Generation Gap
I’m a friendly kind’a guy,
actually a very friendly kind’a guy.
And though my girlfriend says it’s flirting…
Well, yeah, at times it might well be flirting
but I love waiting in line making the…
Well, yeah,
it probably may usually be a woman kind’a person,
but I love standing in a line making the…
well, okay, to tell the truth,
it is usually a woman kind’a person that,
for the time it takes for her or me to check out,
I love making that woman kind’a person a friend.
For the time it takes for her or me to check out
my sense of humor…
Well, okay,
if I must say so myself,
I’m a kind’a funny kind’a guy,
and as my, usually, at least in my opinion,
as my usually funny sense of humor comes to play
my girlfriend,
her head negatively turning from side to side,
her eyes rolling upward, muttering,
“I can’t take him anyplace!”
Through this, however,
I see my lady struggling to keep from laughing so,
knowing I’m not really overstepping my bounds,
those within hearing are usually laughing along with me.
So yesterday,
noting the appearance of the young man bagging the groceries...
“Wow” I said to the young man of, oh,
possibly twenty-two,
“Wow,” I said, “you look like...”
Okay, if I’d’a said,
“Wow, you look like Billy Batson!”
You know, Billy Batson of “Shazam!”
Captain Marvel fame.
If I’d’a said “Billy Batson” I know
he’d’a had no idea of whom I spoke.
If I’d’a said,
“Wow, you look like Lamont Cranston!”
You know, Lamont Cranston of:
“The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.
Crime does not pay!
The Shadow knows!”
Well, to be honest,
No-one knows what The Shadow looks like,
‘cause, firstly,
The shadow was a radio character,
and, secondly,
The Shadow was invisible.
So I would not expect the young man to know
What Lamont Cranston looked like.
However…
It’s about here that I began to feel really old.
It’s about here that a “generation gap” came to play.
Hell, it’s about here that two generation gaps came to play,
‘cause,
when, “Wow” I said to the young man of, oh,
possibly twenty-two,
“Wow,” I said, “you look like...”
Now come on!
Who doesn’t know who…
“Wow,” I said to the young man,
“you look like Clark Kent!”
Looking blankly at me,
“Who’s Clark Kent?”
Come on now!
I can’t be that old.
Who ‘doesn’t know who Clark Kent is?
You know:
“Look, up in the sky!
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane!
No, it’s…”
Come on!
Who doesn’t know who Clark Kent is?
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As we age, we often forget that what was popular in our day no longer exists. To me, Clark Kent is forever the face of Christopher Reeve who played him in the movies, not Superman in the comic books. Interestingly, while I don't see him wearing glasses as a disguise or looking for a telephone booth to change in, I see Clark Kent's face every morning as he reports on GMA, Will Reeve, the son of Christopher Reeve.
When I see you, what should I say, "You look like John Gavin?" I'm sure you know what John Gavin looked like, but that young man in the store may only know who Will Reeve is. But will not know who cried out, "De plane, de plane!" In Fantasy Island, either. Shame.
Ron