I was remembering the lunch counter. We had one in particular that I remember well. The grill at one end of the counter and the soda fountain on the other end. There was a large front window, that’s where the newspapers were piled up. You could just grab the news and have a seat. Booths were available along the wall. Not many sat at the booths though,almost always the counter was the favored spot. There were also a few tables but they didn’t get used much. That grill would be warmed up and ready to go at a moments notice. Almost anything that could be grilled was available. Grilled cheese sandwiches were a staple back then. Fried egg sandwiches and toasted hard rolls.
Times change though and the lunch counter is a thing of the past. It is a shame too. Looking back at another time and place I feel we could all learn something from that experience.
As a young man (just a boy really ) I had my first job. We would meet up at that lunch counter early in the morning. The men ordering their coffee and maybe toast. The discussion would be the news or the job. The older men doing the talking, the younger ones (myself )doing the listening. Learned a lot sitting there on those stools. You learned to just listen. You learned you had a lot to learn. You learned how to conduct yourself in public. There wasn’t a lot of cursing going on, not like nowadays, oh the speech could be colorful, but creative too. Used a lot more than four letters ! A lot of these kids today could use a few semesters at the lunch counter instead of college. An education you can use. Yeah, you were treated as second class, but that only inspired you to become first class. Eventually you got to join the conversation. When that happened you sure felt grown up.
All that was back in the days when most men worked in the same town they lived in. Not many commuted. Shoot, we hardly knew what that word was and couldn’t figure why anyone would do that ? Burn all that gas and drive twenty minutes or more every day ! Now it is the opposite. Probably why there aren’t any lunch counters anymore. That and does anyone just stop for a fountain soda anymore ? We did. Was only one size then. That soda was the most refreshing soda. Watched as they drew it out the tap. Could get cherry syrup added too, cherry coke wasn’t in bottles back then ! Ice cream sodas and root beer floats on a hot day.
I didn’t know it back then but I was living in a Norman Rockwell painting. A slice of America. And I think that is what we need again. If we all could just meet at the lunch counter a lot of problems could be solved. We would learn how to get along better. Learn to listen. Learn what is important. Learn how to treat our fellow man. Those old lunch counters were the social hubs of the town. Now we meet on Facebook.
No one has the time anymore I guess. Too busy commuting or tweeting. What a shame.