Survivors (for those born before 1940…)

You are Survivors
You were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, video and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before dishwashers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes… and before man walked on the moon.
You got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?). You thought ‘fast food’ was what you ate at Lent, a ‘Big Mac’ was an oversized raincoat and ‘crumpet’ we had for tea. You existed before house husbands, computer dating, and ‘sheltered accommodation’ was where you waited for a bus.
You were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. You never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For you ‘time sharing’ meant togetherness, a ‘chip’ was a piece of wood or fried potato, ‘hardware’ meant nuts and bolts, and ‘software’ wasn’t a word.
Before 1940s ‘made in Japan’ meant junk, the term ‘making out’ referred to how you did in your exams, ‘stud’ was something that fastened a collar to a shirt, and ‘going all the way’ meant staying on a double-decker bus to the terminus. In your day, cigarette smoking was ‘fashionable’, ‘grass’ was mown, ‘coke’ was kept in a coalhouse, a ‘joint’ was a piece of meat you ate on Sundays, and ‘pot’ was something you cooked in. ‘Rock music’ was a fond mother’s lullaby, ‘Eldorado’ was an ice-cream, a ‘gay person’ was the life and soul of the party, while ‘aids’ just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.
You who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments you have had to make. No wonder there is a generation gap today… BUT by the grace of God you have survived!