An old traditional ballad called “Get Up and Bar the Door” tells of an old married couple who decided to have a contest that whoever spoke first would have to get up and secure the front door. Laziness, stubbornness, or just a game to pass the time on a dreary winter evening, no matter the reason, this contest turned into scoundrels coming through the unsecured door. After some insults and minor effronteries to both husband and wife, the husband could not resist speaking up as he protested to the unwanted men to leave. Not skipping a beat, the dear wife yelled at the protecting husband that since he was the first to speak, he must now get up and “bar the door.”
Do you remember a time before television remote controls? Do you remember when there were six or less television channels? It seems as if there was hardly a need for a remote with so few channels to choose from. But there, my dear friends, s where you are wrong. Even back then, perhaps out of laziness or stubbornness, people would argue as to who should get up and change the channel. A common phrase was “while you are up, please change the channel.”
Heck, things sometimes got so bad, so lazy, so stubborn that the channel that was turned on originally may very well have been the same one tuned in until the test pattern came on at the end of programming hours.
Sometimes the unlucky one with a weak bladder would end up being the anointed one for the evening. You would think that the one who was up would get his/her choice of channels. Never! Either by committee or by age, the decision was not necessarily made by the turner. You can imagine the arguments among the viewers for choice and for being the turner.
Today we sometimes hear about who has control of the remote when the family sits down in front of the television. It now seems like, however, that families don’t get together to share a common television show very often. It now seems that each member has his/her own television or personal streaming device. Apparently having to share and bar the door and turn the channel became too much. By the way, while you are up, please (fill in the blank). I am sure you can think of something for someone to do for you.
