NO WONDER WE ARE STUPID

I read a sad story in the paper the other day about the death of the small repair shops. Many people haven't experienced this delightful part of life, since we have advanced from the repair it era to the throw it away and replace it one.

Eons ago, when TVs were filled with tubes instead of transistors, we would either call a fix it man or took the tubes to a store and tested them and replaced them. Only as a last resort was something thrown away, as things were repaired at home or taken to the fix it shop, and only after trying to repair it yourself.

Screws were used to hold everything together as we could open things and tinker inside. As kids, time was spent taking apart and putting back together all sorts of gadgets, just to see what made them tick, and the thrill we had when it still worked after our inquisitive inspections.

Then the molded plastic era started where once it was put together at the factory, it was harder to get into then Ft. Knox. If screws are used, they are of a different variety that most people don't have around the house and a fortune is spent to procure them. No longer can the local fix it man repair it, it has to be done by factory trained specialists at outrages prices.

The outlandish prices charged for parts to repair something is highway robbery as the example given by the subject of the story. A man called him to repair a $2,000 TV set, when he inquired about purchasing the part needed to repair it, he was told that it would cost$3900 for said part.

It was a pleasant surprise when you did take something in for repair, and the repair man only charged a dollar or two for it was something minor, and once more the thing worked as good as new for years to come, and not another piece on the landfill pile.

The pride we had in ourselves as we tore down car engines and put them back together to get them to go faster. The joy of hearing a well tuned engine purring like a cat.

Now all we can do is turn something on and off, and if it doesn't go on, just throw it away and purchase a new one. Minds are going dormant as they are no longer used for problem solving, and we wonder why we are getting so stupid.