Life - Back Then

[slickest1]

Used to be a crack shot with a slingshot, until I had to mow the neighbors lawn for a month to pay for a window.

[hondo122]

Originally Posted by mythplaced

OK, Let's say many folks in their 60's 70's that could barely walk and remained inactive.....(because wheelchairs were not so readily available or affordable)




As they have since, and will do so in the future!

My children and my grandchildren have a lifestyle and opportunities neither I or my parents never dreamed of..

Personally, I am thankful that they "don't have to walk 4 miles to school,uphill." and will have educational and job opportunities undreamed of 50 years ago,

That they can reasonably expect to have an active healthy life well into their late 80's, due to knowledge about health and nutrition and advances in medicine.

That they live in a globally connected world with growing acceptance and celebration of the diversity of human beings.

I too "celebrate" where I came from (Midwestern farm boy born in the 50's) and am also happy that the world has "moved forward" and look forward to what is yet to come!

We're the ones that changed it for our kids, we worked hard and gave the things we couldn't dream of. Up until '06 I thought they're lives would be better than ours, now not so much. Things change, but all of it is not for the better

[Dixieray53]

Originally Posted by mythplaced

OK, Let's say many folks in their 60's 70's that could barely walk and remained inactive.....(because wheelchairs were not so readily available or affordable)




As they have since, and will do so in the future!

My children and my grandchildren have a lifestyle and opportunities neither I or my parents never dreamed of..

Personally, I am thankful that they "don't have to walk 4 miles to school,uphill." and will have educational and job opportunities undreamed of 50 years ago,

That they can reasonably expect to have an active healthy life well into their late 80's, due to knowledge about health and nutrition and advances in medicine.

That they live in a globally connected world with growing acceptance and celebration of the diversity of human beings.

I too "celebrate" where I came from (Midwestern farm boy born in the 50's) and am also happy that the world has "moved forward" and look forward to what is yet to come!

I agree... and my 2 cents..

Growing old is not always a good thing... Remembering the past is great. I have 2 great sons... do I always agree with what they do or how they raise their kids, of course not... but it is their life and this is their time... If you don't change and grow I think you are missing alot that this NEW WORLD has to offer ... Happy Holidays.. D

[rmmpe]

Growing old sure beats the alternative.

And with that I still look back with fondness while seeing today with a bit of sadness.

Progress is inevitable but not always do good things come of it.

Although our parents may have struggled a bit back then, we are fortunate to have grown up in more innocent and simpler times.

[PNWGirl]

Originally Posted by slickest1

Used to be a crack shot with a slingshot, until I had to mow the neighbors lawn for a month to pay for a window.

That is it, in a nutshell!! We were taught responsibility and consequence for our actions!!

Sheila

[LinCarol]

VERY interesting thread. Brings back a lot of memories. Thanks to all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.

[mythplaced]

Originally Posted by rmmpe

Growing old sure beats the alternative.

Me, I'd rather stay young forever.

Originally Posted by rmmpe

Progress is inevitable but not always do good things come of it.

AMEN to that!

Originally Posted by rmmpe

Although our parents may have struggled a bit back then, we are fortunate to have grown up in more innocent and simpler times.

Hmmm, I don't know about the "innocent and simpler" part...I would say "ignorant and less technological". While unarguably the changes in global communication have made us more "aware" of issues than we were in the 50's and 60's, the complexities of the human condition haven't changed much in 10,000 years of recorded history. We are still regularly killing and maiming each other over things we covet. It's just that today we have access to hear about more of it in a more timely fashion.

In the 20's & 30's we lived through a great depression where people lost their jobs and homes, today we have the great recession with similar results. In the 50's & 60"s we lived with the very real threat of global thermonuclear war, (duck and cover) in the 10's we live with fear of nuclear and biological terror threats.(TSA and pat-downs). In the 70's we lived through a quadrupling of gas prices, we just lived through a tripling of gas prices in the 00's. (still no significant viable alternatives to fossil fuel dependence in place)

Every generation has an opportunity to learn from the past and take action to prevent the reoccurrence of human stupidity, and unfortunately as a collective, we lose sight of that painfully obtained wisdom in order to fulfill some short-term selfish need.

It's easy and natural to sugar-coat the past in order to attempt to preserve the innocence of childhood, but to quote a far wiser man than I in I Corinthians 13 verse 11 " When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. "

[rmmpe]

Mike,

Unfortunately, I can think of no viable argument to what you say but do enjoy the reminiscing and hearing others' experiences.

I will add, however, my plan is to live forever and so far, I'm right on track.

[mythplaced]

Originally Posted by rmmpe

Mike,

Unfortunately, I can think of no viable argument to what you say but do enjoy the reminiscing and hearing others' experiences.

I will add, however, my plan is to live forever and so far, I'm right on track.

Bob,

Lest I be misconstrued....I too love the reminiscense of childhood memories...I fondly share most of those already stated. Riding in the back of an open bed stake truck, learning to drive on a 1947 Massey Harris tractor, brick and mud clod fights, BB guns and slingshots, feeling barnyard "stuff" ooze up between my toes. buggy wheel downhill racers, B&W TV, my first "portable radio", IC sodas at the "Dog-N-Suds", tree forts, jumping off the rafters of the barn into a pile of freshly mowed hay...

However I don't accept the statement that the past is "always" the "Good-Ol-Days". Fond memories, YES, Perfect times, NO.

For me the Best Days are "Yet-To-Come".

[rmmpe]

Heck, Mike, there were never perfect times.

But it's easy to consider the 'Good old days' as better when you experienced them as an ignorant (or shall we better say uninformed) child.

Being an adult is hard work, which, I suppose is why indulging in a less taxing endeavor is enjoyable to me (so don't mess it up by talking too much sense ).

[boweavel]

these memories are great and i remember most of them all. i was raised in a city that had a canon that was fired at 9:00pm every night and we had better be home or mighty close or we were in trouble. what scares me the most is that in another 30 years or so these will be the good old days.

[jabfado]

Now that is scary, fortunetly I will be dead and gone. No more filthy Rap Music, Nasty, so called Comedy shows.....rampant Phonography, pedophilia in the news daily, Wars all over the world, Countries going broke daily......Awe yes, the new, good old days....But I do like to play Tennis, golf and poker with my friends, and like the man said early, I will live forever, so far so good.

[w6pea]

I remember filling the gas tank on my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500xl with a 406cid and a 4 speed trans, and two 4 barrel Holly double pumper carburetors for less than 10 bucks. And then buying a carton of cigarettes for $1.25 @ Balboa Naval Hospital. I don't think they sell cigarettes or have a gas station on the facility any more.
Or going to the Richfield Gas station aka ARCO buying $5.00 bucks worth of gas and getting up to 10x S&H Green Stamps Or Blue Chip Stamps. Also on the back of my pack of Chesterfield cigarettes they had a trading stamp of sorts you could send in and redeem them for stuff.
My wife and I were talking about some things today and she said she sure missed her Dad. if he was alive today he would be in his early ninety's, I said to her I guess I should start using the coffee cup I gave him yaers ago that say's "Old Fart" on it....she laughed and said I should get one that say's "Old Fart in Training" on it.

Her Dad and my Dad both survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. My Dad was on the USS California, Her Dad was a Hospital Corpsman.

I went to Subway today to buy my DW and myself lunch (lost a lot of weight eating Subway Sandwiches) I asked the young lady if she knew what today was, She said no, and she looked at me without a clue! I guess they forgot to teach that part of history, she was born in 1980. I told her!

[Wayne M]

I remember the "gas wars," and gasoline was 15 cents a gallon. I didn't have a license, so my cousin would call me up and ask how much money I had. He had a license but was always broke. I'd tell him what I had, usually 25 cents or 50 cents, and we would put a few gallons in the tank and then "cruise."

Remember cruising days?