September 8, 2010 - Writer's Craft Opening Activity - Part A

My name is Michael Andrews. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina and I own a small antique photograph store. One day, as I was cleaning out the supply depot, I stumbled upon an old photograph album. As I opened the first few pages, I was immediately drawn to learn more about the fascinating past. There were pictures of little children playing on the beach, families going out for dinners, family pictures, pictures of the city life, and many more. Now this album was dated back to the early 19th century. As I started looking more thoroughly into more and more recent albums, I started realizing that that people in the past seemed to be happier with the simpler things in life. After the Second World War, I saw that the family portraits were getting bigger, the pictures were becoming clearer and more colourful ( thanks to coloring technology), but the people were not getting any happier. It seemed that as technology improved, people continued to work hard to keep up with it, and that resulted in them losing their family values, and focusing more Then, when I thought of the present, I realized how our society was becoming corrupt and how no one was focused on the family values anymore. Everything, from automobiles and houses, to people, is judged by the appearance and how expensive/wealthy they are. Parents are leaving their children so they can work nine to five to supply the needs of their children. They must have the newest phone, the newest shoes, the newest clothes, the newest everything! No one cares to look for something creative, to show their distinct personality, everyone is trying to look the same so they can fit in. In the past though, there was no “cool crew”. Everyone hung out with whoever they thought they were compatible. Through the years though, people have become more focused on hanging with people in their own category, in relation to wealth, which results in these small groups of kids who only hang with one another. As I look up from the album, I went around my city and tried to see if everything I had imagined was truly happening. I went to an Elementary School and I saw all the rich little boys and girls, with blonde hair, and snow-white skin, sitting together on the slide. As a brunette girl approached, and from her clothing, it was clear to tell that she was not as rich as the other blonde kids, they pointed at her clothing, and went into a state of hysteria in laughter. The little girl, who then looked down on her clothes, looked at the blonde girls’ clothing, and ran away with tears in her eyes. After seeing this, I knew I did not have to go any further, because if kids have this idea of class distinction engraved so hard in their head by this age, there was no point in continuing my search. I walk back into my store, in disgust at how our society has become so judgemental, and continue fixing up the albums, hoping that things might become better with time.