The mess this world is in has me reflecting on the past. I was born in 1952, so for many on SF it is a really distant past.
When I was a kid only one parent had to work. He/she brought in enough money with one job to raise a family. One parent was at home to watch and support the kids. And divorce and single parents were much less common. There were no school shootings, heck no mass shootings. We drove around in big 8 cylinder cars that just ate gas but gas was less than a buck a gallon. They didn't even have seat belts. We could play outside without fear of being kidnapped. We could ride our bicycles just about anywhere and didn't need to lock them up because no one would steal them. TV was free as long as you had an antenna on the roof. Yeah, we had to get up to change the channel, but so what. We could mail a letter for under a dime and they were usually delivered on time. Churches were full of people of all ages. Kids would go around the neighborhood Christmas caroling. Homelessness was practically unheard of. I remember one older blind man who would sit with his German Shepard outside a major department store and play his accordion to earn a few dollars. No one robbed him. A bus ride was 35 cents.
Sure there were bad things. The Vietnam war. John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. The Korean 'police action' was going on. But, overall it was a much gentler time. Even the political parties tried to work with each other.
I wish there was a time machine and I could go back there. It was kind of like the town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.
When I was a kid only one parent had to work. He/she brought in enough money with one job to raise a family. One parent was at home to watch and support the kids. And divorce and single parents were much less common. There were no school shootings, heck no mass shootings. We drove around in big 8 cylinder cars that just ate gas but gas was less than a buck a gallon. They didn't even have seat belts. We could play outside without fear of being kidnapped. We could ride our bicycles just about anywhere and didn't need to lock them up because no one would steal them. TV was free as long as you had an antenna on the roof. Yeah, we had to get up to change the channel, but so what. We could mail a letter for under a dime and they were usually delivered on time. Churches were full of people of all ages. Kids would go around the neighborhood Christmas caroling. Homelessness was practically unheard of. I remember one older blind man who would sit with his German Shepard outside a major department store and play his accordion to earn a few dollars. No one robbed him. A bus ride was 35 cents.
Sure there were bad things. The Vietnam war. John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. The Korean 'police action' was going on. But, overall it was a much gentler time. Even the political parties tried to work with each other.
I wish there was a time machine and I could go back there. It was kind of like the town of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.
