By Foy Evans
I was with a group in my age bracket and we indulged ourselves in nostalgia. We had just learned that Captain America, who has saved this country many times in comic books, is being killed.
It is difficult to imagine them killing off the man who saved us from the Nazis in World War II and in the intervening years has been a stalwart in the defense of our country.
But it is happening.
Reading about Captain America reminded of the exploits of Jack Dawson, Dave Lowell and The Hardy Boys.
This is the kind of high adventure my generation grew up on … plus, of course, those wonderful pulp magazines The Shadow, Wild West Weekly and Street & Smith’s Sports Magazine.
I spent many an afternoon and evening reading about the adventures of these bigger than life mythical heroes, as well as Tom Sawyer and Frank Merriwell and Horatio Alger.
The heroes were all good and the villains were all bad. And you knew when you picked up a book or magazine that between the opening sentence and the last word would be excitement galore and that everything would come out all right in the end.
You might believe that those of us who grew up before radio and television, before there was an automobile at the disposal of every kid, before we had electricity in most homes, before computers and cell phones … you might believe that we would envy today’s crop of youngsters.
On the contrary. In a way I feel sorry for them because they are missing a lot and they require being entertained every waking moment of every day or they are miserable. They don’t need imagination.
I could immerse myself in books and magazines for hours at a time, day after day, and, with my imagination in full sway, enjoy life to the fullest.
As far as I am concerned the “good old days” are today. I like my creature comforts. I certainly like central heat and air conditioning and electric lights and indoor plumbing. Who doesn’t?
But many of the luxuries we consider essential today are depriving young people of many of the great joys of youth that my generation still treasures.
Not many young people of today read anymore than they have to. And very few, indeed, enjoy curling up with a book for the sheer joy of reading what is between the covers.
The magazines that filled so many hours for me as I grew up no longer exist. They would be considered corny today, anyway.
They lacked what it takes to lure young people away from entertainment that does not call for any effort or imagination.
The world has changed in 70 years. It is more sophisticated, and who can say that is all good?
The young people know more than we did. They probably are brighter than we were. They are bigger and taller. They mature much quicker. They have so much in worldly goods that it is frightening. But I’m of the opinion that most of us were taught what it takes to be good at reading and enjoying it than most of them receive today.
They have been cheated, too.
Because of the many ways that they are entertained all the time…because most of them have not learned how to fill a void created by silence…because easy forms of diversion have been developed to fill their time…in my opinion, they have been deprived of many of the pleasures that make memories for my generation most wonderful.
I really am glad that I grew up when I did.
