Old Shoes and New Work

Someone asked me, "How does it feel to be back in the newspaper business?" I said, "It feels like finding an old pair of comfortable shoes in the back of the closet and when putting them on, wondering why you ever stopped wearing them."

Old shoes...

But old shoes have their limitations, too. Styles change (although AP doesn't, much) and the impact of computers and the social networks have changed how the news is delivered. When I worked for the St. Augustine Record in St. Augustine, FL, digital cameras were just getting a toehold on the door jamb, and today everyone has multiple megapixels in cameras, phones and tablets.

My daughter works in upper level management for a digital photo storage company, something that was unimaginable 20 years ago. Almost everyone writes a blog about their lives or the lives of others, so when doing research one word can bring up digital pages of information, not all of it factual or truthful.

Part of my job this time is going back into microfilm archives and pulling up what happened 100, 50 and 25 years ago. We are coming into the period 50 years ago when John F. Kennedy was shot in Texas.

For most of my peers, that was a defining historical moment for our generation. We can, most of us, recall exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news.

The next generation has September 11, 2001 to recall how their world changed. Perhaps every generation has a shocking event to mark the passage of time.

Still, it seems incredible to me that it has been over ten years since the twin towers fell and that there are people living and working today who have no memory of the Kennedy era.

Wearing old shoes and listening to old music can serve as reminders of days past, but they do not protect us from the deviousness of individuals seeking to destroy. And there seems to be a lot of activity aimed at tearing down the foundations of freedom that this country once stood for.

Nancy Sinatra once sang, "These boots were made for walking..." but no one makes boots or shoes today that have a purpose of protecting us from those groups who have an agenda of fear to keep us from moving and taking action.