Times Gone By

As I watched the New Year's Rose Parade in Pasadena this year, it made me think about times gone by. My mother was a Rose Parade Princess in 1941, nine years before I was born. Because of that, we were afforded the privilege of attending Rose Parades and the Rose Bowl for nearly 45 years. 

After her passing in 1991, I have attended the iconic New Years tradition only once. Is that because it was no longer free? Or because it is just too easy to watch from my easy chair? I don't know. But I don't think about how much I miss it. I just do what it takes to enjoy it in a different way.

Later it occurred to me that everything changes, no matter how much I wish it didn't. Although the act of watching a parade has changed little, the content and experience are nowhere near the same as 1941. The 2019 version involves high-tech computer enhanced displays and designs, a flyover by a $3B war plane, and eyeballs watching from every corner of the world. It is still technically a 'parade' but it is now a world-wide television event, a multimedia representation of Southern California culture.

My point is, 15 years ago, no one could have predicted the demise of my local Country Club. We had a different sense of community then, because social media and cell phones had yet to take over our culture.. With the passing of the golf course, we lost the heart of our community, but with the invention of the internet, we lost our souls. 

My generation never saw either one coming. Things change, and sometimes we have little or no control over how they change. In many cases, things like cell phones seem so cool and convenient, we look past their potential to invade and mutate our sense of humanity.

So much for our nation's culture, but what about our community culture?

The point is, I refuse to be made a victim of a speculator from Beverly Hills. 
He has his job, and I have mine.  If we can guide the redevelopment of our community in a way that preserves and hopefully enhances the Northwest Corner of Escondido, I will be happy.

He may have hijacked our community, but the parade goes on. We can't he held hostage to anger and resentment. I do not blame politicians, the builders or any of our new neighbors who supported the Villages proposal.  They did not start this battle and they never meant to hurt any of us. They are just riding in the parade.

Sometimes we just have to realize the parade is passing us by. The floats, the horses, and the marching bands are made up of another generation. As long as the parade goes on, we should be proud of what we have accomplished, and simply look forward to next year's show. 

I am not suggesting it is time to give up. Not at all.  But there is no point in putting up a battle to define the future if, in the end, we get stuck living in the past. Before the golf course went away, changes were already occurring in our culture. We had issues with dress codes, with scheduling outside play, and with the mens and womens organizations coming into conflict over preferential treatment issues.

We had a rapidly evolving membership, and some serious problems with employee relations, full and part-time disparities,  and constant turnover. Problems that are endemic to all small businesses in California.

It seems like in this modern era, change is not just excessive, but the speed at which it occurs is what is most disturbing. Everybody is affected, some adjust better than others. Older citizens seem to have trouble keeping up, so we just pretend to be comfortable, but our language and actions betray us. So older members clashed with younger members and employees. Older members had a different set of expectations of what membership implied. 

The idea that being a member, or having an ownership in the operation, or that using facilities that are paid for by the customer seemed antithetical to the millennial generation. 

For example, a current trend that annoys many in my generation is the electronic waiter. The internet enabled, laptop style device that is supposed to take your order, illuminate and explain the menu, close out your bill and accept electronic payment, is totally unacceptable to me. I don't go out to dinner to be treated like a customer at a coin operated laundromat. 

But to millennials, it is cool, efficient and they don't have to talk to anybody! What more could you want beside the food being served on a plastic tray with disposable, recyclable utensils!