Are we dinosaurs?

It seems like every time I turn on the TV, there is some program about dinosaurs.

PBS and The History Channel seem particularly fond of these stories. But even the "mainstream" channels seem to have a lot of stories about dinosaurs. It may be that with all of the talk about global warming and apocalypse and the like, we are just more focused on "old stuff."

But here's what gets my goat. No matter who is running the story, they always seem to take the point of view that dinosaurs are extinct and have been so for many millennia. Obviously, the people who produce these programs are not aware that there are still a lot of us left.

The only thing is, we don't refer to ourselves as dinosaurs anymore. Mostly it's because we simply do not like the term. And, more recently we have been made aware of the "ageist" attitude this term implies and as we all know, anything ending in "ist" is politically incorrect and is, therefore to be avoided at all cost. So we long ago dropped the term "dinosaurs" in favor of the more friendly and accurate term "woodworkers." I have written many letters over the years to the producers who seem bent on using this offensive term but they appear to be completely indifferent to the issue. If there were more of us we might be able to get a petition going but, unfortunately, while we might not be completely extinct, we are without a doubt, candidates for the "endangered" list.

D.D.