Pappa Hardy's Musings on Life.

When our family was much smaller, and we visited Disneyland in Anaheim, California, we visited Disneyland. My wife as a young girl had a favorite ride that she wanted us all to ride on the minute we got into the park. The kids were thinking it was going to be Space Mountain, or Splash Mountain. I thought it might be the teacups, the Matahorn, or the Submarine.

Instead, it was a ride that took you through a tunnel on a boat. It was the ride, “It’s A Small World After All”. They had all of these puppets singing an inane song of the same title of the ride. It was something hardly any of us could tolerate, but Bonnie loved it and it did indicate that there were all kinds of cultures and peoples that blended together into one humanity.

When we visited Yosemite National Park, this silly song came roaring back to my conscious. We saw and heard people of every persuasion. I heard to English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Russian, and just about every other language you could imagine. In fact, those of us who spoke English were decidedly in the minority. I couldn’t believe how many different people there were enjoying the National Park. It should have been called an International Park. It was a revelation as to who was using the National Parks and enjoying our national heritage and scenery.

I hate scales. Why in the heck do they have to be so truthful? Why is it that they tell you that you have gained some weight when in fact you are just sure that you have lost 5 pounds? I know that those darned scales have got to be lying to me. I am not that big, not really. I am sure that they manufacture scales just to afflict and torment man, at least those who tend to pay attention to them. There was a time when I didn’t way myself, sure that I was OK and things are right in my life. When I discovered all things weren’t right, and then became well acquainted with scales, that is when I realized that I Hate Scales.

One of the great curses of being part of a Bishopric in our church is the fact that it should be impossible to fall asleep in church. As my wife will attest, that is one of my favorite activities. When I was sitting in the congregation, one of the things I really liked to do in the past was sit in a pew that was against a load bearing wall. Once the meeting got started, I would lay my head against the wall and voila, I was asleep, catching some well deserved rest. My wife, being the good woman she is, realized that I should actually be learning something in Sacrament meeting, so she would wake me up. When she realized that was not going to keep me from getting some shut eye, she told me that I was forbidden from sitting next to the wall.

Next, she even refused to sit there and therefore we would sit in a row of chairs (not a pew, which was way too comfortable for me) and then we would try and listen. My eye lids would prove to be way too heavy and I soon would be having my head fall forward and sometimes that would wake me up, and sometimes it wouldn’t. That is how I learned just how sharp my wife’s elbow could be, as she would jab me in the side so that I wouldn’t embarrass her.

Apparently my heavenly father didn’t appreciate me falling asleep in church, so I was called to a position that would force me to sit in front of everyone in the ward on a row facing the congregation. Now I was trapped, with everyone watching whether or not I fell asleep. Unfortunately, even sometimes in front of a lot of people I would fall asleep, but I must admit that I probably fall asleep less in church.

The World has truly changed in my lifetime. Nowhere is this more evident than in Las Vegas, but you can see it everywhere. When I was young, children had to know how to play because organized sports and activities for them were few and far between. We would play baseball in someone’s backyard, or on the street, or at a play ground for hours. We had a great time. We had snowball wars, we built snow forts, we played catch, we played hide and seek.

There wasn’t much to watch on TV. We only had three channels, and often times the TVs were not working because we had electronic tubes in those TV’s, that had rabbit ears, and they were darn expensive to replace. Of course, black and white TV was the norm and you only dreamed of color TV, that we heard the rich people had.

We had one phone in the home, and it was hooked to a party line. We got our information from newspapers and from talking to people, and we “weren’t in touch”.

Now, we live in a world where nearly everyone has a cell phone. On that cell phone you can get live internet feeds with news, entertainment, text messages, and of course, you can talk on the phone. Text messages have taken over as the way to communicate, rather than talking to someone live. We are detached as a people. Everyone has color TV, and of course, they are big, huge flat screen TVs, sometimes hung on a wall in the living room and taking up a whole wall. You can view hundreds of channels (with absolutely nothing worth seeing on them) and the selection of various channels available is mind boggling.

A major event around the world is known by everyone in a hurry. We are a people in touch, yet strangely enough, I believe we are more out of touch. People want to interact with other people less, preferring to be able to text message each other where they can measure and edit their responses rather than talk to people live.

We have huge buildings and massive ways to entertain ourselves. Everything is programmed for us, and nothing is spontaneous. I miss a lot of the old world. I think we had a lot more fun then. I am not sure our change has brought us happiness.

Despite my reference yesterday to the Rocket’s Red Glare, and maybe the martial ideas that might represent, I am really a Peacemaker, of sorts. I hate confrontation and always want to make sure that I am getting everything done for everyone. In politics, perhaps that isn’t always the way things come out and happen since sometimes we want to force our position as the one that needs to be adopted, so maybe I am a contradiction, but I still am a peacemaker. Paul McCartney said for in two of his songs:

GIVE ME YOUR HAND I’D LIKE TO SHAKE IT,
I WANT TO SHOW YOU I’M YOUR FRIEND.
YOU’LL UNDERSTAND IF I CAN MAKE IT CLEAR,
IT’S ALL THAT MATTERS IN THE END.

PUT IT THERE IF IT WEIGHS A TON,
THAT’S WHAT A FATHER SAID TO HIS YOUNGER SON.
I DON’T CARE IF IT WEIGHS A TON,
AS LONG AS YOU AND I ARE HERE, PUT IT THERE.
LONG AS YOU AND I ARE HERE, PUT IT THERE.

IF THERE’S A FIGHT I’D LIKE TO FIX IT,
I HATE TO SEE THINGS GO SO WRONG.
THE DARKEST NIGHT AND ALL IT’S MIXED EMOTIONS,
IS GETTING LIGHTER, SING ALONG.

PUT IT THERE IF IT WEIGHS A TON,
THAT’S WHAT A FATHER SAID TO HIS YOUNGER SON.
I DON’T CARE IF IT WEIGHS A TON,
AS LONG AS YOU AND I ARE HERE, PUT IT THERE.
LONG AS YOU AND I ARE HERE, PUT IT THERE.

I want to show people that I can be there friend, and I want to be a friend to people. Another song also showed my feelings, and I really love this song:

BEST THING I EVER SAW
WAS A MAN WHO LOVED HIS WIFE.
IN A PLACE WHERE THINGS WERE GOOD
I FELT PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

OO-OO-

DOO-DOO-DOO,
DOO-DOOT-DOOT-DO.

THAT FEELING IN THE AIR
SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY THERE.
IT WAS A TIME WHEN THINGS WERE GOOD
I FELT PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

I WAS THERE, I REALLY WAS,
AT THE CENTRE OF A LOVE VIBRATION.
PEOPLE SHARING WITH THEIR FRIENDS.
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT.
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT, OO –

THEN I WOKE UP FROM MY DREAM
TO SEE THINGS AS THEY REALLY ARE.
PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE,
HOW CAN PEACE HOPE TO STAY ALIVE-EE?

DOO-DOO-DOO,
DOO-DOOT-DOOT-DOO.

OOH!

WELL, I WAS THERE…I FELT SO GOOD, (he felt so good)
AT THE CENTRE OF A LOVE VIBRATION.
PEOPLE CARING FOR THEIR WORLD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT. (helping each other)
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT.
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT.

OO -
YEAH,
BEST THING I EVER SAW,
I SAW A MAN WHO LOVED HIS WIFE.

YEAH -
OO-OO-OO-OO. (ah-)

PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT.
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
HELPING EACH OTHER OUT.

OO-OO-OO-OO, OO-OO-OO.
DOO-DOO-DOO-DOO – DOO – OO.

PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD,
PEACE IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.

I guess maybe I am just a hopeless romantic. I want so much to have good vibrations and no confrontations. I probably would never make a good politician.

My generation has often been called the Baby Boomers. I come at the tail end of that group of people, and now is the time when you finally see evidence of our dominance wherever you go, for good or for ill.

Icons of that generation are evident everywhere, and no place is more evidence than at shopping malls. I was in a mall recently and saw prominently displayed pictures of The Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. When one thinks of the 50s and the 60s, those are icons that will forever be indentified with us. It was a great time to be alive and to be young. Now, it is just as good a time to be alive and be old.

However, there will come a time when my generation fades out of the collective consciousness of the masses and they will not remember us like they do now. Our son Michael the other day told me that the last of his missionary companions was coming home. I told him that now Elder Hardy will just become a legend in the Raleigh North Carolina Mission. Soon, people will forget he was there, except for some members who will remember him with fondness. The legend of Elder Hardy will slip away. It is much the same with my generation, the icons and the memories of us will slip away from people and they will hardly know that we were here, unless we make histories and recordings of who we were and hope people will cherish them.

One of the basic differences between most men and most women is how we go about shopping. A woman, by her nature is a gatherer, checking, holding, looking, and then checking everything else in the mall. A man, like me, wants to go in and nail the kill. In the Las Vegas Outlet Malls, I sat on benches while my wife did the gathering simply because I couldn’t find the kill and kill it. I was bored, my wife was in her element. I think she loved the day, which was also her birthday. Me, well I tolerated it by sitting and thinking and taking notes.

I heard a quote today that was made by a member of the US Olympic team yesterday or today at the Olympic Games in Beijing. It was Dara Torres, a member of the team who at age 41 is the oldest swimmer to be swimming at the games. She said, after winning a silver medal, Do not put an Age Limit on Your Dreams.

There is so much truth and wisdom in those remarks. So often, we allow ourselves to give up on cherished dreams or goals because time has passed us by. We no longer keep trying to accomplish our dreams and instead settle for second best. Yesterday I just turned 57, and I am on my way to being 60. One might believe (particularly me) that my dreams are no longer something that I can accomplish and that I should settle for second best. I have decided that I will no longer settle for second best, but that I will accomplish my dreams. I hope that my children and friends also obtain their dreams, and never give up, never give in.

My experience recently in a mall in Las Vegas made me think of Barbara Streisand, a 60’s icon the radical left who was also a star of stage, screen, and song. How in the heck would I be thinking of Barbara in a mall in Las Vegas? Well, it wasn’t because she was walking the mall with her husband, or because I heard her songs blaring over some loud speaker.

Rather, it was because I sat there watching people in the mall, and realized that people don’t need other people nearly as much any more, rather, we spend more time watching each other hoping that others won’t interfere with our lifestyles and our trips out to the outside of our homes. We are becoming a much more private people, people not interested in much anything else than what is on their particular schedule for that particular day. We are cut off from each other. We are not people, People Who Need People.