Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Improper Poll: the Future is Now

I recently got to teach George Orwell’s 1984…which I first read around 1984, when everyone was either reading or rereading it. Of course it made me wonder, as such things always do, what the future would be like. What now would be like. Remember The Jetsons? Cartoon or not, how I used to covet that little TV that Elroy wore on his wrist! I used to think that if my kids someday had tiny TVs like that, they would be the Luckiest Kids Ever.

One of my all-time favorite school assignments was in sixth grade. We were supposed to predict what life would be like in the year 2000. I still remember picturing myself with poufy hair and a poufy dress. In reality—go figure—the only poufy thing about me is my stomach.

A lot of kids said we would fly to school on our desks, but considering the condition of the desks in my school—not to mention the recklessness of some of the kids—I figured that would be a scary thing. I remember predicting that people would wear disposable paper clothing and celebrate our birthdays all on the same day so that The Birthday could be made into a Monday holiday.

The closest thing I ever predicted, though, was when I had a dream that earrings and rings would have tiny transistor radios in them.

Have you ever made any predictions about the future that have or haven’t come true?
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5 comments:

  1. jabblogSeptember 25, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    I predicted that we would all be living underground. What was I thinking??

    ReplyDelete
  2. SiouxSeptember 25, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    I thought life would be just like the Jetsons' life--at least the flying around part. How disappointed I still am...

    ReplyDelete
  3. LynnSeptember 25, 2011 at 4:46 PM

    I seriously can't think - I'm wondering if I even had an imagination then! Maybe this isn't menopause after all. Ah, but I did like those Jetsons!

    ReplyDelete
  4. ValSeptember 25, 2011 at 4:52 PM

    My 8th grade math teacher predicted that by the time my class graduated, the U.S. would have converted all highway signs and automobile speedometers to metric units. He bet each of us a soda. Good thing we didn't hunt him down to collect.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Pat WahlerSeptember 26, 2011 at 7:01 AM

    No predictions, only amazement.

    "The year 2000. Wow, will I even be around to see that happen????"

    Pat
    www.critteralley.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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