Years ago we had an occasion to go out for a bite. Our bill came to $17.76 so we remarked what a big year that was! Not one of the kids behind the cash registers had any idea WTH we were talking about. We were stunned! They were all HS graduates. You wouldn’t believe the guesses they made. Did somebody win the Super Bowl that year? (I think that was the craziest guess we heard.)
So while we ate our dinner, we asked each one of them who came by our table to take a plate or refill our water. Maybe when we had asked the tenth or twelfth kid did anyone say it was when we celebrate the birth of our country every year, even though we gave them MANY clues.
We promptly went home and asked each of our kids what happened in 1776, and the next day, I asked my nieces. My kids got it right (middle school through high school at the time), and one niece did, but the other had no idea (same age range).
That experience will always stay with me. How can you celebrate July 4th every year without knowing that the Declaration of Independence was signed that day? It was a sign then how bad the public schools were getting, and I know it’s even worse now.
I think most cashiers would be lost today just trying to make change without their cash register figuring it out for them.
“Years ago we had an occasion to go out for a bite. Our bill came to $17.76 so we remarked what a big year that was! “
It was but with what the country has become during the subsequent almost 250 years who cares? I say this as a social conservative and religious-based conservative who sees most matters through those filters.