denniscoleman.net

I like progress, I really do. I like it when things get better over time, and through technology.

For instance, I think that MP3 players are magnificent. If I wanted to have all of my music with me wherever I went when I was a lad, it would have required a wheelbarrow and a very long extension cord. MP3 players are great, so are movies on DVD, and cars are way better than they were 40 years ago.

That said, I do have a bit of nostalgia about the things that were great from my youth that have either disappeared or been ?improved? to the point of ruination.

This is not only about stuff, it?s about traditions, mores, and fads.

To properly place myself, I was a teenager at the time when teenaged girls wore girdles. What this means is this: A girl really had to be committed to allowing any progress. Of course, by the time I was 18, it was '69 and I believe that underwear in all of its forms had become passé.

It seems that so much of our youth, and many of our memories seem to hinge around sex, music, and popularity.

I?m not really sure if we have made progress in these areas or not. Certainly, the dating ritual has fallen the way of girdles, Volkswagen buses, and drive-in theaters.

(For those who came after drive-ins, it was a great place to take your date. The movie was inconsequential; I preferred to listen to Marvin Gaye on the eight-track player.)

Dating was good. The boys had to humble themselves and ask for a date, with the great fear of being turned down, you had to go to the house, let the little sisters giggle at you, get dressed nice, and have a plan that included spending some money. I see this as far superior to "hooking up."

Back then boys had girlfriends. You held hands with them, and they sat right next to you in the car. That would probably be illegal today, and the last couple I saw holding hands were in their seventies, and it made my wife say, "ahhhh, that's sweet."

Sex, of course, is timeless. At least the quest is. But not too long ago there was a sort of pace to it, a timeline of sorts. Certain activities were saved for going steady, or by the number of dates.

And there were bases, milestones to achieve, with gaps of time and sweat and frustration between them. I don?t think that there are bases any more. From what I understand, it?s kind of like playing baseball, but using a golf ball. It?s a homerun every time, so the thrill is just not there.

Maybe the lack of dating ritual explains why the music, in general, sucks. There doesn't seem to be many love songs, and slow songs are unimportant because if you never have a girlfriend to break up with, you don?t need songs that reflect that end of the world feeling. I had a friend who locked himself in his room and listened to "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted," over and over, for an entire weekend. We don't need those songs any more, so kids just listen to crap like "Boom Boom Pow."

I can see why we have accepted things like cell phones, email, and cable over rabbit ears.

But why did we have to leave the romance of dating behind?

Is it just me?