Trout Republic: This is your life

The famed start of Star Wars’ “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....” is a classic phrase of immense proportions in any storyline.


About that long ago in the 1940s, Ralph Edwards, host of Truth or Consequences, interviewed a despondent, wounded soldier about his life and his future opportunities. Now this was on the radio of course since television had not yet been invented.


A radio, for those of you too young to remember such primitive things, is that contraption in your car that can get an audio program from anywhere in the world. I know, primitive, right?
Back in the day, families would gather around the old tube-filled sets while mother darned socks, father smoked a pipe and little Jimmy played with a wooden fire engine on the floor. Norman Rockwell comes to mind.


My dad often tells me of those days and, as luck would have it, I am actually about to become the next owner of the very set my grandparents used in the 1930s to listen to Kats and Jammer and other famous radio shows.

 
So, Ralph Edwards interview with the soldier was so popular, a new series was born: This is Your Life. It featured famous people’s lives and led them through all of their experiences while being filmed.


Ol’ Dutch got to thinking -- a dangerous proposition according to Miss Trixie -- and we have really come to the point with social media that every person can share every aspect of their lives to an unsuspecting and uninterested world.


Gone are the days when Miss Pinky the pet rabbit could have a litter of babies in peace or Old Man Andrews got his gallbladder removed unbeknown to the world. Because now the rabbit’s owner and Mr. Andrews’ daughter see fit to share such things with us all.


One has only to sign on to Facebook each day to see such doings from live childbirth to making a rhubarb pie. And as a matter of fact, both look about the same to Ol’ Dutch.


It’s not that we don’t care about your mundane life but posting innocuous things online just seems so silly. Well unless you have gorgeous grandkids like me or you get a new bull in the pasture, also like me, which of course everyone wants to see.


This past week I was blessed to see that Connie the chicken laid an egg, Mrs. Grundfos canned some jelly, Joe went to the doctor with hemorrhoids, Wild Bill had his knee replaced with a low mileage one, cookies were baked and fish were caught.


In addition to the mundane, we also see that celebrities, they are just like us, and hurting during this time. Like Prince Harry and Meghan who are struggling to pay their bills. And, boy, I do understand that although their $30 million net worth and the millions of dollars a year they still get for nothing, surely takes the edge off a little.


Not to be excluded Mary-Kate Olsen soon to be divorced says she has no place to live and huge crocodile tears were shed in the media for her sad situation. I guess she may have to dip into that $250 million she has in the bank and maybe find some slum dwellings to abide in?


Yes we get it all from the very plain and boring lives of us commoners to the very important lives of the “swells.” To you uninformed, my grandfather talked about the swells a lot. Those are the folks who think they are better than everyone else either by the nature of finances or social importance and often are politicians and televangelists. Oh Lord, I didn’t actually say that, did I?


So I guess if you feel the need to advertise about Billy getting all A’s in P.E. or little Suzie adopting a cat from the Humane Society Shelter, go ahead. Those are events we can relate to since most of us are getting by on less than $100 million in the bank.


All I ask is that you give us a break this week and not post about the Corona unless you are talking about the beer.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com or on Twitter at TroutRepublic.