One of my earliest memories is of listening to the large console radio in our living room on Saturday nights to the old time radio programs that were still in vogue. There was Gunsmoke, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy and a host of others. Back when there was no FM radio, only AM and the stations were few and far between.
We listened to KMRC out of Morgan City, KCIL out of Houma, KTIB out of New Orleans and late on Saturday nights WSM and the Grand Ol' Opry out of Nashville.
On Sunday nights my father would pile us all into the car to take a trip to Morgan City to see a movie at the C-Wall or Opera House theater. Those were the days when the seats were uncushioned and oftentimes plastered underneath with chewing gum. The theaters had the smell of old popcorn and spilled Coca-Cola. The screens were large but not as large as they would become with Cinerama and Vista Vision among others. For 90 minutes to two hours we would view that weeks feature, along with the weekly newsreel and cartoon.
Then came 1955 and our first television and the Sunday night trip to the movies soon petered out. It wasn't long though before movies came to that small box sitting in the corner where once had stood the old radio. Saturday mornings was our favorite time because we could view live action shows reminiscent of the old movie serials and radio programs we seen and listened to.
But then came a new and marvelous invention - the transistor radio. It was a marvelous little toy that came in a variety of sizes, most being a trifle larger than a pack of cigarettes. Each one of us at one time managed to obtain one and could listen to music, news, sports and weather anywhere and anytime; as long as the batteries lasted.
It was the beginning of the age of micro miniaturization that would ultimately lead to tape recording devices the size of books (and smaller), portable televisions, personal communication devices such as transistorized CB radios, long distance walkie talkies, wireless telephones and on to cell phones. It allowed for the eventual development of personal home computers, i-pods, laptop computers and i-pads.
We were all eyewitness to a geometric expansion of technology that has filled our world with many electronic devices that seem to have captured the fascination and time of many today. Yet, there has been an alarming consequence. Many have neglected the sharpening of their own senses and have failed to understand and utilize adequately the "computer" we were all born with. Society, as a consequence seems to be a bit poorer for it and the current crisis this nation faces can be, in large measure, attributed to that rapid rise in technology and the equally rapid decline in moral values in the generations that followed us.
Still there are pockets where the moral values of the past still hold sway. Places where the beliefs of our forebears are still taught and learned by people who have not surrendered their identities or ability to think for themselves. In the end their ideas and ideals will defeat the forces that currently besiege this nation; from within and without. It has been said that faith can move mountains. Let those with faith stand together and work to achieve what is best for our nation and remove authority from the hands of those who have abused it.
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