Happy Birthday Television

Television turns 70 years old this year, and after all it's given me, I should at least give it a big "thank you". I wouldn't be who I am today without it. I really am part of the TV generation, being born in the '60s I've watched it go from tiny black and white, to huge HD flatscreen, and from man landing on the moon (I really did watch it as it happened, cool), to the twin towers falling down (unfortunately, I saw that live too, horrible). That photo above is really of a young me doing what I do best...I wish I knew what I was watching there.

Broadcast Television started at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. People must have really thought they were at the dawn of a futuristic age. The fair was all streamline, art deco, and world of tomorrow. Television was fittingly introduced, and it certainly has become everything they thought it would be.

It's been called the "boob-tube" or the "idiot-box"...but I don't believe it makes a person less intelligent. I think it helps with creativity, linear thought, and objectivity. We've all yelled at commercials we hate, cheered during sporting events, and gotten wrapped up in scripted dramas. I think I've turned out ok, considering my young life revolved around Saturday morning cartoons and after school Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch. These were all enjoyed with a bowl of sugar cereal, of course. Cartoons, sitcoms, dramas, commercials, re-runs...I was there, and still am.

Sure TV has its dark side, and certain programs are merely junk-food for the mind, but that's ok. If you're not smart enough to know the difference, you have bigger problems than the influence of bad television. "I think I'll do what them fellers on Jackass are doin!" The world has a way of correcting itself.

So...

Thanks Television! I've watched your shows and purchased your products. You helped in raising me, gotten me through some tough times, and you put me to sleep each night. I'd ask you to take the day off, but I know you won't. That's so you...