Andy Griffin

When looking back, years past are often referred to as a "Simpler Time".
But were they?
Were they really more simple and innocent that what we are living today?
I don't see kids wearing leg braces anymore. You don't see children, as well as adults, having to live out their lives in an iron lung.
We don't have polio like we did back in the simpler times.
Men worked hard for a living and to provide for their families.
Going out to eat at a restaurant was reserved for the specialist of occasions such as a graduation or wedding.
Long distant phone calls at night usually meant a death in the family.

Traveling to Birmingham was like going to New York City...such trips were just not taken as an after thought like they are today.
But the one thing I remember most about those so called simpler times....is that the church was my extended family. During the Christmas season, Church was the center of our community. Socials, dinners, a Christmas play...the carols...all made life a little more bearable.

So whenever this Christmas episode of Andy Griffin comes on, it truly does become a time machine of sorts for me. I am reminded of a time long ago when I was growing up, being shaped and influenced by the people God had surrounded me with. Maybe we call such times simpler because we still believed in God. We still prayed in school and read the Bible every for morning devotion. Maybe that is what we truly need in this nation. A simpler time.

Merry Christmas from the "B's" in Attalla.