A Simpler Time

The Daily Show did a segment recently trying to find the simpler time in America. They were making fun of people like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Billy O'Reilly, but I cannot tell you how many times my parents and grandparents have lamented the state of the world and longed to return to a simpler time. I'm sure at some point you've heard a speech about how much the world sucks today and how great it was back in the day.

One of the reasons I love the Daily Show is that they use humor to point out what should often be glaringly obvious. The moral of this particular story is that America doesn't have anymore problems today than it ever has. It has different problems but more or less the same amount. The reason Glenn Beck (and my grandma) look back and see a simpler time is because when they look back, they see their childhood. The world was obviously rainbows and ponies and sunshine because someone else was paying the mortgage and buying the groceries and worrying about what was happening in the news while they were outside playing baseball.

My son woke up at 5:30 this morning. I assumed he was hungry and made him a bottle. Well, I was wrong. What he really wanted was to "discuss" his newest fascination with me. He had a foot in each hand tugging at his socks, rolling from side to side, babbling and cooing and grinning at me as if to say, "Can you believe how freaking cool my feet are?" His happiest moments are spent "talking" to his feet, "talking" to Michael and me about his feet or trying to get his feet in his mouth. His life is just that simple. He hasn't a care in the world that mommy is chugging caffeine to stay awake at her desk so that she can keep the job that buys his formula. America is at war and in a recession, but this is his simpler time.

Let's all save our children the "life was so much better in my day" speech and realize that the world has always had problems, and the only time it was ever simple was when your parents hid those problems from you.