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McDonald's: America's great meeting place. Who'd a thunk it?
One of the great traditions in small town America is the morning gathering of retired seniors, usually men, at a local restaurant for breakfast, coffee and lots of conversation.
They talk about their lives, families, moan about politics, solve all of America's problems, threaten to nuke North Korea, read the morning paper to each other...with comment of course.
They laugh a lot.
I have a backdoor neighbor in his eighties who lived that tradition for many years. I say used to because sadly most of his buddies have died off. They gather only in his memories now. But a vibrant gathering they are.
For many decades, these get-togethers played out at mom and pop shops across America, at little dives, diners and greasy spoons. And then...
In the 1960s McDonald's Restaurants started encroaching on the American landscape. My family used to frequent the original one in Des Plaines, Illinois (opened in 1955). My dad with his "Five burgers, five fries and five cokes" leaving us kids with no choice and him without the annoyance of a creative order.
As far back as 1971, the Egg McMuffin was tested. Two years later, it was on the market. Later, breakfasts became just about as popular as lunches and dinners at McDonald's.
I wonder what the initial reaction was from seniors when the fast food chain moved into their towns. Maybe they felt their familiar, comfortable gathering spots were threatened. I'm guessing most of it was a gruff and a glare; an eye roll and a complaint.
Maybe. But here's what I see now...
Often on mornings that I'm conducting a workshop, I'll swing by a McDonald's, grab an Egg McMuffin and a milk sit and glance at a USA Today.
Always, no matter what town I'm in, there is a cluster of seniors. From Mankato, Minnesota to Rocky Hill, Connecticut. From Fayette, Alabama to Moline, Illinois.
Conversant seniors just like those before them, absolutely sure that if people just listened to them, then all would be right with the world. Echoes of generations past in their assertions, stories and laughter.
Almost always we resist change. We especially resist it when the status quo is familiar and comfortable.
Change is a step into the unknown, and since we can't tell what the ramifications will be and we fear the possibilities, we default to the uneducated conclusion that all of the ramifications must be bad.
But it's important to be fair with change and those who bring it. It's important to objectively sift through change and view it for what it is and judge it on its merits.
Maybe some of the change is bad, but that doesn't mean all of it is. Different doesn't mean catastrophe, different can be very, very good.
Most people tend to think that they can't handle change. But you can and do. Just ask thousands of senior citizens across the country who gather at the hearth of McDonald's rather than the ol' diner.
The ol' diner was nice to be sure...it was comfortable and familiar. But coffee, breakfast munchies and conversation can be had over any table. Over time it seems, the change-McDonalds-has now become that which is comfortable and familiar.
And the world has not come to an end.
We are an adaptable bunch. The next time you question your own adaptability, bring me a picture of yourself as an infant-and then try to convince me that you can't handle change.
Then let's go to McDonald's for an Egg McMuffin, swap some stories, share a few laughs and whine about the direction of our country.
Now that's a tradition that doesn't ever have to change.
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