In the last week, I have noticed something deplorable in today's society.

The first came on Monday. My friend and roommate Kevin the Kenyan embarked upon a holy quest to recover something from the days of our childhood, oh so long ago. This quest took us long and far, to the horizon and back. And that was just in Wal-Mart.

Yes, for those of you who have not heard this story, Kevin and I were searching for Silly-Putty.

Ah Silly-Putty, among the great inventions of this century. Your red plastic egg contains within it hours of fun for everyone! "You can stretch it like taffy, but it breaks into segments", as the little cardboard backing says. It shows a cartoon child enraptured by Silly-Putty, as who would not be? You can stick it to newsprint and read the funnys on your Silly-Putty, if you are talented enough to be able to read backwards, as I always was. If you had female siblings, you could stick it in their hair and make them cry. But then Mom would take your Silly-Putty away. This usually happened within 3 hours of the time you opened the little red plastic egg, about the time you got tired of it. And you would remain bored with it until the next time you were in the store and saw that little red egg and the kid so happy on the cardboard backing, and knew that you just had to have more, or you would absolutely DIE!

Ah, Silly-Putty.

Wal-Mart does not have any.

The little kid that we asked about it, not only did not know where it was, but did not know WHAT is was.

That bears repeating. The little 5-year old that was reading a Lion King storybook in the cheap toys aisle did not know what Silly-Putty was.

Now, my friend told me that this might be because he did not want to talk to us. I admit this is possible, but not likely. When you are five years old you know EVERYTHING and really don't mind sharing. At the top of your voice. Especially when you know, at least once a week, that you are a Power Ranger.

We finally did find some Silly-Putty at Kroger. A buck nineteen for an egg of Silly-Putty the size of my thumb. I remember having a Silly-Putty container that was bigger than my hand for like fifty cents. What has happened?

People wonder why the world is going wrong. I know the answer now. It's because no one plays with Silly-Putty anymore. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. When I was a kid, and I remember this well, we had plastic guns and GI Joes and Transformers. The plastic guns, if you

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