Too Modern

I know that today's younger generation has so much more technology than we had growing up, but I am beginning to wonder if that is all that it is cracked up to be. When I heard this year that they were no longer going to teach school children how to write in cursive because it is a dying art due to the use of computers, it made my heart sad. I have seen some beautiful writings in my day and how sad it would be if the handwriting looked like everyone else's. When I was in school I couldn't wait to learn to do that wonderous thing on paper. I guess we should have seen this coming when shorthand went away a long time ago. My mom can still do shorthand, but she is the only one who can read it so I don't know if it really says what she says it does or if she is just winging it.
Speaking of improvements, the gas stations of today are so impersonal. You used to be able to pull up to the pump and a guy with a white hat came bounding out to fill up your car with gas, wash your windshield, and check your oil. He usually knew you by name and talked with you the whole time that you were in the filling station. I miss the old fashioned gas pumps that had the colored balls going around on the inside of that perfect little globe. I loved to sit there and watch them going around. Remember the smell from the leaded gas? Wow! How long ago has that been?
And what of car seats that keep children in one place? We used to pack so many of us in one car that it was like being strapped in. Remember riding up in the rear window? That is if you were lucky enough to be one of the youngest in the car. If you had two small ones, they could both fit up there.
Now we have people who come to our homes even in the country to pick up the trash. I loved the smell of leaves burning in the fall ~ does anyone even think about that anymore? I can't remember the last time that I even heard of someone burning leaves.
Between the smell of the leaded gas, the polution of leaves burning, and the riding in the rear window, we are lucky that there are enough of us left to create that younger generation who will never know how to write a proper signature.