As we gear up for this year’s 150/250 celebration (Colorado’s 150th anniversary and the United States’ 250th), I fondly remember the centennial/bicentennial celebrations of 1976.

It was a very different world back then.

We were fresh off the failure of the Vietnam War and military members were not held in high esteem. I remember unemployed, unwashed hippies cursing at uniformed military members in the airports. Thankfully, that shameful practice hasn’t continued. Now, we thank veterans for their service.

Speaking of airports, remember when you could walk your departing friends and family all the way to their departure gate and greet them as soon as they got off the plane? My high school buddies and I would sometimes go the airport for fun, watching planes take off and land and seeing loving reunions as passengers deplaned. It was seeing people at their happiest.

But the Hari Krishnas (the orange-robed, bald-headed, flower-giving folks who were always soliciting donations) were not happy when we came to the airport. My friend Russ Rhodes enjoyed engaging the Krishnas in long, fruitless debates. Russ had an impressive knowledge about the Krishnas’ beliefs and how to punch holes in them.

A stamp, a phone call, a newspaper and a pack of baseball cards all cost 10 cents in 1976. Nothing costs 10 cents now.

Those phone calls were made at a phone booth. These were everywhere. Every public building, gas station and shopping center had phone booths. You also saw them regularly along the road.

One question: Now that phone booths are gone, where does Clark Kent turn into Superman?

Phone booths disappeared because now we have cell phones. In 1976, a camera hung around your neck, a watch was on your wrist, a flashlight was in the utility drawer, a calculator, rolodex and phone book were on your desk, the encyclopedias were at the library, mail was delivered by the postman and computers took up entire rooms. Now, all of these things fit into your pocket.

Things cost a lot less. McDonalds had a commercial touting that you could get a hamburger, fries and a Coke for less than a dollar.

We drank directly from faucets and garden hoses. Now we drink filtered water from plastic bottles or out of expensive containers. In 1976, such notions would have been laughable.

If you got in trouble at school, the last thing you wanted was for them to call your parents. Now, parents too often are the problem for schools.

To be social, you had to actually be social – as in going someplace and interacting with people. Now, social success is far too often determined by likes and follows from people you have never met.

You only had 3-5 channels on your television. You changed the channels and volume at the TV itself, not with a remote. My father had a voice-activated remote control. He would shout “Doug, channel four. Doug, channel seven.”

Yes, things are very different. It makes me wonder what a 15-year-old who witnesses this year’s celebrations will say when the tricentennial comes around in 2076.