Captain Kangaroo

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What does it mean when you find your childhood in a high school history book? Maybe it means that period of time was noteworthy and important or maybe it means you are not so young anymore. Whatever it implies, my 1950s childhood was there in the American History book at New Iberia Senior High. It is pretty "cool" reading about that era, the 50s, specifically 1954. I, of course, know a lot about it all, but I would be hard pressed to know things as specific as recorded history. I more easily remember a feeling of the 50s. It was a fun time; the War was over and young families in houses with carports were sprouting up everywhere. We had a stationwagon and my mom set my hair with bobbi pins and we had names like Pamela, Susan, Debra, Judy, Nancy, Linda, Michael, Ronald, Gregory, and Dennis and holding the American Dream all together was a strong sense of family and security.

While the reality of the Cold War was the backdrop, many new conveniences and plenty of fun came out of the 50s, things like small appliances that made domestic jobs much easier and Rock and Roll that made life exciting. I thought it ironic that the Frozen TV dinner and I were introduced in the same year. I understand that these "dinners" were created so that suburbia did not have to miss their favorite TV show. It seems funny that we claim not sitting down with the family for meals as a contemporary problem; perhaps it all stemmed from the 50s and the introduction of the TV. But who would want to miss Lassie or Wagon Train? TV Guide had just come out in 1953. I associate my grandpa and the crossword puzzle in the back. Each week it was completed and he did it without Google. Every square was filled in and when his pencil became dull, he pulled out his pocket knife and sharpened it. I also remember Howdy Doody time and Mighty Mouse saving the day and Annette Funicello and the Mickey Mouse Club. Disney World was a place in California that I never imagined going to and I never knew anyone who had gone. It was enough for me to watch Tinker Bell on Sunday evenings at 6 fly above Cinderella's Castle and sprinkle fairy dust to begin the fireworks and end the week end. I have a snapshot in my memory of watching Howdy Doody crossed legged in a tiny living room in Laurel, Mississippi sporting a brand new Lilt home perm and drinking a glass of Tang. And another, drinking Bosco while watching Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Green Jeans, and Mr. Moose on Saturday mornings.

On December 31, there will be a Blue Moon, the second full moon in December. The next day will be 2010. It has been a long journey from 1954 to 2010. In terms of my life, it has progressed with a natural rhythm that I am grateful for. In terms of technology and science, so much has changed, enough to cause whiplash; the jury is still out as to whether I am totally grateful for all of that. Obviously, I am thankful for the progress we have made towards anything that improves our quality of life, but I do feel some things left behind would be nice to still have. And besides, I never decided who was cuter, Elvis or Ricky Nelson.

Pamela Shensky
http://www.sketchesofmyday.com
I created this site in an effort to write about and bring awareness to things that are simple and close to the earth. I named my little site?sketches of my day?, because, on occasion, I will post little drawings or paintings that I have done and some of them will be for sale (and some will not be).I hope you take a look and when you leave, I hope you feel better. p.s.

Will You Be A Kirk, Crunch, Or Kangaroo?

Have you ever noticed that life frequently serves, usually when we are least prepared, opportunities to make life-altering choices. Do I stay at this dead -end, but secure job, or take a chance with a new risky opportunity? Do I step out into a new relationship, or cling to the comfort of mom and dad's basement? Do I tenaciously adhere to speaking only truth, even if brutal, or do I take the easy road of a barely off-white but much more socially acceptable lie? Choices, big and small, seem to greet our every step. Often, there is no 'right' or 'wrong' response, but there certainly are a variety of consequences to consider.

Fortunately, our culture provides us with three exemplary icons that embody the very essence of our most popular choosing and acting styles. I call them the 'three great captains' of Western civilization: Captain Kirk, Captain Crunch, and Captain Kangaroo.

If you are prone to be a testosterone-based bull in the china shop, then you follow the way of Captain Kirk. Using this strategy you will employ significantly more 'leap-age' than you will 'look-age'. Crank up the adrenalin, and storm the Klingon stronghold armed with a drained phaser and a keen dramatic presence. The way of Kirk leaves logic (Spock) and emotional sensitivity (McCoy) back on the ship's control bridge ineffectively squabbling.

If you are more into less thinking and more wishing and hoping, then you are an adherent of the second great captain's philosophy of action-that of the good Captain Crunch. Champion of the cereal box, most of Crunch's battles were staged on the stormy skimmed milk seas of the cereal bowl. One step below the proverbial tempest in the teapot, Capt. Crunch bested bare footed pirates by hoping to violate the common laws of physics and milk absorption. The followers of the Crunchian Way don't spend much time thinking, rather they have faith that when push and shove finally meet, somehow, some transcendental way, things will just work out. Often you will find them repeating affirmations, praying, or having a second cocktail after lobbying the fates to be gentle with them.

Finally we consider the last of the great Captains of our culture: Captain Kangaroo. This Captain chose his actions by committee. Capt. Kangaroo always consulted his team of stalwart puppets and staff. Only after painstaking analysis by Mr.'s Moose and Greenjeans, Bunny Rabbit, Dancing Bear, and a host of others was Capt. Kangaroo ready to take action. Unfortunately, by then his show was over, and his opportunity missed.

Obviously, depending on the hyperbolic traits of any single one of our great captains, or any single habitual strategy for making choices, is liable to routinely leave us enjoying less than desirable consequences. Some situations might require the 'charge in phaser's blazing' approach of Kirk. Other situations may well benefit from the soggy thinking optimism of Crunch. Of course, the careful analytical approach of Kangaroo has its moments as well. Most situations would benefit from a nice variable combination of the three captain's choosing methods.

Before you make your next big, or little choice, you might stop for a moment and see if you have been happy with the results from previous similar choices. If you have, then by all means move forwards as usual. If you haven't always been pleased with the results of your choices, you might consider changing your choosing strategy. Sometimes that's as easy as simply making up your mind to change. Other times our choosing strategy is completely unconscious, and not easily changed. If you chronically find yourself at the wrong end of bad choices that you don't even remember making, then it's time to visit your local hypnotherapist. Hypnosis is the fastest way to unearth unconscious mechanisms, and free you from their grip. A qualified hypnotherapist can help you reprogram faulty decision habits and help you start moving in the direction you want to go. With all due respect to the three great captains, it is your life, and you deserve to sail through it smiling.

This is another helpful mind management tip from Richard Lefever and the brain weavers at Quit! Check us out at http://www.quitsmokingoregon.com

About the Author

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Who here remembers Captain Kangaroo?And did you really like it as a kid?

My mom use to make us watch Captain Kangaroo,and a show called Mr. Peppermint ,I really didnt like either of them.I thought they were silly even as a small child.lol

I have now just DATED myself by answering...I watched it (but I was really, really young). He was kind of scary/hairy but it was ok. We also watched Romper Room and Bozo the Clown. I liked Romper Room where she looked through a hand held mirror and said "I see Bobby and Sue and Michael and...." and she would name a bunch of names while the audience held its breath waiting to hear THEIR name.

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