No one waits by the mailbox anymore
No one waits by the mailbox anymore.
Waiting by the mailbox is a lost activity.
Convenience and immediacy rule the day.
Patience got pushed aside by his big brother, NOW!
Years ago, I waited, waited, waited for that month’s Sports Illustrated Issue to appear. I had reread the current issue, nearly memorizing every story and stat. There would be no other kid on the block with more sports knowledge than me.
During breakfast, lunch, dinner, school, playtime, homework time, family time, I thought: Who would appear on next month’s cover of Sports Illustrated?
Pete Rose? Walter Payton? Wayne Gretzky?
What sports star would I try to imitate with my brother in our backyard?
- Would I lunge over the defense like smooth-running Sweetness (Walter Payton)?
- Would I pray for snow flurries so I could smack a slap shot against the garage door like the Great One?
- Would I take a head first slide across the grass like Mr. Hustle, the one and only Pete Rose?
Yes, times have changed, but I hanker after the non-immediacy days of waiting by the mailbox for the next issue of a magazine.
My vision of the next generation waiting by the mailbox for a magazine to come seems as out-of-date now as going to the library to research a topic.
It’s a lost relic of yesterday.
Today, teaching patience is challenging. Seemingly everything is at your fingertips with the lure of omnipresent, always on technology.
Until next time,
Dan Naden
