Good Old Days

[Joseph]

Originally posted by obiwan18




I grew up on a farm in Rural Canada, different in many ways than what Joseph lived through, but very similar in others.

Grew up on a Dairy, 10 miles south of Modesto. Ca.

The schools could have been mine, at least elementary school.

My school was First to Eight, 1/4 of a miles from my house. 200 or so students top.

I guess I've led a sheltered life growing up, and I'm thankful for some of the stuff I got to do.

Me to, to a degree.

Didn't watch much TV, during the long summers since we only had two channels. Much more fun to read a book.

Did not have a TV until the Fall of 1958. I was a Freshman in High School.

Why play music on long trips? My dad would play his radio and listen to his 60's songs that we would all listen too, and try to remember all of the words.

I can remember long trips that I would read a book solid for maybe 5 hours, and not want to get out because the book engrossed me completely.

No trips, unless the school took me somewhere. Had to clean the barns each day and help sometimes with the cows. No dad, but we had a radio.

Joseph, thanks for your posts. Where would any of us be without nostalgia, and yearning for simpler times?

Thanks for the reminder.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Joseph
Don't count on it.

why get all misty then over something youll never have back? do you want to return to those times? if so just shoot yourself and get along to heaven, where the beach boys play infinite sets and the summers never end.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by MRT144


Why get all misty then over something you'll never have back? do you want to return to those times? If so just shoot yourself and get along to heaven, where the beach boys play infinite sets and the summers never end.

Those who don't read history are bound to repeat it.
It would take hours to tell the people to day how it really was. In my part of Calif., it was not so bad. In other parts of the world it was bad. But each of us only lived in our little part and only know about the other parts from what we read or hear.
My house never had a lock on the door. I had to work at home, so question asked. My first car belong to my wife. We did not talk back to teachers. We did not try to destroy our schools. If another adult told us to do something, we did it. I use to hitchhike and never worried about being kidnapped. No guns, knifes at school. No shooting at school. Clime was very low in our area. Just about everything was cheap. $0.10 cents for a coke, go to the movies for a dime. A drive in was one dollar for a full car. A man could earn a living for a family, while his wife stay home to take care of his family. Almost everyone knew all of his/her neighbors, now no one know who lives next door.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Bah, the present is always much better... simply for the reason we are more technologically advanced, and that's good for all people (think of hospitals for one). In the old days you wouldn't be able to talk to people across the world on a website devoted to a computer game.

[Tuberski]

It seems to me that my age group is caught in the middle.

I remember playing king of the hill on a dirt hill.

I remember playing Smear the Queer(derogatory to homosexuals, though that never entered our heads then) where everybody tackled the guy with the ball.

I remember kick the can, where everyone was free if one of the hiders could get to the can before the finder did.

But, I also remember video games, the Atari 2600, colecovision, Pong, Space Invaders. Cable when we got to have 30 channels instead of three.

So, really, I understand both sides of this argument. There is nothing wrong with nostalgia.

The world isn't better or worse, it's just different.

ACK!

[MRT144]

im bound to repeat your utopia? then why dissuade my denial of your era?

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by MRT144
im bound to repeat your utopia? then why dissuade my denial of your era?

You, however, already have "bitter old man" down pat.



ACK!

[Ben Kenobi]

My house never had a lock on the door.

We had a lock, just never used it until I was 15 and my folks got broken into.

Living in the country has many advantages, especially for a kid growing up. I'd like mine to have some of the fun that I did.



Thanks for giving us just a bit of a glimpse into your memories Joseph.

[cinch]

"I have distinct reservations as too how good the 'good old days' were."
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[Tuberski]

I don't think of them as "good ole days" just days of my youth.

ACK!

[Seeker]

I hope that you're just talking about your own family when you use that 'We' word Joseph...

Like I said, some families had a waaayyy different experience of the Fifties as a time of violence, 'tough guys', and rebellion. Mostly violence.

[The Mad Monk]

I was born in 1967, and I entered highschool in 1981.

I don't think the 70s and 80s were better than today, and in fact I much prefer having my computer, home entertainment system and other advanced technology than not. I look forward to the future.

That said...there are times when I remember summers back in the seventies, when we had air conditioning, but only on the first floor, and when I went downstairs from my sweltering bedroom to watch cartoons (because that's where the color television was), it was like sinking into a pool of pure coolness. I sometimes wish I could do that again.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by Tuberski


You, however, already have "bitter old man" down pat.



ACK!

you are completely correct

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by mrmitchell
Other grandpas see this and they start agreeing with it, and the deluge begins.

"Why, I had to walk 15 miles to school through the snow every day...uphill both ways!"

You were lucky. We used to have to crawl 50 miles to school through blinding sandstorms, up a cliff both ways.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Joseph
My mother used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My mother used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes too, but I can't remember getting E-coli.

Read Fast Food Nation and you'll learn about how the meatpacking industry has changed over the past two decades and why food poisoning has become more common.

Originally posted by Joseph
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring)

Except when there was a polio scare.

Originally posted by Joseph
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

Why is this a good thing. Cell phones are great.

Originally posted by Joseph
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and the pledge and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

I don't recall anyone forcing me to pray to their god, thank god.

Originally posted by Joseph
I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known what either was anyway)

Yup, all them schools have abortion clinics in 'em. Kids can get abortions in between math and English class.

Originally posted by Joseph
Remember school nurses?

The old folks cut the budget for school nurses years ago.

Originally posted by Joseph
Dad drove a car with leaded gas.

This is a good thing? Has this writer ever heard of lead poisoning? What a twit.

Originally posted by Joseph
Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play

We used to stick the speakers out the windows. Guess this guy never figured out how to do that.

Originally posted by Joseph
I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the family tent.

Yup, it is a proven fact that no one ever goes camping any more.

[chequita guevara]

And yet, in spite of all what Tingkai mentions (which is all true), life was a heck of a lot more dangerous in the "good old days." More people died of food poisoning, despite the fact that our meat is now toxic when uncooked. More people died in car accidents (as a percentage). Fewer kids made it to adulthood.

[Shi Huangdi]

The Good Old Days were not so good if you were:

Gay
Political Dissident
Ethnic Minority
Catholic

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
The Good Old Days were not so good if you were:

Gay
Political Dissident
Ethnic Minority
Catholic

Catholic?

ACK!

[chequita guevara]

Yes, Catholic.

[SlowwHand]

I want the drive-in movie theaters back.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Yes, Catholic.

Why Catholic? They were never hunted down and murdered like Mormons were.

ACK!

[cinch]

Why Catholic? They were never hunted down and murdered like Mormons were.

Yes, but they were still persecuted. I don't see how it's relevant that some other group was even MORE persecuted... that doesn't change the fact that Catholics weren't well regarded in America for quite a while.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Tuberski


Why Catholic? They were never hunted down and murdered like Mormons were.

ACK!

Most religious faiths have an attached target. It depends where you are and at what point in time.

If the purpose of that guy spouting off about the good old days was to prepare the youth for a crash back to the dark ages - he shouldn't have bothered.

Happiness is relative folks. You can be an unhappy rich person or a happy poor person or vice versa.

Mind you, I'm heading towards the old fart brigade myself.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by cinch


Yes, but they were still persecuted. I don't see how it's relevant that some other group was even MORE persecuted... that doesn't change the fact that Catholics weren't well regarded in America for quite a while.

I know that, but show me some examples. I KNOW a lot about the persecution of Mormons, I grew up in Utah after all. But, I haven't heard a lot about Catholics.

ACK!

[Shi Huangdi]

Actually, Catholics were hunted down and murdered in my home State of Maryland. Maryland was originally a colony for English Catholics. There, the Catholics passed a law giving people absolute freedom of religion so long as they believed in the Trinity, a remarkably liberal law for the time. However, becaus of our religious tolerance and Maryland's fertile soil, it soon became subject to Protestant Migration until they eventually became the majority. The protestants then promplty banned Catholicism and made it punishable by death.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Seeker

Heck, my grandfather would sure have been happy if they had Sex Ed back in the 1920s....it would have spared him many nerve wracking moments over his youthful indiscretions.

People only learn when they are made to take responsiblity for their actions. Today, America is all about shifting the blame to society, the man, or anyone just as long as they as the individual didn't have to face up to their mistakes. We are becomming a nation of self-made victims. Besides those youthful indiscretions make for some very interesting stories to your grandchildren

[mrmitchell]

Catholic

Yeah, catholics were persecuted. All now is they're just the butt of a lot of jokes.
---

[Imran Siddiqui]

All now is they're just the butt of a lot of jokes.

"Every Sperm is Sacred..."

[GePap]

The protestant family in that sketch is far more pityful.

[Shi Huangdi]

You can still see some hardcore anti-Catholic bigotry today, just go to www.chick.com , where can you find plenty of anti-Catholic (and any non fundy protestant) bigotry.