Hank Who?

 

When I read the headlines in my morning paper, I think to myself, “I wonder what my grandkids would think if they were to read that headline?”  “Hank who?” then comes to mind.  And why is that, you might be thinking?  Well, if that’s what you are thinking it means one thing to me:  You are probably among the minions of readers who are, if not my age, then approaching my age, in any case.

 

You see, we oldsters often think everyone thinks like we do—something that just is not the case.  It wasn’t the case when we were moving through our high schools, or when we were, ourselves, young marrieds, or even when we had kids moving into one of those high schools that we remember going to ourselves.  No, things just don’t change all that much, which brings up that saying, “no matter how much things change, they really just stay the same.”  Or, words to that effect.

 

Those high schoolers of mine, who I like to call “my grandkids,” may or may not even have heard of Hank Aaron, even though here he is, on the front page of my paper, having moved on to the clouds (or to wherever!) 

 

I, though, remember Hank, he really wasn’t all that much older than I, you see, and “Hammerin’ Hank” put those balls over the fence more often than any of his compatriots while I was watching him from my livingroom sofa, or, on one occasion, from the bleachers in that stadium in Atlanta. Really something. 

 

Still, that’s only one example of how my thinking differs from the thinking of my own children and the thinking of my children’s children.  When I was one of those children, in high school, at that, and someone mentioned “music,” my thinking turned to PP&M, or, maybe to Petula Clark.  My parents probably thought of Bing Crosby, or those Dorsey Brothers, and as for my Grandparents’ thinking, well, honestly, I have absolutely no idea.  Each generation has, it seems, their own thinking when a term like that comes up, even though we all may provide the exact same definition when asked what the dictionary might say about the term.

 

Strange.  Strange, but true!

 

And, as for Hank Aaron, and even as for that “paper,” my kids know what I’m talking about when I mention them but my grandkids?  No earthly idea!

 

How about that!