INTERNET GRANDFATHER®

Ed Sullivan

                                        I've recently been thinking about Ed Sullivan. When I was young, television was a marvelous thing. Every one of the few shows available was wondrous to me. Watching television, from the old movie serials shown in the afternoons to the Milton Berle show in the evening, amazed me. Stars I had heard on radio, like Jack Benny, were a revelation. I had formed a mental picture from their voices and my mental picture was always wrong. One of my favorite shows was The Ed Sullivan Show. It was an old-fashioned variety show. Ed brought acts of every kind to the television screen- jugglers, musicians, athletes, knife throwers, comedians, even my childhood favorite, animal trainer Clyde Beatty.

                                                    The reason I thought about Ed Sullivan and his show is because I've been thinking about variety in life. An 18th century poet said that variety is the spice of life, meaning that we're better off if we do different things, try different things. We all have a tendency to fall into routines, to do the same things day after day, throughout our lives. Still, we all look for variety. I think the reason The Ed Sullivan Show was so successful is that people like to see different things, be entertained by different things.

                                                    I sometimes look with amazement at the short attention span of younger people. They constantly seek variety, looking for new and different things at all times. But as we age, we tend to fall into habits, doing the same thing the same way every day. We start looking for the comfort of the familiar. Sometimes we need a reminder of the beauty of different things. We can all use variety, in our work, in our leisure activities, in everything we do. Don't be embarrassed by the desire to be comfortable but, just occasionally, look for variety. It will at least liven things up for a while.

10-13-08