I always enjoy the "remember when", "the good old days", "the golden years", threads on forums. Usually baby boomers post with their memories of growing up in the 1940's, 1950's, and 1960's. They always make me smile as I think "oh, I remember that", but, to be totally honest, there is always a part of me that wants to slap a few faces and say "wake up".
Yes, there are many things I miss and remember with nostalgia. I loved playing jacks, making my own 'fashions' for paper dolls, Saturday afternoon matinees with 2 movies, cartoons, corny educational short and year old world news all for 50 cents. Walking to the drugstore in the early evening for a real ice cream soda in a big beautiful fancy glass, going to the library once a week for new books to read and librarians who helped you find them. Getting all dressed up, gloves, hat, anklet socks with lace trim and patent leather mary janes, to go downtown shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Dimestores and their lunch counters with open face turkey sandwiches! Numerous good memories.
But, sorry, there are things I don't miss. In my personal opinion, one of the reasons it was a "simpler time" was that people totally ignored and refused to acknowledge anything that wasn't nice and simple. Some of the things I remember from our sweet days of youth that counter balance the good memories, in my book anyway.
A child abused by either or both parents had no one to turn to. If they told someone, that person would immediately contact the parents; and from then on the child would be considered very strange for having told such stories.
Hearing whispers about a woman who was raped and not sympathetic comments either. More along the line of "well she must have done something that asked for it" or "you know things like that don't happen to 'good' women".
Having a friend who was lucky enough to escape with just heavy bruising from a man breaking into her apartment and hearing the police ask her "were you undressing in front of your window" "do you like to think of men watching you in your windows".
Seeing women with heavy make-up over black eyes and stories about walking into doors and falling down stairs; and no one ever thinking to question them about being very accident prone on such a regular basis. Seeing the police cars at a house down the street after hearing screams and breaking glass; seeing the wife standing in the door with a child in one arm and holding a towel to her bleeding face in the other; seeing the police laughing with the husband at the curb by their car and them slapping him on the back before they got in and drove away. Hearing my mother say "I wonder what she did to deserve that?"
One man being able to whip up a whole country into a witch hunt for commies, ruining peoples' lives, while we watched on tv.
Wondering where several of the girls in my classes at high school had gone. They'ld just disappear and no one would ever mention them again unless you heard a whisper about "one of those homes, you know".
Trying to understand why a guy who slept around was considered king of the hill and a girl who slept with one person was trash, and most of all, where those guys were finding those girls to sleep with since we were all good girls, so it wasn't any of us.
Little girls told that their options in life were being a wife and mother, and if they wanted to achieve anything beyond that, well a teaching or nursing degree was okay for a woman.
Being told by parents and teachers that sometimes a little girl shouldn't want everyone to know how smart she was.
Not being allowed to take any of the shop classes in high school as an elective. They were for boys only. Girls could take home ec or art.
Remembering 3 of my friends' moms "going away" for a month or two for a "rest" because of "the change". They came back rested alright, in fact they never seemed really awake after that.
Personally, I think the present is a hell of a lot better than "the good old days". I'm going to quit before I just rant on and on. But I do feel better and have managed to get some of that "golden years" sweet taste out of my mouth!
Yes, there are many things I miss and remember with nostalgia. I loved playing jacks, making my own 'fashions' for paper dolls, Saturday afternoon matinees with 2 movies, cartoons, corny educational short and year old world news all for 50 cents. Walking to the drugstore in the early evening for a real ice cream soda in a big beautiful fancy glass, going to the library once a week for new books to read and librarians who helped you find them. Getting all dressed up, gloves, hat, anklet socks with lace trim and patent leather mary janes, to go downtown shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Dimestores and their lunch counters with open face turkey sandwiches! Numerous good memories.
But, sorry, there are things I don't miss. In my personal opinion, one of the reasons it was a "simpler time" was that people totally ignored and refused to acknowledge anything that wasn't nice and simple. Some of the things I remember from our sweet days of youth that counter balance the good memories, in my book anyway.
A child abused by either or both parents had no one to turn to. If they told someone, that person would immediately contact the parents; and from then on the child would be considered very strange for having told such stories.
Hearing whispers about a woman who was raped and not sympathetic comments either. More along the line of "well she must have done something that asked for it" or "you know things like that don't happen to 'good' women".
Having a friend who was lucky enough to escape with just heavy bruising from a man breaking into her apartment and hearing the police ask her "were you undressing in front of your window" "do you like to think of men watching you in your windows".
Seeing women with heavy make-up over black eyes and stories about walking into doors and falling down stairs; and no one ever thinking to question them about being very accident prone on such a regular basis. Seeing the police cars at a house down the street after hearing screams and breaking glass; seeing the wife standing in the door with a child in one arm and holding a towel to her bleeding face in the other; seeing the police laughing with the husband at the curb by their car and them slapping him on the back before they got in and drove away. Hearing my mother say "I wonder what she did to deserve that?"
One man being able to whip up a whole country into a witch hunt for commies, ruining peoples' lives, while we watched on tv.
Wondering where several of the girls in my classes at high school had gone. They'ld just disappear and no one would ever mention them again unless you heard a whisper about "one of those homes, you know".
Trying to understand why a guy who slept around was considered king of the hill and a girl who slept with one person was trash, and most of all, where those guys were finding those girls to sleep with since we were all good girls, so it wasn't any of us.
Little girls told that their options in life were being a wife and mother, and if they wanted to achieve anything beyond that, well a teaching or nursing degree was okay for a woman.
Being told by parents and teachers that sometimes a little girl shouldn't want everyone to know how smart she was.
Not being allowed to take any of the shop classes in high school as an elective. They were for boys only. Girls could take home ec or art.
Remembering 3 of my friends' moms "going away" for a month or two for a "rest" because of "the change". They came back rested alright, in fact they never seemed really awake after that.
Personally, I think the present is a hell of a lot better than "the good old days". I'm going to quit before I just rant on and on. But I do feel better and have managed to get some of that "golden years" sweet taste out of my mouth!
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