Senior citizens and those in their 50s might want to sit down before reading the following because your lives are about to change because of change.
We are going to see part of our lives disappear when, at one time, these things were just taken for granted.
It came from a buddy of mine wintering in Phoenix and there was no indication of who had written it or how it had been researched. It was entitled only “Things that will disappear in our lifetime.”
It is definitely food for thought.
For example, the post office will soon be no more. Email, Fed Ex and UPS have just about wiped out what money the post office needs to stay alive.
How about the cheque taking flight? It costs the financial systems millions of dollars a year to process cheques. Credit cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of that paper money.
There are those who say they will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the pages, but the books of today will soon follow music. You can get albums of all kinds for half the price and never leave your home to get the latest music.
The same is going to happen with books. You can browse a bookstore on line and even read a preview chapter before you buy. The price is half that of the real book and the convenience is amazing. Say goodbye to books as we knew them.
What we called the telephone in our day is now called the land line. And it will soon be replaced by cell phones because, to be honest, it’s not needed any more. In fact, most are paying double charges for having both a cell and a land line.
Most will be sad to learn music is dying a slow death and not just because of illegal downloading. New music is not being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. More than 40 per cent of music purchased today is catalogue items, meaning traditional music the public is familiar with involving older established artists.
And don’t be surprised if television becomes a victim as revenues for the networks are down dramatically because people are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they are playing games and doing other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. (On a personal note, I say this could be a bonus because cable rates are going out of reach and, at commercial time, you have the opportunity of fixing a full course meal and not miss a thing.)
And then there is a thing called privacy and, that too, is either on the way out the door or that door has already been slammed shut. There are cameras on the street, in buildings not to mention in your computer and cell phone. Others know who and where you are right down to the GPS coordinates and the Google Street View. All you have to do is think about it.
It’s sad but kind of scary at the same time, I would say.
Changing the subject completely, I have been invited to speak at hundreds of sportsmen’s dinners over the years and they have really not changed all that much. In the 60s, a Lethbridge service club would bring up American superstar athletes as drawing cards and that developed into others following suit throughout the province some using local media types as a drawing card to save money.
Others like the Calgary Booster Club and Calgary Italian Dinner continue to spend big dollars on “superstar” speakers. Meantime in small towns it would be local media with a touch of beauty in the form of topless waitresses. That worked in one small town for a few years until the word reached the wives about the waitresses.
For the third-straight year I was invited not long ago, anticipating the waitresses but finding wrestlers. These guys are not Stampede Wrestling types just yet. But I must admit they put on a pretty good show and certainly got the locals involved.
It added a sportsmen’s touch to a sportsmen’s dinner, and I think they found a winner.
Quick joke to wrap it up as the wife says: “Do I look fat?” and the husband replies: “Do I look stupid.”
