Thread: Times sure have changed

Times sure have changed in such a short amount of time.

And not all for the better either.

Can you connect yesterdays life with todays problems?


TOO TRUE!



HOW OLD IS GRANDMA?
One evening, a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill..

There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, "Sir"- - and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, day-care centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends - not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5&10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel......And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one? Too bad because, gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.

"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store and "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.

And how old do you think grandma is??? Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time. This is something to think about. How time has changed....
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>Grandma is 58 (born 1946) How could so much go wrong in such a short time?

Well, this grandpa (59) can relate to all that. The simplicity in our lives gave us a sense of peace and control. Not any more....

Great post .... mkfarnam

It might explain why my niece always says she wishes she'd been born in the 50's. She thinks they were our "best times". I explain how poor everyone was or seemed to be but that no one noticed. She said "I don't care, people were happier." And all I could say was .. "Can't argue with that".

They were after all the days when men knew how to fix a car and a roof and women knew how to bake a pie and fry chicken.

Nostaligic I am I am.

So .. what do we do about it ... now?

I wonder .. how we can roll that clock back?

I wonder ... if we could figure it how .. would we?

I'd say throw out the bad .. because there was bad in the 50's ... keep the good and lets try.

I would`nt say we were "poor", (later generations would) every family was self employed and every able member of the family worked, whether doing chore, milking cows,collecting eggs or just do your part. It was`nt thought of as punishment, it was a way of life. We knew what we had to do and did it. Convenience was not an option.
I was raised on a dairy farm.

AND AMERICA WAS THE FAR AWAY HOLLYWOOD DREAM AND ADMIRATION FROM COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD

I remember those days as well, my wife and I were talking about this subject the other day.
I remember having the milkman deliver milk in the morning in glass bottles with cardboard taps on the top, we had to shake the milk to mix the cream in it, I can recall the first time I saw a box of premixed pancake batter and I thought why would anybody buy that?
When I was in my teens my oldest sister and her husband bought their first house, I thought they were crazy, how could anybody pay off $12,000 dollars in a life time.
Sure there were some bad people but back then everybody seemed to look out after everyone else, as kids we could take off and go play and our parents knew we would be OK.
I have heard that our generation has seen more technological improvements than any other generation.
I suppose this is true but I don't think it as helped mankind much.
We didn't have much money back then but we didn't really need it, we were lucky and lived in a area that received TV and could watch cartoons on Sat. morning and outside a whole world awaited for us to explore and go play in, we really didn't need TV or radios they were just something nice to have once in a while, last night I was searching on the TV for something to watch and found nothing, I put on a CD and read a book and I am thinking about canceling out TV service, it's nothing but junk to me.
In some ways I feel sorry for our young people today, they know nothing about the simple pleasures of life or the things that go on around them, they just know that this is the way things are and they better work, they have no idea of what it is like to sleep outdoors on a summer night and fall asleep watching for falling stars and talking to your friends about the mysteries of life.
They can call it progress all they want but I don't see much of a great improvement, and when I make pancakes I still get out a bag of flour and make my own mix and I still make a pot roast with potatoes and carrots in a dutch oven over a open fire.
Sure some of this new stuff is fun but I don't need it, my wife and I still enjoy going out camping and watching the night sky while the fire dies down and we eat our dinner that was cooked over it, we enjoy talking to each other and each others company, we know how to laugh and joke with each other and we can talk about things we wonder about, to me that is life and love of living.

This is such a great thread. You're right mkfarnum. We never thought of ourselves as poor ... but we didn't have everything people have today. We had other things. I think that is the point my niece was trying to make. Those are the things she wants ... those things ... instead of the things we have today.

For example we had a washing machine but no dryer. We hung the clothes on the clothesline. Oh how I miss that smell of fresh line dried clothes. We actually ironed sheets, pillow cases, t-towels, and hankies.

For example we never had a new car ... but we had 2 used ones that started every day ... and an old pick up.

We didn't have a TV until I was 13 and it was black and white. Mom and Dad watched it alittle ... my sister and I watched cartoons ... otherwise we were too busy doing other stuff ... outside.

For fun ... we rode our bikes all over the place; went to the city swimming pool; played tennis on the school tennis courts; went for long hikes all over the place; walked to town to the drug store for cherry cokes or strawberry sodas; went to the movies 3 times a week (it cost a quarter); we had a farm out in the country that we didn't live on but rented out and it had an orchard so we'd pick apples, pears, peaches and cherries and mom would can them up; we had plum trees in our backyard and we would pick them - little red plums - and mom made the most delicious plum jelly; we had a small house but beautiful clothes; we read all the time and loved getting lost in the stories and adventures; when we were older we loved watching Westerns on TV ... our favorite ... almost any story with a horse in it was a story that enchanted us.

Everyone's house was always immaculate; no one ever had to search or wonder about food -- because it was always on the table -- on time -- and delicious. No one ever wondered what they were going to wear ... the laundry was always done up; ironed; and in the closet or folded neatly in drawers.

We had a garden and fresh vegetables in the summer and early fall and then home canned vegetables all winter.

We had almost no debt ... parents borrowed a little to buy our house but got it paid off in 8 years ... they borrowed a little to send us to college but got it paid off a couple of years after we graduated.

Thinking about how well they managed everything with how little they earned in those days ... speaks volumes for them today.

Thinking about the remarkable quality of life we had on so little ... compared to today ... speaks volumes for them.

My Dad passed away the year my sister and I graduated from college. Except for some small students loans ... which mom paid off within a couple of years after that ... everything was paid for ... no debt ... and a nice savings account.

I hope they both enjoyed their lives as much we enjoyed being part of theirs.

I'm going to remember to tell my Mom that and hope my Dad can somehow know how happy we were and how much we appreciate the lovely upbringing and good starts in life they gave us.

Our first family movie at the drive-in theater was "Black Beauty".
TV programming ended around 9:00pm leaving an Indian Head screen saver.
When we went into town we always stopped at the drug store and watched them mix our coke with syrup and soda.
We bought candy with coupons, or paid 2cents for a box of pumpkin seeds coated with salt.
Most everyone had their own water well.(this was Mich,)
A few years later I remember when "Elvis' and "Pat Boone" movies were a special presentation.
I could go on and on.

Now if you think about each one of the things mentioned, compare it with, "how it was then" and the way it is today,
You`ll find that "Convenience" has made the world the way it is today.
Both good,Bad, easier, harder, every "improvment" also has a "disaster".

Our congress say`s we`re "United", but they`re talking about one category, the rich, leaving the rest behind.
They`re making improvments leaving a larger trail of disaster behind.