IT WAS A SIMPLER TIME - IT WAS A GENTLER TIME

6/10/2011

How times have changed from 1958 to 2011. As a 10 year old kid in 1958 we didn't
have computers, electronic games, TV News 24 - 7. You went home after school, did
your homework, went out and played with your friends, hand ball, baseball, hide and seek,
tag your it. You were home on time for dinner, everyone sat down to dinner, in the evening
you watched the news for a half an hour, there was no hour news. You went to bed at 8 PM
it was school the next day. On weekends you went to the beach or your father took you
fishing. If you did chores you got .50 cents and you thought you were rich, run down to the
candy store on the corner, Hershey bars 5 cents, penny candy or go to a movie on a Saturday
for .50 cents see two films, cartoons and a news reel. Or have a part time job after school
delivering the newspaper and if you made $10.00 for the week you thought you were wealthy.
Or sitting outside in the backyard on a Summer's night trying to catch fire flies. I sometimes
wonder if kids today enjoy being a kid, I doubt it. It was a gentler and simpler time, I miss it........


Cheers.....Joe

I remember 1958.

My younger brother had just died. My parents hated being in the house where he had become ill, so they sold it for less than it was worth - it was an old and elegant southern raised cottage, with leaded, beveled glass in the doors and windows and mahogany beams and panelling in the living areas - and we moved into a small lease house in a different neighborhood. I was too young to drive, so I had to find new friends who lived in walking distance. Most of the girls there had all gone to the same elementary school together, and formed a tight clique. Becoming accepted wasn't easy. My older brother finished high school and left for college, so I was suddenly the only child in what had been a large family. My dad's shoulders stayed in a perpetual stoop, and he always looked like he was about to cry. My mother screamed at both of us through gritted teeth. The time the two of them did spend together was focused on the plans and progress of building a new house (which my mother never liked because Dad had insisted on sticking to a reduced budget since the old house was sold for less than it was worth, so it didn't have all the luxuries she wanted).

I made my first "D" in an English class because the major assignment for the year was to write an autobiography and at that time, I could not bring myself to write it. When my parents saw my report card, I got grounded for half the summer. I couldn't tell them why the grade was so low. I could not get over the feeling that Bob's death was somehow my fault, and that it was my job to take all the family crap. No one ever spoke at the dinner table. 1958. A simpler, gentler time?

Any time can be good or bad, depending on your circumstances and what you make of them. To my way of thinking, 2011, so far, has been a very good year.

Ann

1958..a good time?

It was good if you did not live in a country like Russia, China, Cuba, or the many other countries where freedom was a word one whispered. It was good in the United States if your color was white. A good time for some, not for most. I don’t think 1958 is a time most would want to go back to. I know of no time in our history the majority would call, a gentle time, a good time. There are a few in the world today who view 2011 the best time…for them it is. Today I see children, and women sleeping in the streets…hungry, dirty…with no help.

In 1958...people were hung from trees, and set aflame because of their color. To me the world is, and has always been…despicable. Some feel they can help make the world a better place, I do not…that is why I write truth in the cloak of fiction…I can not write it in non-fiction, it is too shameful.

Joe,
thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Yes, I remember those days as you describe them, just in a different locale.
We made up games to play. We also fought, but used fists. A black eye or bloody nose was normal. Having someone fall out of a tree and break an arm was also a common occurrence.
We had chores, especailly when living on the farm. I'm writing about those days (as time permits) about my childhood.

As for 1958, I was in the USAF, stationed in France.

Ann reminded me of the "D" I was thrilled to get. I took Latin since my girlfriend was in that class. I had no interest in learning Latin and just wanted to pass, and did so with a "D". About the only thing I learned and don't remember, was how to say, I love you and a few other words of endearment. That was cool, although we didn't use that expression, we said, "swell".

I was not encouraged to go to college for two reasons. First, college turned kids agains God, so the church believed. Too much learning and questioning, I suppose. Secondly, there was no money to send me to college. Our church decided to send me to bible school to become a preacher. I rebelled and joined the Air Force. That's where my learning began, I attended University of Maryland's night school. I attended every church denomination available to understand why they were all going to hell and only those who belonged to my church had a chance at heaven. I suppose the church was right, the more I learned, the more I turned by back on the religious philosophy of my church.
"The truth shall set you free" meant something for me as it set me free from dogmas.

I think it was a simpler life, not an easier one. We respected authority and our elders. We got punished when we didn't follow the rules. Teachers punished kids in school. I was told, "If you get a licking in school, when you get home, you'll get one twice as bad." I never got a licking, although I deserved it at times.

I wouldn't want to change my childhood experiences. There were good times and bad times, but that's life. I try to hold onto the good memories. You know, the important ones like the first kiss and the first...

I like now much better. Chldhood was my least favorite time of life,
Joe's childhood sounds great. I would want to go back to that also

6/10/2011

As a kid I would love to read, newspaper, books. I loved
drawing. I loved class except Science, the teacher had you do
a science project, I hated it, if you didn't do one he failed you.
Yet I feel you were left to be a child not like today I see these
reality programs and Mothers trying to make their 6,7 and 8 yr
old little girls in to 12, 13 and 14 year old sex kittens, I believe
their doing damage to these kids, their not allowed to be a child.
You got a yo yo as a gift, that was a thrill, a watch for Christmas
or a bus trip for Christmas to see your uncle in PA., now that was
a treat because you lived in the city and they lived in the country.
I'm greatful we have computers today, we can communicate with
each other, you can write now and with the touch of a button get
rid of a whole sentence unlike when I had a electric typewriter, you
had to use wipe out . I always found the phone a miracle, I can talk
to friends and relatives thousands of miles away. Now they have Skype
you can see the person and talk, what a miracle......

Cheers..Joe

joefrank wrote:

6/10/2011

Yet I feel you were left to be a child not like today I see these
reality programs and Mothers trying to make their 6,7 and 8 yr
old little girls in to 12, 13 and 14 year old sex kittens, I believe
their doing damage to these kids, their not allowed to be a child.
You got a yo yo as a gift, that was a thrill, a watch for Christmas
or a bus trip for Christmas to see your uncle in PA., now that was
a treat because you lived in the city and they lived in the country.

Joe, I think a lot of us on this board think your way. I for one always enjoy looking
back to the good old days. For me, of course I'm an 80s kid. Anything from 80s TV, film
or music works for me. Do you remember The Dukes of Hazard, Dallas or
The High Chapparal?
Yeah... those were the days.

A lot of older people I know find it hard to adjust to this modern system and feel
intimidated by all this insanity. Some of them have found it too much to the point
when they've cracked up, sadly. I think middle ground is safest. You try to adhere
too strictly to the old ways and you get called a boring old fart. You go too much
with the modern way of things and your kids go astray, forfeit marriage and the basic
virtues of life and your missus will probably mess up as well and show you the finger before
the divorce papers are served on you.

It's a very delicate balance...

6/10/2011


Ahad..

You're right ...The world does change but those
precious memories of growing up in another era is never
forgotten.......


Cheers..Joe

joefrank wrote:

How times have changed from 1958 to 2011.

Often change is a good thing.

I was a child in the 60s and early 70s. I never received a penny for my chores. It wasn't a simple time for me. My childhood was very complicated and technology had nothing to do with it. I washed clothes by hand on a washboard. At age 9 I washed dished by hand for a family of seven.

I LOVE my washing machine, dryer, and dishwasher.

In the 50s my step-father had to quit elementary school and work in a cotton field. He wasn't allowed into white people restaurants.

In the 50s it was a difficult time for young women to pursue careers in medicine and law.

Also, working women were not given promotions due to their sex. They were not paid the same wages for the same work.

I would not have wanted to be a truck driver (which I am today) back then either.

Personally, I welcome advances in technology and social changes.
My child played outdoors in the 80s.
My grandchildren play outdoors today. Not all kids are techno-zombies.

Today my daughter in law and I often cook together.
We sit down to dinner with our son and his family.

I hear tomatoes were better then.

We didn't know everything then. Now we know what is wrong with everything and everyone,
Too much news.

LC wrote:

I hear tomatoes were better then.

It just depends where you get the tomatoes.

When I lived in Mexico, all our tomatoes came from the street markets.
They were full of taste and smelled wonderful.

The ones in most grocery stores are definitely not like that.

But the ones from farmer markets or homegrown (which is where I like to buy mine now) are just as good as ever.

Thanks Joe for starting such a fascinating thread! Doesn't it just show how the mind works to sift differently for each of us based on our personal filters.

6/10/2011

DK..

Yes it does...Sometimes you have to go back in time
to remember when things were better to forget our
troubles of today.....


Cheers..Joe

These are the things that stand out for me.

I was an engineer on the Apollo moon project (and though it was a pioneering effort) - we brought back every single ship we launched with all of its crew.

I pioneered the physics of earthquake and tsunami being an electrical phenomenon. It’s still in the acceptance stage - but one day it’ll be the standard

I published sufficient evidence that the Nascan figures are ancient Egyptian (and covered it well enough) that authors that write of other theories are on very shaky ground

I published evidence that plate tectonics is a contrived concept! The real science is derived from the gravitational forces that place and hold the earth (and indeed all planets) in solar orbit. I coined the term: The RB-Effect to describe it, and provided the physics with the publication
/

/

Is that your wife? Charming! The way you describe her, beauty is an inside job as well.

dkchristi Is that your wife?

James) Yes, that's my wife. /

How romantic!

Domesnic Pappalado wrote : It was good if you did not live in a country like Russia, China, Cuba, or the many other countries where freedom was a word one whispered. '

All above mentioned sound little bit bourgeois compare to my childhood in Finland. In 1958 I was 13 year old and did the last class in primary school which also was called as national school. As the country was - and still is protestant, the school contain just singing hymns and education the history of Bible and life of Jesus and midtime we sing mars of Spartan, and Spartan that time was, the hungry was regular visitor among us and yet we had national and economical freedom the poverty was very common, there was anything like tv, and even bicycler was very rare. Of course there were rumors and talk about America where there could have two car in one family, and people eat regular good meals. But all that was hard to get everybody understand .
But what was better in that time - was the hope and the knowledge of better future which in our time people not anymore have.

Good to see you Harry, You are the age of my brother--too bad hope can't return to us everywhere--maybe it will.

James wrote:

deleted because of member rudeness

I hope this was not in referene to me
I was sincere in my comment.

Just a reminder that words, though powerful, carry multiple meanings from the sender and then the recipient. I have to remind myself of that fact many times.

It was romantic. I know of no other way to describe it.