Way, way back in the days of the Forties, once each week the Dixie showed us some of the victory days of World War II in a short film called The March of Time. We saw the battlefields, landings and victory parades from our seats. We did not consider that we were seeing events that happened weeks before.
At age ten, time did march slowly. Now I ask, “How has time marched by so swiftly and put me in an age called “elderly.”
Once I was a big fish in a small pond. I was a teacher and sat at the big desk, with many pencils and knew all the answers. That felt really good, but I am no longer in that pond. A quote from actress, Betty Davis, is “Old age is not for sissies.” The consequences have crept up regularly since I left the small pond.
This is the prelude to acknowledging that there is nothing wrong with my TV or phone volume and people do not have much lower voices now. Yes, the culprit is a consequence of the march of time, so I now have hearing aids that have greatly improved my conversations, TV watching and life in general.
Thanks to advances in audiology technology, this is not a handicap as it was long ago for Mr. Jot Flanders who served as Emanuel County Ordinary, despite being “deaf as a post” in the words of 1940’s. My father shared a courthouse office with him and most of the office demands that required acute hearing which also included probate court. Mr. Jot probably had the most advanced hearing aid for that time, but battery was not reliable and often made loud sounds. The aids were the size of an ear muff with cords hanging down his shirt to a battery the size of a cell phone in his shirt pocket.
His signature was S.J. Flanders but known as Jot. His brother was Citizens Bank president, Ell Flanders and nephew future bank president, Bozie Flanders. The Flanders family seemed to have a preference for nick names.
Mr. Jot’s backyard in Summit was a haven for feral cats. The life span of an outside cat was usually short. When I lost a pet cat, a new kitty appeared at the Ordinary’s office very soon. The kitty arrived in a shoe box tied with string with holes for air punched in the top, and the kitty’s name written on the shoe box. Mr. Jot always chose Biblical names, Moses, Joshua, Mordecai and others I do not recall. Note, there were no feminine names! Write to Shirley at sptwiss@gmail.com
