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One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.


The Grandfather 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:

panty hose

air conditioners

dishwashers

clothes dryers

and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and

man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandmother 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 me, '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 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 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 I am?

I bet you have this old man in mind... you are in for a shock!

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time..

Are you ready ?????



This man would be only 59 years old.
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Things are indeed changing quickly...and I love it.

I know a lot of people romanticize the past, but I don't look back on it as a simpler time. I see it as a frustratingly difficult time. Sure, not difficult like being a pioneer, but stupidly more difficult and less efficient than now. And I am only 41. I like the world much more than I did even ten years ago (economic situation not withstanding).
The author of this aging angst is much older than 59, or much younger with a skewed view of history, or their memory is very bad.

A 59 year old was born in 1951.
Polio shots ... weren't around when he was born, but he received one as a kid, just like me.
McDonald's was around .. and was a fast growing chain when he was a child, we had one in my neighborhood when I was about 7 years old.
Penicillin was given to wounded soldiers in WWII and was in general use by 1950, which is before even I was born.
Making out? Yes teen-agers of the fifties made-out.
Rock'n'Roll has been around since 1953.
A Chevy for $600? .... I think Model T's sold for more than that.
Gas for 11 cents per gallon .... not in my neighborhood, not even when there was a "gas war".
Every family had a father and a mother? The divorce rate wasn't zero back then! Two of my friends had no fathers around.
FM broadcasting has been around in the states since 1939 and in the UK since 1955. Jazz and classical music were the first formats. I guess grampa only listened to Tommy Dorsey.
Families gathered around the radio in the evening was a thing of the forties, by the fifties every home had a television.
One letter and two post cards for a nickel? The earliest postage I can remember is 6 cents for a first class letter. Phone calls were a dime.

The US had begun sending "military advisers" to Viet Nam by the late fifties, my brother was one of them. Military adviser was a euphemism. They were gun carrying soldiers.

Remember that idealistic president named Kennedy? He went after the mafia, introduced the civil rights act, and spoke of pulling the US out of Viet Nam. The establishment killed him openly, made an example of him. The US hasn't had a president worth a shit since then.

The government got away with a lot of "dirt" that never got reported in the fifties, the press was afraid of the government. The guys who broke the Water Gate story (Woodward and Bernstein) in the 1970s were ground breakers, they pioneered a new era where the press kept an eye on the government.

I didn't like the fifties, people were very intolerant, institutions wanted to control the way people lived their lives. All of those TV programs people think were so sweet ... Father Knows Best, Ozzie & Harriet, Donna Reed, Leave It To Beaver, were overt means of social engineering. No families I knew lived idyllic lives like that. Joe McCarthy ruined people's lives because he accused them of having the wrong ideology (pro-communism). The intolerance of society was one of the things young people rebelled against in the fifties and sixties. Something as innocent as a new form of music, i.e. rock and roll, was written about and spoken of as if it were a pervasive evil that would ruin society, preachers and politicians crusaded against it.

The world today is not perfect, but it is a better place in some important ways than the world of 1950s. I'm with Robert. I wouldn't go back, even if it were possible.

-G
...I was Born in 1951!! On November 22nd 2010, I will turn 59! I grew up as a child in Oakland Ca. We Lived at '5960 Broadway Terrace', A Mansion! My Parents Bought for $37,000 when I was 4 years old. The IRS audited My Father, Because they could Not believe He could afford the Lifestyle; He earned $10,000 a Year!! The Closest Gas Station, across 2 Streets, on the Main, 'BROADWAY'; sold Gasoline for 5 cents a Gallon!! Super 'Ethyl' was 7 Cents; And the little Balls would spin around in the 'Globe' Window as the Pump Worked! My Father could pull-in, (Who remembers the Black Hose You would Drive Over to make the Bell Ding), and 2 or 3 Men would RUN out to Service Your Car?) Fill-Up his Chevy StationWagon; Get All 4 tire Pressures Checked and The Winshield Hand-Washed, Engine Oil and Radiator Checked! Hand the Man a 5 Dollar Bill and get back 3 Dollars and Change!! Those were the Best of Times! We will Never see again!!
Last edited by marlinjack
quote:

The world today is not perfect, but it is a better place in some important ways than the world of 1950s. I'm with Robert. I wouldn't go back, even if it were possible.

-G


I was going to bring up segregation and the lack of female empowerment as examples of why I think the "we were taught right from wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions." sort of romanticized view of the past. However, I figure I will have an idyllic view of the 80s when my time comes to look back. Smiler

I heart the 80s.
These posts remind me of stuff my dad sends to me Wink This email has probably been floating around the internet since the mid 90's. Its possible you could throw another 10 years onto the persons age at this point.

There were simpler times even when I was growing up in the 80's (I'm 31), and me and my friends reminisce about the same things, being outside, playing over the line, and building bmx tracks etc. I can't say all things are for the better, but a lot of things have made life more interesting to live that's for sure.

The things I find disturbing in our time are some of the social changes with regards to entitlements.
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