I believe in Angels

Recent events in my family have sent me to pondering life and our daily struggles through it. Many believe and many don't in the afterlife, God, angels, etc. I suppose unless something happens to you, you can never really know.

Very few people know of this story, less than a handful, I'd say ...

Many years ago when I was younger, about the age of twenty-two or three (give or take), I had spent the evening and well into the night at a wedding. It was in the summer months as I recall the evening was warm and I wasn't wearing a jacket. It was late, very late, about 2 a.m. when I was driving home on the freeway.

At that point in time, I lived in an older area of the city. In itself, it was relatively safe place to be, however getting to that point, one had to venture through some areas that weren't so friendly. As it happened, I ran out of gas on the freeway about a mile from the next exit. I guided my car to the shoulder and sat there for a minute. I was tired. I know the area and knew there was a gas station at the end of the exit. That meant walking to get there, buying their gas can and walking back to my car. Remember, this was well before the age of the cell phone. No 'phone-a-friend' or AAA was coming to my rescue.

Just as I got out of my car, another vehicle pulled up behind me. It was an old station wagon, light blue in color and several years old. Out steps this big fella, rather tall, at least compared to me and solidly built. He had a big blonde mop of tussled hair and he was sporting a white tee shirt and cut-off jeans. And he was bare-footed. He steps up and offers to take me down the road to the exit. I thanked him and we were off.

In the end, I got home safely. (I haven't run out of gas since). So what's so angelic about that, you ask? Nothing on the surface. I received help when I needed help. From my perspective, I was in no immediate danger other than getting hit by a car. However, after some time had passed, I had a revelation. As I was thinking about what had happened that night, it was if a veil had been lifted from my eyes and I saw the event clearly for what it was. The person who stepped to my aid was the spitting image of my cousin Tony, a big strapping farm-boy kind of guy with a heart as big as the ocean. Still, what's so special about that? You didn't recognize him.

Tony had been killed by a drunk driver about eight years before.

I believe in angels to this day.

The Knob

Consider the 'knob'. Yes, the knob. You know, that graceful, circular dial that used to grace so much of our electronics. Where has it gone?

The knob used to be a staple of nearly every electrical or electronic device you owned. It was on your radios, your tape players, your stereo rack systems, even your oven. (Okay, they still are on your oven). I can think back when I was a little boy and had my first transistor radio. It had dials. It had knobs. Because it was small, they were really small. It was a device that had style and design buily into it. Where did that panache of design go?

It went the way of the button. I looked at the radio in my car the other day. It was filled with buttons. A button for mode, one for FM (1 or 2), AM, CD player, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Gone are the days when one would press their ear against a crackly speaker and slowly spin the knob to fine tune the frequency. And yes, it did help if you closed your eyes. (I think it's a scientific fact). Well, maybe.

The knob has a delicate symmetry. It is graceful, nearly no matter the size. And what can you do with big knobs? You can spin them really fast. Want to pump up the volume quickly? No more pushing an ^ up or down and wait for the electronics to catch up. Just grab the knob and give a spin. That'll get your ears burning in a hurry. So for the tuner as well. Spin that baby and you're at the other end of the dial in no time. It just doesn't have the same satisfaction pushing a button. Just like a telephone. Hanging up on someone when you're angry just doesn't have the same emotional satisfaction of pushing an off button. Most will never know the power of slamming a receiver down on the hook. But I digress...

The scientists of the early electronic era had it best. They had knobs. Knobs and dials galore to spin, tweak, turn and fine tune on their calculating, measuring and calibrating devices. And they had analog gauges with needles that measured things. Oh, don't get me started on analog over digital.

We will someday, pass the last knob into the history books when their functionality no longer suits our beeping, electronic world. Our great grandchildren one day will look on these wondrous protrusions and simply raise their eyebrows. Then, they will all run off an push some buttons. I for one will miss those days.