Bryan Thompson :: Blogged

I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. I have officially become an American tourist...in the town I grew up in. Having technically lived almost a thousand miles away from my hometown of Panama City, Florida for roughly six years now (with the exception of 10 months in a small town nearby and an additional four months last summer), I returned with my family recently to "enjoy" a few days on the beach and in the sun.

The "fun in the sun" didn't exactly work out since we had to leave a few days early with the passing of my grandfather (Please keep my grandmother and my family in your prayers during this time.), although we were able to take a few of the nine days we spent in Florida and relax.

The problem is that my folks now live an hour away from where I grew up and the town they live in, while peaceful and tranquil in a Mayberry kind of way, is also extremely boring for anyone under the age of 55. Because of this, we have to drive at least an hour to go to one of our three choices of "exciting" towns which include Dothan, Alabama; Panama City, and Tallahassee. 

Well, on this respective trip, we decided to go all out Panama City Beach. And as we did, something horrible began happening to me: I suddenly became Clark Griswold! I suddenly became the All-American tourist dad with all the seashells and tee-shirts and I stopped only short of the fanny-pack! I don't know how it happened! I don't know how I suddenly turned into my father on every family vacation we ever took until I was twelve. And yet, somehow, it happened.

I realized I had just done the unthinkable: I had become one of THOSE people. That's right! I had become a tourist! 

Now, what's the problem with tourism? you might ask. Well, nothing in and of itself. When you happen to have grown up in a tourist city (as any native New Yorker or Hawaiian can tell you), through the years, you develop a certain growing disdain for tourists. You see, for the tourists, they have it great: they get to get away from work, get out of town, reconnect with the family, etc. But for the poor city dweller, the tourists are the reason the city dweller's roads are clogged, the reason all their favorite restaurants are packed with two-hour waits, and the reason that most city dwellers decide never to go anywhere remotely near the actual tourist destinations (in this case, the beach). I hope that makes sense.

(Oddly enough, I now find myself a "city dweller" again where the "tourists" are now the Griswalds coming to Branson!)

Perhaps now you can understand my predicament. I have now gone from being the "city dweller" in my hometown to being one of the people that I couldn't stand six years ago. I now became the reason Panama City's actual "city dwellers" couldn't access their roads, their restaurants, or their beaches. In other words, I was officially a Canadian. (No offense to my Canadian readers!) 

I should also mention that my fourteen-month-old daughter hated the beach. And I mean she hated it! She was miserable the entire time we were there. She kept saying "No! No!" to the waves as they washed along the shore. So, not only was I an inconvenience to my hometown, but now, I'm an inconvenience to my own kid! Sheesh! How does a guy win with odds like that against him?

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch National Lampoon's Vacation!

04. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen 

02. A Beautiful Mind

Directed by: Ron Howard

Cast: Russell Crowe. Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Josh Lucas

I have been asked to submit my top 25 films from 2000-Present. So, I decided to go to the trouble of digging up the info, the pics, and putting them in order – not an easy task when you have a kid running around all the time. I will try to keep myself disciplined to update everyday, but I can’t make any promises. Since these are all favorites, I've alphebetized them.

 
Here goes:

01. BANDITS (2001)

Directed by Barry Levinson

Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity 

A couple of nights ago, my wife and I woke up to an unpowered apartment. The apartment was stuffy, there were no lights on in the apartment, and none of the electronic devices were working (like alarm clocks - which I've come to realize are highly unnecessary with a nine-month-old in the next room). It was official: we were powerless.

I knew it couldn't have been any of the breaker switches in the next room because everything was off. We figured the apartment itself may have had some difficulties with electricity. That would have seemed rather odd, though, because it was a clear night. No storms anywhere. So, we called 9-1-1 to get the phone number for the 24 hour service techs. My wife made the call and told them the situation, in which case the service technician directed me outside to the electric meter to flip the major breaker switch. As it turned out, we had run the air conditioner that night for the first time since November, and something in that switch from heat-to-cool must have triggered the breaker. As I flipped the switch, I immediately heard my Yorkshire Terrier bark like crazy - which let me know that things were now working again.

Thankfully, we weren't without electricity for long, but something my wife said to the service technician stuck out to me. When she called, the first thing she said was, "We have no power in our apartment and we have a nine-month-old baby!"

Clearly, this was an emergency, and that was communicated clearly to the service technician on the other end of the line.

And in my groggy 2 AM frame of mind, I began to think, We really ARE dependent upon modern technology, aren't we? I know, that's pretty obvious; but really think about that for a minute. Most of us in this country don't know what we would do if suddenly, we had no vehicle, no email, no internet, no cable television, no TiVo, no DVD player, MP3 player, or iTunes; no microwave ovens or EasyMac, or even refrigerators.

And yet one-third of the world we share time and space with have none of these things. In fact, not only do they live each day without electricity, but they also live without gas for their heat and food. They live without any real hope of medical attention or education. The AIDS problem in the nations of Africa has risen to an all-time high, and many other poverty-stricken countries are following suit. Children in these heartbreaking villages are burying their mothers, their brothers and sisters, and their fathers (if they do in fact know their fathers).

And it gets even harder to swallow. To these children and families, these situations are happening all the time. It's not a one-time deal like it is for those of us viewing on our electronically-powered television. For these kids and families, this is the life they have always known. They've never known anything different.

So what does this mean for us? Does this mean that we should feel unbelievably guilty for owning possessions and electronic devices that make our lives easier? I don't know. I didn't do anything to be born into a middle-class North American family. I just was. I know that thinking about these types of issues, though, does make us think about "Blessings" and "thankfulness" in different ways.

So think about it? What are your electronic devices saying to you?