When a person gets older they believe that things in the past were better

[LiberalArkie]

for some reason. I discovered the reddit writers area.

http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/

Give it a whirl. I got hooked on one that was being written by a kid in middle school. I hope many of them continue writing.

[rock]

1. Could it be that things in the past WERE better

Politicians in particular get more and more corrupt as time passes and they see how their compatriots sweep in the dough. There's simple no doubt that in the last couple of decades they have become more and more in the pockets of the rich. Or maybe it's just me and I've gotten older (and of course the politicians thumb their noses at the rich)!

[TransitJohn]

2. Politicians are no more corrupt now than they were in the 19th Century.

I think your premise is faulty. People's perceptions change, but the world and society have pretty much always been shit.

[sendero]

3. I think you are dead wrong..

... as least in that regardless of how "corrupt" politicians have always been, the corruption of their actions is reaching a peak right now.

The last time there was a depression the robber barons and banksters were reigned in. Not this time, this time they are aided. That's corruption.

[rock]

4. And I believe you're dead right sendero

It's only recently that we publicly admitted that we're an oligarchy of the rich. Proof positive that the politicians are bought and paid for like no time in the past.

[BillZBubb]

6. Your analysis is incomplete.

While pretty bad now, political corruption has been much worse in this country. It has been better too. This is a cyclical problem.

The voters allow the corruption until it clearly starts to effect them directly. Then there is a reform period where things get cleaned up (at least on the surface), then the cycle starts again. We are now in one of the bad periods of the cycle.

[rock]

8. You could be right

On the one hand you confirm what I've been saying: within my lifetime (I'm 70) I have personally observed a decline in things and that they were better in the past. Also notice that in the cyclical theory you espouse the good improving times are short, the bad declining times are long. This too fits with my observations. So I repeat my contention: things in the past WERE better.

[Major Nikon]

7. A few things were, most things aren't

If anything I think there's far less of it. When I was much younger I can remember county officials going to prison for corruption and the locals would throw them a party before the went, another when they came back, and then re-elected them to the same positions. Those who prosecuted them were painted as carpetbaggers. At the state level, political machines were so strong that allegations of corruption had very little effect. Back before the 60's, newspapers and radio were pretty much the only source of information people had and many of those were controlled by local monopolies. If those monopolies were to the right or left it virtually insured the political machines would stay in power if they were so aligned.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Except every grandparent had to walk 10 miles to school... in the snow...

uphill both ways.

[rogerashton]

9. Not worse, but

Technology: in November I had my first experience with a car that starts without a key. I had that experience picking up a rental car at an airport at 11:00 PM, with nobody in the garage to help. Not a good experience.

Now I'm driving a car with keyless ignition.

So I'm adapted. But I cannot, to save my soul, figure out why this is better.

On the other hand, it's hard to imagine life again without a WIFI equipped laptop computer next to my chair.

[NewDeal_Dem]

12. It's better because it gives you less control. I believe that's the case with most

supposed improvements.

[Kermitt Gribble]

10. A lot of things were better in the past.

Companies used to be proud to make products that lasted a long, long time. Today, everything from cars and household appliances to children's toys are made to last only a few years. Greed has figured out that there is more profit when people have to buy a new washing machine every 3-5 years.

The new products mentioned above are now made almost entirely overseas. In the past, manufacturing jobs paid enough to raise a family comfortably on one income and retire on a decent pension. Manufacturing today pays poverty-level wages, with little to no benefits.

Many things are better now, but economic and consumer issues are certainly not.

[Arugula Latte]

11. I am trying to train myself to not look back very much and to not wallow in nostalgia.

I think that is a dangerous course that many (most?) people take as they get to middle age and beyond.

But, sometimes it is tricky, when so many people you have loved are gone from your life (either through death or changes in life circumstances). I guess the key is to keep embracing new experiences, new interests, new people, but that is much easier said than done and that path isn't always clear. I am struggling with this.

[PasadenaTrudy]

14. I'm going through this too...

I'll be 51 this month, I've lost mom, dad, and only sister. All my aunts and uncles. I still have my brother, thank goodness. It is really difficult to figure out living in this world without family. I feel like I have to make up a new narrative, a new way of being...hard to put into words. Sometimes I feel left behind by them. It's just so weird.

[Arugula Latte]

17. I'm very sorry, that is a lot of loss to endure.

I'm just a couple years younger than you. So far I've lost my dad and older relatives. A lot of my parents' friends are gone. I feel like the clock is ticking. My mom is 80 + and my sister is planning on moving far away, so I won't be seeing her as much as we get older. I think no matter how old you are when you lose parents, the thought or reality of being an orphan is just plain terrifying and disorienting.

[PasadenaTrudy]

22. Disoriented is how I feel

Exactly. I thought my sis and I would grow old together, then she got pancreatic cancer out of the blue. She was so healthy and fit, only 62. I just don't know anymore....about anything.

to you too

[PasadenaTrudy]

13. Because they were! :) n/t

[bhikkhu]

15. When I was younger, racism was ok (among adults), if you weren't straight you were wrong

and if you smoked a bud you were an unemployable loser...far more ways to be alienated from society then, and far more reasons to wear a mask in public, while hiding who you really were. Plus, no internet, very hard to connect with like-minded people, very hard to break one's isolation.

[Skittles]

16. we don't know the good old days when we are actually living them

yes indeed

[Blue_In_AK]

18. I'm approaching "old"

and I'm not at all nostalgic. It's kind of fun to look back sometimes, but there are so many things about right now that I like, Internet being one. I never would have met all you wonderful people in 1960.

[treestar]

19. I don't think they were

And most older people will admit they are happy with the technological changes.

The past times are always simpler. Also, we were young. Each person will tend to remember the era they were young as the best, because they were young then.

But objectively, we know things are better now.

[JI7]

20. i think in terms of people's own personal lives things might have been better

for themselves. but that is a lot different from speaking of overall society as a whole.

there may have been a period in one's life where things were great with family, friends, work etc. they may have lost one or more of those later on . even having a higher paying job but which they don't love as much may get them to look back and think of it as better.

[JI7]

21. i get nostalgic with times even before i was born

i love going into antique stores, reading about how things use to be , and seeing old pictures and films.

but at the same time i know about many other things about those days such as being more likely to lose children, the bigotry, lack of many regulations which made many little things we easily do today so much harder.