The Flintstones and The Jetsons were two of my favorite cartoons when I was a girl. What is so weird is how I eventually felt like I belonged in each one.
Let’s do a quick recap these two cartoons. “The Flintstones” was about a prehistoric family that lived during the stone age and, best of all, they had dinosaurs. “The Jetsons” were a futuristic family that lived in the space age with spacescars and computers. Now the one that I really, really wanted live in was “The Jetsons.” In fact, when I was a kid, I used to complain about not living in the space age. Well, my Mamaw Girdle/Mrytle got tired of hearing it. One Saturday morning, she told me I was living like “The Jetsons” compared to how it was when she was a girl. Since she was born in 1896, she didn’t have cartoons to watch since TVs had yet to be invented. She finished by giving me a little warning. “When you’re a grandmother, you’ll feel the same as me right now.” Actually, I was okay with that if it meant I could have computers in my house and a spacecar that I could fly to the moon or other planets. While spacecars didn’t become a reality, computers in our homes did.
I was high school when home computers hit the market. I would’ve absolutely loved to have had one. No, not for playing games, but to write papers for school and my short stories. By that time, my parents had separated and there was no extra money for that luxury. So, I had to use an old electric typewriter I had. Needless to say, it wasn’t the same and I soon began to see it as prehistoric. It wasn’t until I got married and went to work that I was able to buy my own home computer. When my daughter Sara came along, I tried to give her the technology she needed for her studies in high school and college. After that, I really didn’t keep up with the changing technology as much.
A few years ago, Halls High School had an open house one Friday before a football game. Tim and I met there, so we were excited to look around it again. I still remember walking into the English classroom and being taken aback. This wasn’t the classroom we had experienced back in the 80s. This was now a smart classroom. There was a flat screen TV mounted on the wall with many, many cables running to other technologies in the room. Also, we saw signs posted in the hallway saying that those who didn’t have access to internet could come to office to obtain printouts. “Do they not even use textbooks anymore?” I asked. Tim shrugged and answered: “It doesn’t seem like it.” At that point, I felt like I had just stepped out of Bedrock from “The Flintstones.” All I needed was to slide down a dinosaur’s back so I could get to my peddle car.
Of course, this reminded me of Mamaw Girdle/Myrtle’s warning. I could
see myself in a few years telling my grandson Maverick: “When I was girl, we only had three TV channels and that was on a clear day. The only phone we had hung on the wall. If we were out and needed to make a phone call, we had to stop at a germ-infested phone booth.” Let’s go a little further with this thought. If time continues on and technology keeps advancing at the pace it is now, can you even imagine what the world will be like when and if Maverick is blessed to have children. Wouldn’t it be cool if they had spacecars or some kind of flying vehicles?
“For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6 (KJV)
I didn’t enjoy feeling like I belonged in “The Flintstones.” Not at all. It felt as if the world had changed in a big way and I missed it. But no matter what changes occur here, The Lord God never changes. Neither does His love or protection for us.
During the Covid lockdown, I attended some meetings and classes on the computer via Zoom. When you do that, each person has their own “box” or square with their name and picture in it. I’ve heard some compare that to being like “The Jetsons.” But I have also heard others compare it to the opening sequence from “The Brady Bunch.” From that point on, I almost expected to see Alice, the Brady’s maid, to pop up in the middle of the screen.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.