I recently wrote an article about my disdain for Hollywood remakes and someone commented and said “I strongly suggest you step out of your age-ism and try really hard to recognize that the world we live in is not the one you grew up in.”

Well, clearly I’m aware that the world we live in is not the one I grew up in.  I’m not blind.  How “ageism” (correct spelling, by the way) has anything to do with my opinion that Hollywood, whether it’s movies or television, has failed to come up with original ideas is beyond me.  Summer blockbusters all seem to be formulaic adventures and, worse yet, television shows, particularly sitcoms, feature men who are immature doofuses.  It seems as if every show that’s even remotely original gets cancelled pretty quickly.  But what has that got to do with ageism?

I’m really not sure what this person was getting at, but anyone who really knows me knows that I don’t live in the past.  Yes, there are many things from the past that are worth preserving but I’m also glad that some things from the past are long gone.

I recall as a legal secretary having to use carbon paper to type an original and three copies of a multi-page Last Will and Testament without any mistakes on an electric typewriter.  Or an original and two copies of a letter on onionskin.  Not good.  Computers – good.

Black and white movies.  Good.  Movies in color.  Also good.  8-track tapes.  Not so good.  Digital music.  Good.

Disco (Dick Clark’s favorite music by the way) and music from the early 60s.  Great.  Rap.  Terrible.  Frank Sinatra. Very good.  Pitbull, LMFAO, Ne-Yo, and Usher. Also, very good.

Diagramming sentences taught me about sentence structure:  subjects, verbs and objects, prepositions and adjectives, gerunds and adverbs.  Good.  I doubt this is even taught in school today.  Far too many people can’t differentiate between “your” and “you’re” (one of my pet peeves) or “its” and “it’s.”  Not good.

Face to face conversations with people are a thing of the past from the looks of all the people sitting silently next to friends yet texting others.  Not good.

Email.  Good but not appropriate for every occasion.  Letter writing.  An absolute must for some occasions.

I often overhear young people talking today and many can’t even formulate a simple sentence.  Here’s an example of an answer given by a 12-year old being interviewed in a legal proceeding when asked “would that be the truth?” which required a yes or no answer.  “Well, yes…I mean like you have to say a different question if a question is like that it can be an opinion or something but I mean like you know like a question like if something ever happened or something like that.”  Six times she used the word “like.”  It’s as bad as saying “you know.”  Not good.

There was a time when finding yourself pregnant and unmarried was a very big deal – not in a good way.  Today, with no societal stigma attached, it’s not a big deal.  The fact that 40% of babies are born to unwed mothers is not a good thing for society, not good for the baby and not good for the mother.

A sense of shame kept us on the straight and narrow.  Modesty was once an admirable trait but from what I see nowadays, I doubt whether women even know the meaning of the word.

I was taught discipline and personal responsibility at a young age.  Good.  I don’t believe ethics and these virtues are emphasized enough today.  Not good.

Just because something is old doesn’t make it great nor does it make it bad and the same applies to something that’s new.  The person who commented on my article also suggested, “Leona needs to get unstuck, or she may miss something truly marvelous.”

I really don’t know what she meant by that either, but a recent death in my family has made what’s “truly marvelous” crystal clear to me.  Remakes of old Hollywood movies and the latest electronic contraptions are not important.

Utilizing technology like Skype, which was inconceivable not too long ago, to see my grand nieces and nephews across the United States is “truly marvelous.”  Good.  Recognizing how precious life is and that you’re “here today and gone tomorrow” is what really matters.  Good.  Spending what little time we’re given on foolishness is a waste of that precious commodity.  Not good.

That I get.