Butterfly Musings

I was talking on the phone to a friend today. She is younger than I am, about the same age as my daughters. I mentioned that zip codes started when I was 12 years old. She was surprised thinking they had been that way all along.

 It reminded me of how young people (probably me too, for older people) think the way something is done is the same way it has been done all the time. Below is an article I wrote a few years back. I have had many more experiences since I wrote this article, but try to shrug them off and go on with life!

 

A Senile Old Person

 Don’t look at me like I have lost my marbles or am a senile old person just because I say a certain word or do an action different than you do. As time goes on and new words appear in our dictionaries to replace others and as new mannerisms are introduced, young people seem to think theirs is the only way something is said … or done.

My first experience with this issue was when we had an Atari computer. When it was several years old, we needed a part for it. I went to a store and asked for the item. The young lady stared at me as if I had come from outer space. Apparently, she had never heard of Atari.

Later, I wanted a birthstone ring. My birthstone has always been topaz – a pretty orange-yellow stone with flecks of brown. Now, mine is called citron and is yellow. It is not nearly as pretty. When I started looking for a ring, I was surprised. Clerks in stores though I was crazy when I would tell them that topaz is not blue. It had been as long as they had known. But, for the past forty years that I have known it was orange-yellow stone with flecks of brown! I assume topaz was also blue, but now they have reorganized the stones for the months. I thought monthly birthstones was something that was set in stone!

The same thing happens in other areas of life. I am a sign language teacher / interpreter. I have been signing for thirty years. I have lived in several different states and had to re-learn several signs for each state. I decided to go to a college class. Other students were taking the class and just learning sign language for the first time. Occasionally I would sign a wrong sign because it was one I had known from another state. They would look at me as if I was stupid and they knew it all.

Now, I wonder if through the years, I did the same thing as older people said or did certain things that I thought were odd. But, at least I had been taught not to be disrespectful to older people and accepted what they said. Today, there seems to be a lack of tolerance among the next generation their elders.

~ end ~

By Belinda Jo Adams

😊 a little history for you.

 -- you can read more of the articles at their sites. 

ZIP CODES - By 1963,  The Post Office Department came up with a plan to speed handling and delivery of letter mail. Zip codes went into effect on July 1, 1963. ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan.
http://www.oldstuffonly.com/zip_code_date.asp

Idea of Daylight Saving Time
The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin during his time as an American delegate in Paris in 1784."
http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

(There were more steps leading up to this, but this is what I found….)
During the 1973 oil embargo by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), in an effort to conserve fuel Congress enacted a trial period of year-round DST (P.L. 93-182), beginning January 6, 1974, and ending April 27, 1975.

In 1986 Congress enacted P.L. 99-359, changing the beginning of DST to the first Sunday in April and having it end the last Sunday in October.^] These start and end dates were in effect from 1987 to 2006. The time change was made at 2:00 a.m. local time (or before we go to bed at night!).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States