It's a different world today

Many times, I say that things are just like they always have been. But today, I'll say how different it is.

My son was explaining to me the other night that he was planning to do something that I thought would get him in trouble. He asked me, didn't you do stupid things when you were my age?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact I did a lot of things that were stupid. But many of these are even stupider today than they were when I was his age. I was 17 in 1976. Jimmy Carter won an election. It was the 200th anniversary of our nation being formed. Apple Computer was formed. North and South Vietnam united to become Vietnam. The Israeli's conducted a raid at Entebbe to thwart a hijacking attempt. Microsoft officially registered their name (I assume that's when they started).

When in high school and middle school, I regularly took a knife to school. I didn't grow up in the country or in the mountains. It wasn't that I needed a knife, or that I would use one in a fight. But it was common. I had a large hawk-bill, with probably a 6 inch blade. If you greased it up good, you could flip it and the blade would come out.

Today, you would be expeled from school for that. Maybe even arrested.

As recent as 10 years ago, I sat in a pilot's chair on a commercial airplane. I wasn't even on the flight, I was escorting my daughter. I went through security and boarded early.

Things that I took for granted have changed. It's not all bad, too many kids did things with knives they shouldn't have. But it has certainly changed