arm’s length even though they would never say a bad thing about us — with one massive exception in our former landlord.
This is about to go into TMI, so I’ll leave it there for everyone’s consideration.
And if they’re reading, I’d except my friends Mitch and Allen from this rule of thumb as well.
Talking to people voice to voice.
(Communication has become texting and emailing!)
On a similar note, as much as I think those self-checkout lanes at the store are cool… whenever I go through one and go home, sometimes I realize I haven’t interacted with another human being all day!
Sorry to go all serious on you, but it’s not things I miss or fear missing–it’s people. I can remember with a pang of nostalgia things that are gone. But I grieve the loss of people and experiences.
-Cars you can work on
-Winters with snow
-Home-cooked meals
-Sandlot baseball games
-Places in nature to be ALONE
-the Jeep Wrangler
Great post!
Mark, I think there is a growing concern to recycle and reuse, it just may not be in the Christian realm yet.
Anita, one of the pastors at Bethlehem has a car with an 8 Track player. But I think he only has two tapes to play. If you come across any – mail them to Brad Nelson.
Zach W, love the comment about printed things. It made me smile because it’s so basic and yet I have often felt the same way, since childhood.
Amanda, YES!
Scott E, YES!
Debby, as long as I am alive there will be someone writing hand-written notes! And about letter writing I posted recently; http://globeshift.blogspot.com/2009/01/lost-art-of-writing.html
And to MOM: Agreed. While I miss a few little ‘things’ I miss my mom most of all. I dare say, Aber, you might miss yours too one day.
Abraham, do you read all the comments even if someone doesn’t check the ‘notify me’ box?
Church pews :(
Pulpits
In no particular order:
- darning socks
- slow cooking
- “use it up, make do or do without”,
- quilting with recycled clothing, not $30 per yard new fabrics
- letters and cards of encouragement “just because”
- growing vegetables from seed
- spring cleaning
In short, that take time, effort and love, not just money. I do a lot of these things, and I am called “old-fashioned” – which I take as a compliment!
Yes, Jan, I read all the comments.
That “notify me” box is referring to you as the commenter, not me.
You check that to receive emails of follow-up comments. I get them all regardless.
I often think about this, but can’t think of many now. Sorry if some of this this is a bit UK centric.
The house of Lords, Cricket, kids TV, emergency services for all, justice for all.
It’s questionable whether the following have gone already Freedom of speech, habeas corpus and public service TV.
The US Postal Service.
My Grandmother’s Sunday Dinner. Actually ANY meal from her capable hands!!!
The Words my children currently mispronounce. –I’m going to be soo sad when cajamas becomes Pajamas and nugix becomes Music and pic-a-nick becomes picnic, etc!!!
Southern Culture: As a Southerner born and bred and transplanted NORTH to MN, Frank that’s a very sad assessment of us. Its really disheartening that your experiences and interactions have been so unfortunate thus far. “Good Ole Boys” and Rednecks not withstanding, hold out for some true friends down there –I know they exist. But I have to say I can’t imagine Southern Culture will disappear in my generation. It permeates everything down there still!
Hand-written letters
Making things from scratch
Hymnals
Paper books
the pyramids.
@ BenHoak — Our local paper is down to one section some days. Ad revenue is way down and printing costs are up. I wonder how long they’ll be able to hold on.
acoustic instruments — REAL pianos, REAL guitars
My mama says “children’s imaginations” because children are entertained constantly, they no longer use their imaginations. They do not read, which would help develop their imaginations.
especially real pianos… lots of people still love the acoustic guitar, but far too many think a keyboard thingy can substitute for a piano.
Hymns being sung in church
Thank you notes sent for gifts received
colloquialisms.
High quality health care
Motorcycles that look, sound and feel like motorcycles.
I will not care a bit when all the gas-powered cars are replaced by whisper-quiet electric (or hydrogen) cars, but I will miss revving a motorcycle engine, and even just listening to one idle.
Petrified my wife will before I do.