The best time to be a kid

[Buppies]

“Things ain't what they used to be and never were.” Will Rogers

When I was in college in the late 60's early 70's this was referred to as "The Old Oaken Bucket Syndrome" viewing life in only the way we tend to remember it rather than how it really was. Yes, there were many good things I remember as mentioned by others, but I also remember friends who had polio, my older brother died when he was twenty due to a condition that is curable today. I remember "Whites Only" signs. Police could throw your behind in jail or kick your behind with no repercussions. In my county, vote buying was common, machine politics choose who would hold which office and employees "contributed" to the county committee, the two part system was a joke as Democrats went unchallenged. I could go on, but no real need, each time has its good and bad.

Agree as I to grew up in 60s but tend to focus on the good times with friends and family not the bad ones

 

[QRTRHRS]

I was born in 1950, the youngest of five. Someone mentioned leaving the keys in the car. Heck, I remember Chevies with an ignition switch that you did not even need a key for if left in the right position. My father had loaded guns in the house leaning against the corner in certain rooms. We would never think of taking one to school to settle a dispute much less touch one at all. Our bus driver in the 50's owned his bus. It was like a 46 or 48 model. Little heat in the winter. If you acted up, he would "handle" it himself then tell your parents and likely as not, you would get it again.

On the other hand, I had learning disablities but was considered to be lazy. My father was an alcoholic but that was not mentioned. The "old biddies" in church would talk about our hand me down clothes loud enough that we would hear them. The bars were closed during voting but certain people could take others for a drink then to go vote. If you were employed by the state or local government, you had better vote the correct party or you would be "laid off".

Some things good, some things not so. Still probably better than today. Perhaps maybe because there was generally a little more accountability for one's actions.

 

[dave1949]

典hings ain't what they used to be and never were. Will Rogers

When I was in college in the late 60's early 70's this was referred to as "The Old Oaken Bucket Syndrome" viewing life in only the way we tend to remember it rather than how it really was. Yes, there were many good things I remember as mentioned by others, but I also remember friends who had polio, my older brother died when he was twenty due to a condition that is curable today. I remember "Whites Only" signs. Police could throw your behind in jail or kick your behind with no repercussions. In my county, vote buying was common, machine politics choose who would hold which office and employees "contributed" to the county committee, the two part system was a joke as Democrats went unchallenged. I could go on, but no real need, each time has its good and bad.

Yessir.

Will Rogers is an intriguing guy. His commentary and jokes work today as well as they did when he was alive. I don't know a lot about him other than his rope work and commentary. My Mom remembers him with fondness.

 

[DieselnHooters]

For those insisting that the past was a Golden Age and the present a path to destruction and chaos, they are overlooking the cause/effect relationships involved.

It isn't that the past was better....it was that they were better in the past. They were young, healthy, full of possibilities rather than responsibilities and having the sort of fun that one only experiences when one is youthful and less aware of the realities which went into sustaining life.

Trying to make these determinations on the basis of listing all the good things then and bad things now, is a pointless exercise which is easily countered by doing the opposite..making a list of all the bad things then and good things now. Further, close examination would reveal that many of those things which made the past so glorious, were actually illusions, or things which were made possible by the misery of others who today have achieved greater measures of respect and liberation.

Do you imagine that most gays, blacks and women wish to return to the earlier, glory days? Does the Latino or Chinese
mayor of some large city yearn for the days when such a thing was an impossibilty?

Finally, in the old days none of us would be here exchanging these ideas instantly. There were no virtual communities.

 

[dave1949]

......
On the other hand, I had learning disablities but was considered to be lazy.

..........

Some things good, some things not so. Still probably better than today. Perhaps maybe because there was generally a little more accountability for one's actions.

Mabel Topping, my 6th grade teacher. Old Maid and hated the world I think. Anyways, there were two nice kids, boy and girl, in class that had learning disabilities of some sort that would be recognized and worked with these days. We didn't have special education classes then either.

Ms. Topping would have those two standing up in front of the class alone, in tears, trying to do something they just couldn't. I don't know if she thought she could "inspire" them in that fashion or what. Even at the time, I knew that wasn't right but I wasn't mature enough to really understand why.

 

[dave1949]

For those insisting that the past was a Golden Age and the present a path to destruction and chaos, they are overlooking the cause/effect relationships involved.

It isn't that the past was better....it was that they were better in the past. They were young, healthy, full of possibilities rather than responsibilities and having the sort of fun that one only experiences when one is youthful and less aware of the realities which went into sustaining life.

Trying to make these determinations on the basis of listing all the good things then and bad things now, is a pointless exercise which is easily countered by doing the opposite..making a list of all the bad things then and good things now. Further, close examination would reveal that many of those things which made the past so glorious, were actually illusions, or things which were made possible by the misery of others who today have achieved greater measures of respect and liberation.

Do you imagine that most gays, blacks and women wish to return to the earlier, glory days? Does the Latino or Chinese
mayor of some large city yearn for the days when such a thing was an impossibilty?

Finally, in the old days none of us would be here exchanging these ideas instantly. There were no virtual communities.

No, we would be sitting in a bar with some cold ones like civilized people. :laughing:

Good points.

One of the things that has changed over the past 60 years is that we know so much more now, and have the means to access that knowledge more recently. We have been chewing on the forbidden fruit of knowledge with wild abandon. It's bound to make a difference.

 

[/pine]

The older (and wiser) one gets...the more immaturity one can get away with...

So no matter how old you are..."be a kid"...when you can and the timing is right...!...just play safe...!

 

[MossRoad]

I have to admit, I was born in 1978. That being said, my heart is in the 50s and 60s. I love the music, cars, tractors etc. I am constantly asking my dad questions of how it was to be a kid then and am always left in amazement. I firmly believe my generation was the last "water from a hose" generation. We played outside constantly, kick the can, sports- always emulating our favorite heroes, hunting, fishing, just general mischief. I look back and realize we were the last ones like the kids from the 50s-60s. Albeit, we had tvs and nintendo came along in the late 80s, cutting short some of my buddies outside time. I drive some for my job, passing thru neighborhoods. They look like ghost towns. No kids outside, no neighbors talking. It is very depressing for me, as my memories of childhood are firmly entrenched in being outdoors, "freedom" if you will.
I told my dad the other night that I really wish I could have been a kid during his time (again). He replied, "it wasn't as great as you think- no a.c., no t.v., etc...but we had a lot of fun, 5 cent soda, drive ins, rode our bikes everywhere, drooled over 57 Bel Airs, Impalas, Vettes." Am I missing something? Was this time period not all that great? Just seems like great times....

It was fun growing up in the 60's and 70's. You got caught drinking and driving, the cops would make you pour it out and send you home. Hopefully you didn't kill anyone on the way home. Guys could beat their wives and kids at will and no one would do anything about it. Everyone smoked and the cars weren't safe. Gas was dirt cheap, so 8mpg didn't matter. LAWN DARTS!!!! Yea! But seriously... there were also almost half as many people in the same space back then. You didn't have to worry about bumping into criminals except in the worst of neighborhoods. Lets say 10% of the population is criminals. 160 million people in 1960 = 160,000 criminals. Today, population is about 314 million. So, you can guess about 314,000 criminals in the same space. While the percentage of criminals in the population hasn't increased 1%, the ratio of criminals per acre has increased 100%. You're twice as likely to be near a criminal as you were back then. Of course, these are numbers aren't accurate as I just pulled them out of fast thought. But I'll bet they're close to accurate. And, more criminals have cars now. So they are mobile criminals. Makes you all warm and fuzzy, yes? :shocked:

 

[dmccarty]

Polio. TV shows did not talk about the fear of polio and what it did to people.

If you got cancer you died. Heart attack you died. Have a car accident and you would be lucky to be transported in an ambulance to a hospital. Today you get EMS and many go to trauma centers. If the accident is really bad, transport is in a copter to a trauma center. Some things are much better today than yesterday.

Society had its problems back then but at least we seemed to have some standards and expectations of acceptable behavior. Today, not so much. I read a Disney related website and there are constant stories of people being exceedingly rude and selfish. As a kid going to Disney World, I never saw the behavior that is seen today. Disney World opened in 1971 so the rudeness is a recent problem.

Later,
Dan

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I was born in 1938; about half the time, until I graduated from high school in 1956, we lived in a house that either had no running water, (2) had no hot water, (3) was heated either by a pot belly wood stove or a kerosene stove, and Mom cooked on a kerosene or wood stove. She heated water for wash day in a huge cast iron kettle, with wood as fuel. She had an old wringer style washing machine, and hung the clothes out on the line. It a whole day to do the washing, and then there was the ironing.

You bathed in a galvanized wash tub, in water heated over the kitchen stove. I pumped the water by hand myself from a well in the front yard, and carried the bucket into the kitchen. We had a water dipper to drink from, and a pan to wash our hands in. I have seen ice floating on the bucket on a cold winter morning, to give you an idea how cold it got at night. For years, I had a quarter sized scar on my stomach where I got too close to the pot bellied stove after a bath on a cold winter night. A trip to the bathroom was a trip to the outhouse.

But our attitude was good; my Dad and Mom were scrupulously honest, and it stuck with me. They were also proud, such that they would have had to be sick or disabled to take any kind of welfare or hand out. My Dad was a tough man, sometimes cruel, but he could do darn near anything, fix darn near anything and drive or operate any piece of equipment made by mankind. They instilled self reliance and the value of an education. We were terribly poor at times, but people were mostly good and we enjoyed life...and I think it was enhanced by the struggle.

Then there were the cars...they symbolized a lot more then than they do now; I'll never forget the thrill of seeing my first '55 Bel Air...and the thrill of getting one of my own...but "cars" is a whole 'nother story.