Hey Kids, what time is it!?

- “Buffalo Bob” Smith, of the
Howdy Doody Show, who
died on this date, 1998, age
80


Memories are wonderful things! I watched Howdy Doody on TV (in Canada) from the very beginning. The show started in 1947, when I was just over 1 year old. It played until 1960, so I saw many years of it. When Buffalo Bob would say, “Hey Kids! What time is it!”, I would shout at the TV, “It’s Howdy Doody Time!!!” And I loved it! I remember all those characters. And I can’t help but wonder what influences came my way from that show, and what has persisted in my psyche until this day. No one can tell me that what we see on TV doesn’t influence us profoundly. And that makes me think of the appalling violence on TV today. Beware.

Memories. I was deeply grateful when the 1979 Book of Common Prayer came out. By then, I had been a priest for 6 years – but we had been using the developing texts since 1970. It made it clear that the only sacrament necessary to share in the Eucharist was Baptism. As soon as I became a parish priest, I started inviting all the little children to come and receive Holy Communion. Of course I was always aware of the awe and the wonder of all of us receiving the mystical “Body and Blood of Christ”. But the little ones! Little hands folded and open. Receiving Communion, their wide eyes sparkling, their eagerness and excitement. That changed their lives! I know that those kids will be affected by that early experience all their lives. It was a powerful moment. And I’ve lived to see the effects of that decision.

Think what a difference being loved, what the memories of being loved, does for our lives! Or the opposite, God forbid. No child who can remember from early times what being loved was like will, I think, fail to make it in Life. There may be a lot of difficulties, as we all have. But the memory of being loved will almost always trump everything.

No wonder the great Jewish summary of the Law is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself”, and that Jesus’ summary was “Love one another as I have loved you”.

“Hey Kids! What time is it?” “It’s Howdy Doody Time!”. Decades later, I know what “Howdy Doody Time” is. Time to pour out the Love.

Brian+