Modern, and old-time Phoenix as seen through the eyes of a young man

I just love seeing things through other people's point of view. I call it "looking through their eyes", and it's often very surprising what people see, even if they're looking at the same thing, like the city of Phoenix. I see it through the eyes of a young man, so that's what I'm thinking about today.

Now, you may be saying, "Waitaminute there, Brad, didn't you come to Phoenix in 1977 when you were nineteen?" How in the world can you say that you have the eyes of a young man? Well, my eyes may have wrinkles around them now, but what I see, and what I look at, has never changed, and I'm beginning to believe that it really never will.

OK, we're all adults here, but I'll keep this clean. The first thing that my eyes see are women. Or girls. Yes, I'm a girl-watcher. That doesn't mean that I have a dirty, leering attitude, it's just that women are very important to me. Young men know this. They walk a little taller around girls, they nervously run their fingers through their hair, hoping that they don't look ridiculous to the girls. Young men stick our their chest and suck their gut in a little bit when a pretty girl goes by. In all of the years that I've been a young man I've never caught a girl looking at me, and young men like me just have to believe that girls apparently can see through their ears, because I know that the girls see us young men. I remember seeing the old men, who didn't care a bit what they looked like, and wondered when that happened to them? The old men would scowl at people going by, and some of them reached a point where they cared so little about what people thought about them that they went out in public in dirty clothes, often clothes that didn't fit.

I have a young man's attitude about change, which I get a big kick out of. If I see a new model car I'll stop and look at it. Phoenix has always been changing, and I find it wonderful. And yes, I know that at my age I'm supposed to wish that nothing ever changed, or even wish that things are the same way that they used to be. And the rate of change in Phoenix makes me think that it's always been a good place to a young man, not so much for the old guys.

Phoenix from the turn of the century to the 1920s

Phoenix must have been exhausting, and frustrating, for the old folks. It's been growing and changing so quickly for so long it seems as if as soon as you know your way around, there's a new building, or a new neighborhood. Exciting for a young man, looking for growth and opportunity, not so much for the older generation. The two biggest growth spurts for Phoenix were during the 1920s, and also after World War II, in the 1950s. But no one can say that Phoenix isn't still growing and changing quickly now!

Image at the top of this post: Looking at Phoenix through the eyes of a young man. I'm older, but no wiser, because I have the eyes of a young man.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on Buy me a coffee, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to:

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