Friday, May 29, 2009

Sundays Are Not What They Used To Be


When I was young, Sunday was a special day. It would be quiet. The Sunday paper would be spread out in the living room. The whole family would get dressed up to go to church (or not). Afterward we would go to some small restaurant to have lunch, or the whole family would gather for lunch or a picnic at somebody's house. In the evening we would have ice cream and watch the Ed Sullivan Show. Watching the Ed Sullivan Show is not a prerequisite, but it gives you an idea of the era I'm talking about.

So maybe that's not everyone's idea of a nice Sunday, but the relative peace and quiet and leisureliness is what I miss. Nowadays people seem to save their lawn-mowing for Sundays. And even the church-going people no longer seem to be dressed up in their "Sunday-best." Recently I observed that even on what we once regarded as one of the most "sacred" of holidays, Memorial Day, people went about their everyday tasks like mowing the lawn and going to the dump with the household garbage instead of savoring the day.

I know that times have changed and that life has changed. But especially in a world with computers and cell phones where everyone can be in touch with everyone all the time and can be working wherever he or she goes, a little time-out once in a while would do a world of good.

1 comment:

  1. I remember Sundays at home included a big breakfast and classical music playing. How often did we actually do that? I don't know, but it seems like they were "always" that way.

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