By Sarah Schofield
[1]BELLEVILLE, Ont. (31/03/11)-Roger Douglas, an avid darts player at the Legion in Belleville. Ont. gets together with his friends every Thursday for beer and company. Douglas, a retired electrician, started working at 12. He said he cannot believe the changes he has experienced in his lifetime and how his young life was so different compared to his grandson's. Photo by Sarah Schofield.
Life may seem carefree for retired Hydro One electrician Roger Douglas as he plays darts with friends on a Thursday night at the Royal Canadian Legion in Belleville.
Behind a calm exterior is a man reflecting on his own generation and that of his grandson.
Douglas, 68, has a hard time believing the difference between his life when he was young and today’s generation, starting with his working life.
“My first job was when I was 12. It was when I babysat for a couple and I babysat their son for the whole summer. Then I went to the pig shop for the winter where I worked three days a week. Then I worked at the newspaper one day a week, then at the radio station one day a week part-time after school.”
This was only the beginning of Douglas’ working life.
“I worked in the newspaper business for four years when I was 14 in 1958 and it was the same everywhere else: very, very poor wages,” he says.
“The printer, page compositor — I ran everything in the newspaper business except setting the type. I loved the job. It was pretty interesting, excitable, something different every day but the money was terrible. At that time, I worked 46.5 hours a week and earned 20 dollars a week.”
In stark contrast to that, the self-proclaimed family man didn’t look farther than his own family to see the difference between generations.
“When you came from a big family, you had to work in those days. I have one grandson who is an only child and when I see the stuff that he gets, it makes me shake my head because he doesn’t have to work for anything,” he says.
He described his own life growing up at the same age as his grandson.
“There were no televisions, no computers, and man hadn’t reached the moon.”
Now at the age of 68 and living a quiet life with his wife, he reflected back on the changes he witnessed in his lifetime.
“The biggest thing and biggest change I’ve seen in my lifetime is the electronic computer age. Everything is computerized,” says Douglas. “Every job available is connected to the computer science world that we live in.
“I came from the old world into the new world. It’s a whole different generation. I see my kids who are 40, and if they had to go back generations into my world, they would be lost. They wouldn’t understand it at all,” says Douglas.
Douglas is not a veteran because of choice. He’s a veteran by chance.
“I was too young for the Korean War and too old for any war,” he says.
Anyone at the Legion who knows Douglas will attest to his character.
Deanna Cole is a barmaid who has worked there for almost 16 years.
“Roger is a quiet, nice man who comes here every Thursday to play darts. He even comes back for the tournaments,” she says.
Another barmaid gives him a rides home after his game.
Ironically, how does Douglas summarize himself?
“I’m not a very interesting fellow.”