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Copyrights reserved by the author. If you are in doubt, please click on 'Copyrights' and read the details. Signs that we're all losing it, during the season of peace on Earth by J. G. Fabiano "What is a lapel?" For a minute I couldn't believe my ears. I had asked the young store clerk for a lapel button and she had no idea what a lapel was. If there ever is a sign of growing old it is discovering that words and meanings and symbols we have used all our lives are now unknown to the generation that will soon replace us. My wife and I were in the Fox Run Mall looking for a small lapel pin in the form of a peace symbol. I thought they might make a neat Christmas gift as we head into the season of peace on Earth and goodwill to all men. As I searched, my wife trailed exasperatedly after me reminding me that, once again, that I was living in the past. How right she was! There was not one peace symbol to be found in the entire mall. To my surprise the symbol of peace that was so popular during the era of the Vietnam War and all through the Cold War years, no longer exists. No necklaces, badges, buttons, pins or posters of any description. I guess the idea of peace is obsolete. My two-hour sojourn through the mall started me thinking about other signs and symbols that used to be important parts of our lives but have all but disappeared to become the subjects of retro-magazines and TV shows and stories related by gassy old men to their grandchildren. The first symbol that comes to mind, especially during the holiday season, is The Salvation Army bucket and bell that used to be in front of all the major grocery stores and shops during this season. The bell-ringers with their pots still exist but they were told they could only set up inside the malls and on street corners. They are no longer allowed in front of the larger stores because people complained that they were annoying. I have a hard time imagining a charitable organization like The Salvation Army being annoying but apparently they got in the way of shoppers who can't think of anything more important in the whole world than buying more stuff to take home with all their other stuff. I assume the Christmas carolers are also gone because of the same reasons. Gone are those little UNICEF cans that, as a child, I used to bring with me when I went out trick-or-treating during Halloween night. We used to bring the pennies and nickels we collected to school the next day. The class would then count what they collected and give it to the teacher whom we knew would send it to wherever it was supposed to go. I always felt a warm kind of happiness during this particular exercise. I wish I felt the same way now when I send out my annual check to The United Way Fund. The old F. W. Woolworth sign is something I thought would never go away. Its rectangular shape and gold letters with red background always reminded me of something solid and permanent. I absolutely hated the store but its sign was something that brought a sense of security. During these troubled times I wish we had some sort of sign that inspired the same feeling. Stores like Bradlees, Mammoth Mart and Ames put Woolworth's out of business. I guess it's true that what goes around comes around because these same stores have been put out of business by Wal-Mart. I just wonder what enterprise is around the corner to put Wal-Mart out of business. I am looking forward to that. The Smokey the Bear sign is another one I never thought would go away. All campgrounds and recreation areas that advertised the beauty of our forest areas always posted it. Every now and then you see the symbol in a cartoon form on television but it is just not the same as seeing his image on an old rusted sign. The Texaco Fire Chief sign was another favorite of all people who grew up in the 1950's and 1960's. I used to beg my mother and father to buy me one of those red plastic hats that never fit on my oversized head every time my father stopped for gas at the neighborhood Texaco station. Texaco still exists but that red plastic fireman's hat has long since been consigned to its final landfill. The Lucky Strike advertisement that used to greet us all, as we checked out our groceries at the local grocery store, is long gone. The old Camel sign was also a feature of all check out counters. Not the Joe Camel figure that was created just to get more kids smoking, I am talking about the sign that simply depicted the picture of a camel that conjured up images of faraway places and did nothing to make me want to smoke. Hell! The whole corner grocery store is also a memory of times gone by. One of my favorite signs of summer that has all but vanished is the Good Humor ice- cream truck that used to cruise up and down our neighborhood as soon as the snow melted from our lawns. It was how I used to tell the changing of the seasons. The truck was always bright white and the man who drove the truck wore a white uniform with a white cap that had on its front the sign that made our mouths water. Ice-cream trucks still exist today, I know, but they don't seem to have quite the same mystique. Being an avid fan of the New England Patriots for the past three decades I was irritated when they changed from the "Joe Patriot" insignia on their helmets to today's figurehead, aka 'The Flying Elvis.' They said it made the team look more modern and they did win a championship with their new emblem. Then, during the Thanksgiving game, the Patriots went retro and brought back Joe and my heart filled with nostalgic pride. It gave me a little bit of hope that maybe another symbol of another time might make a comeback soon because by golly we need it! The End
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