This year’s freshman’s mindset.

I think about these ones in particular…

  1. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
  2. Gas stations have never fixed flats but most serve cappuccino.
  3. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
  4. Girls wearing head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
  5. All have had a relative or known about a friend’s relative who has died comfortably at home with home care.
  6. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”
  7. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
  8. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
  9. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
  10. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
  11. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
  12. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
  13. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
  14. Students have always been “Rocking the Vote.”
  15. Clarence Thomas has always been sitting on the Supreme Court.
  16. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
  17. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learnt in Kindergarten.”
  18. There have always been gay rabbis.
  19. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
  20. IBM has never made typewriters.
  21. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
  22. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
  23. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in their crib.
  24. Authorities have always been building a wall along the Mexican border.
  25. Lenin’s name has never belonged to a major city in Russia.
  26. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
  27. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.
  29. Personal privacy has always been threatened.
  30. Caller ID has always been available on phones.
  31. Living wills have always been requested at hospital check-ins.
  32. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
  33. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
  34. Soft drink refills have always been free.
  35. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
  36. Windows 3.0 operating systems made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
  37. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
  38. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
  39. 98.6 F or otherwise have always been confirmed through hearing.
  40. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
  41. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
  42. There have always been chartered schools.