First the Dinosaur, Then the Dodo. Now the Twinkie?

Last week we learned the future of iconic Twinkies was in jeopardy.

When the dinosaur went extinct, nobody noticed. There weren’t any newspapers, because paper hadn’t been invented yet. And “nightly news” was still eons into the future. So when Vinnie the velociraptor breathed his last, it seemed no great loss. Paleontologists attribute the dinosaur demise to the Ice Age, theorizing the huge reptiles weren’t fond of chilling out.

When's the last time you saw
a dodo bird in your back yard?

Later the dodo bird passed from the scene. It’s said this flightless bird was native to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. What we know of its existence was recorded in writings and artwork from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Now all we have left is the haunting phrase, “Dead as a dodo bird.” Along with the complaint of irritated drivers, “You dodo!”

Then last week came the dire revelation that next in line for extinction could be the Hostess Twinkie. Hostess Brands, in the throes of a bitter, no-win labor dispute, announced plans to declare bankruptcy and liquidate the bakery company after 82 years.

The action placed the iconic Twinkie snack cakes, along with its equally non-healthy but taste-tempting cousins – Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Suzy Qs and Sno Balls (as well as Wonder Bread) – into instant limbo, on the precipice of permanent elimination.

Imagine a world without Twinkies. We might be able to survive without Ho Hos, and even Ding Dongs. But no Twinkies? Could this signal the beginning of the end for life as we’ve known it?

I grew up with Twinkies, the cream-filled sponge cakes that along with Wonder Bread were advertised on kids’ TV programs like “The Howdy Doody Show.” (Howdy Doody’s gone, too, but let’s keep on point.) Back then we knew and cared little about calories, or the adverse effects of excessive sugar and fat grams. All that mattered was they tasted good, and seemed harmless.

Last week it was reported a number of potential suitors had stepped up to possibly rescue the Twinkie and its kin from baking oblivion. Perhaps. But even so, the shocking news surrounding an American dietary tradition was a grim reminder. There’s a time and season for everything – and when time’s up, beware.

Actually, the old book we know as the Bible said the same thing thousands of years ago, long before snack cakes were even a Twinkie in any baker’s eye. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This passage was turned into lyrics for the song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the American rock group, the Byrds, in the mid-60s.

The next verses talk about “a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance….”

The Woolworth's 5-and-10 department store was
a fixture for many Baby Boomers in their childhood.

Nothing in this life lasts forever. Countless fixtures of everyday life have passed from existence, ranging from the horse and buggy to 5-and-10 department stores and soda fountains to Brownie cameras to S&H green stamps to Tinker Toys. Here today, gone tomorrow.

So appreciate what you have – and who you have – while you can. Unlike cyclical natural seasons, which proceed from one to the next and then start over again, once the season for something has ended, it likely won’t be coming back.