A rant from my dad

I got an email today from my father. He and I both received the following bit o' nostalgia, but he responded first and he has a lot more experience with the "good old days" than I do, and his reaction is pretty similar to mine, so I thought I'd post his reaction rather than composing my own.

Warning: This is a long one, and not particularly entertaining. It just says a lot of what I feel about this desire to live in the "good old days", in the mistaken impression that they were better than today.

The email:

One evening a boy was talking to his grandfather about current events.

He asked him what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

His Granddad 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 weren't things like radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

Man had not invented pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, and he hadn't walked on the moon.

Your grandma and I got married first -- then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother, and every boy over 14 had a rifle that his dad taught him how to use and respect.

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.'

Sundays were set aside for going to Church as a family, helping those in need, and just visiting with family or neighbors.

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare 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 here 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 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 radio.

I don't even 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 1 letter and 2 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 grandma'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 that was so dumb as to think a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

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

And I'm only 59 years old.

Dad's reaction:

Well I am only 56 years old but I have much to say about what he seems to think were the good old days. There were things that added value in their simplicity. That I can accept. However, I don't know just how poetic he wants to be in picturing the good old days as without vices. "Pot" was quite popular in 1955 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I don't mean as in "Pots and Pans." And the good old days had race riots like nothing you can imagine today. When was the last time the National Guard was called out for anything but a natural disaster? We used to do it for campus riots all the damn time. We even had the National Guard killing students on campus during Viet Nam protests - How incredibly insane is that?

You bet there was no penicillin and no polio shots. What in the hell is so great about that? I don't see people limping from polio any more and I remember people dying by the hundreds when the Honk Kong flu hit this country. We didn't understand anything like we do now about disease: good old days my ass. You can have them.

I can appreciate much of the social changes this guy doesn't like. I think [my stepdaughter] is wise to select this somewhat humiliating situation living with her parents rather being "cool" and living with the love of her life.

"It doesn't really matter, we will be married soon anyway. It doesn't matter."

Of course it matters. Just like "right" has always mattered.

The problem he didn't discuss is all the people today that examine right until it has no meaning. The four-year-old that drowned in the pool in Malibu yesterday has become a media "football." What I heard yesterday was all about parents and pools and baby sitters and the law and the owner of the pool and "what the invitation said" and didn't say.... I didn't hear anyone say one word about the boy: who he was, what his life was about, what he was like, and pause for a moment in our search for a demon to just respect life and pray for this small soul that passed without a chance. The message from something like this should be to look into our frenetic existence and say, life is too precious to trivialize ... his or ours. If his four years of life are to have some meaning, then let's live differently from this day forward. It is a travesty for us to now satisfy our dementia by looking for a villain so we can feel...

feel satisfied [why, we should not]

feel justified [what in the world does this do]

find justice [for what? ]

The real crime is what everyone is now doing to this child's life, prematurely over.

The guy makes good points too. It is refreshing that those of us that gave much of our life and some of us the supreme sacrifice for our country are appreciated in this society today. This is no longer something to hide or avoid revealing as it has been at other times in our history. It was unsafe to wear your uniform home on leave so we were allowed to travel military standby for the first time in civilian clothes so we didn't get spit on or worse. By the way, it didn't work but it probably lessened what did happen.

Yes, the good old days had their positives but they had their negatives too. So, it is less than productive to revere the past blindly and indict the present without the "common sense" he himself notes in his adoration of days gone by... Look for a balance old man. The past and present have much to be thankful for . . . and that wisdom . . . is from a guy that lived in both places, has read and understands the Ten Commandments, and is personally quite delighted that we have progressed markedly!!!


My Dad
56 years old
Retired Air Force Major
Child of 12 on occasion....