The "Good old days"

[The Straight Story]

I used to get a magazine each month by that name. My mom always renewed my subscription for me, but since she passed years ago I have not read it.

Yes, back in the day there were a lot of problems which we still have. It was not perfect and some suffered a lot more than others.

I wondered about it all today on the way home from work. I passed the fairgrounds here and there was an old car show. Saw a couple of silver haired guys tooling around in some hot rod and laughing. I also thought about it because of a thread I posted about school days (a lot of great replies from folks as well).

What was it about America that some of us miss so much now? What has changed for the worse? I know so many things have changed for the better (and some still need to improve) - but what is it we cling to about yesteryear that makes us long for it (other than being able to be young again)?

In your life, what were the best and happiest times? That is not to say you are not happy now of course (I have a wonderful wife and daughter and would not trade them to go back in time) but what do you see as the problem here and now that did not exist in times past? (and again, that is not to say there weren't some problems back then - but why could we not solve those issues without creating new ones?)

My good old days were as a young boy - the world was changing, new technologies, star wars movie (ground breaking in special effects), PC's were new (B&W graphics and 16k ram on my TRS-80 Model 1), it seemed we could go anywhere and do anything. People did not fear each other (we never locked our doors), we weren't upset about things and worried all the time (except about the Soviets), and so on.

It was a simple time, and yet it was a complex one.

Maybe what has changed most is how aware we are instantly of all the issues that face us.

Maybe we are less worried about extinction from a Nuclear war with the USSR and are now more worried about an extinction from all of us and our actions.

I don't know. I just know I was less worried back then than I am now.

And I miss that.

[Olney Blue]

1. 9/11 changed me. I became less optimistic.

[evlbstrd]

2. Another illegal war.

Political assassinations. Criminals in the White House.
This isn't the first time.

[RazBerryBeret]

3. Part of it is being a grown up

more stressful and worry-filled than when you were a kid. but I remember summers as a kid, my brother and I would get on our bikes in the morning and ride down the dirt road where we grew up. we'd pick blackberries, play around in the stream, try to catch crawdads and run through corn field. My mom wouldn't see us till dinner time. I have two boys and I can't let them out of my site for more than a few minutes...always looking out the window, making sure I can see them. and I live in a suburb in central Ohio. but the world has changed.

and I miss that world too.

[The Straight Story]

4. You anywhere near Eastland

That place has gone downhill... :)

[RazBerryBeret]

7. I work sort of near eastland---

and YES! it has gone down hill, that is sad, my first apartment was close to there YEARS ago!!
I'm North of there---Westerville--between Easton and Polaris. (born and raised in Mansfield)

are you from Ohio?

[The Straight Story]

9. Yes, just moved to CA last year

I worked up around Polaris for the bank. Grew up off of Noe-Bixby road :)

[midnight]

5. The good old days means playing hide and go seek for

hours during the summer months.

[Cresent City Kid]

6. Good old days not good for all

A lot of people thought of the post-WW2 period as a golden age. The thing is, there wasn't a lack of problems, there was a lack of complaints. Blacks were excluded from the American Dream, and wives could be legally raped by their husbands as recently as 1965 in some states.

Certainly, there were times when people were insulated from problems, and individuals looked back and remembered better days. But society as a whole is still under the shadow of Europe's wars and the Inquisition.

It's all a matter of perspective.

[orleans]

8. it was our youth. i suspect my age allowed me to be blissfully ignorant

of politics, wildly reckless with my health and safety, bleeding hearted over social injustice, careless, indifferent, passionate, brave, strong, irresponsible, on and on and on.

i don't have the luxury of my youth anymore.

and i do miss those times.

i know i still retain some of that. but not like i did.

maybe i fell into a more realistic mind-set, took on various responsibilities including being responsible for a child and a parent and of course, myself.

it's the wheel. it turns. not much we can do.

we become more aware of our surroundings, country, world--we shut down a lot too.

and this techno-instant information age doesn't help us retain our blissful ignorance very long

[jedr]

10. Happy memories; going outside to play, even in the dead of;

winter.....kids don't do that anymore. Bad memories; Civil defense drills and the long siren that signaled a atomic attack.... That was post war America.

[InvisibleTouch]

11. I don't think I've had my best and happiest times yet.

Still, I remember the 80's with particular fondness because of the intensity of my experiences during that time. They weren't always positive experiences - there was quite a bit of trauma - but I would call those my defining years. That's why I love the music, the movies, the TV shows, and even the fashions to this day.

I can't think of any era of my life that I'd want to live through again exactly as it was, because the good was always outweighed by the bad: "carefree" childhood days are constrained by having to live under everyone else's rules, for example, and having no control over your own life; "intense" teenage years had no internet access, not to mention a host of other problems; and so forth. I do wish I could re-live the 90's and do things differently, make different choices in my life and take better advantage of the good economy - but, so it goes. I'm in the process of creating the best time of my life in the future.

[Beregond2]

12. I wrote this

long response, and then I realized that you are talking about the eighties as the "good old days;" which, for me, is when everything went to hell; lol! So I guess we are really talking about youth and innocence, which makes any time seem better.

[sandsavage]

13. What I miss the most

I see the least of now. Where the heck are the children? My husband and I drive to visit our eldest son, 200 hundred miles away. We are lucky to see 3 children outside doing anything. Yards, streets, parks, notta no children. Doesn't matter what time of year. They must be inside. No little ones, no teens. Really bothers me.

When we were kids,do your chores and get going. Grab your bike if you had one and roam. No bike no big deal, we walked. Explored the whole world as we knew it. Life was good. You knew all your neighbors and liked them!

The change came when we started the bomb drills. Hiding under your desk in case of being attacked. People that could afford it were building bomb shelters. Newspapers asking would you let your neighbor in your shelter in case of attack.People in the news, saying no way they are on their own.
Parents would not or could not talk about this to their kids. We talked about this among ourselves. It was a scary time. Wondering every day if today was the day, the bomb would drop. The news ran with this constantly. You couldn't get away from it.

I think that is when things started to change. Neighbors who would clean out their cupboards to help a family in need. The same neighbors who now were telling their children to be silent about the secret bomb shelter because we don't want them to come to us, when the bomb drops. Kids were afraid for the first time I felt that my life was being controlled by that bomb and there was nothing or no one to stop it. The teens changed. They seemed to have the attitude that today was their last day so do what makes you happy. Fear can change a whole Nation . The Media was a giant vulture feeding on that fear and it sold news papers and tv time. I do not have much respect for the Media.

War and threats of war steal our children's and adults very spirit.Living with the Fear of the unknown brings out the worst in us. Robs us of our joy.

I pray for a Nation that will someday, stop turning over every rock and pebble, to find someone to go to war with. Our children deserve better then what we have now.

[Greyhound]

14. It's the fear. We used to be proud, as a society, that we would never surrender to fear.

Now, so many people are terrified of almost everything. I talk to a complete spectrum of people every day, and the they are ill informed about what little they are even aware of, and are terrified.

It was never like this before.

Also quite amusing, and scary, are the really silly things they list as being afraid of.