- Were you a kid in the Fifties or earlier? Everybody makes
fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-somethings
shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that
bad? Judge for yourself...
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- In 1953: The US population was less than 150 million...
Yet you knew more people then, and knew them better... And that was good.
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- The average annual salary was under $3,000... Yet a one
parent home could afford to buy a house anywhere. AND, your parents could
put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And
that was good.
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- A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents... and it was safe
for a five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one! And that was good.
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- Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriett, and
Lassie... so nobody'd ever heard of ratings or filters... MTV or UNDRESSED
or WOMEN GONE WILD And that was EVER so good.
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- We didn't have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed
open and half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike...
And that was good.
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- Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs.Logan or
Mr. Adkins... But not Becky or Dan... And that was good.
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- The only hazardous material you knew about... Was a patch
of grassburrs around the light pole at the corner... Unfortunately, DDT
was about to slip in And that was NOT good.
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- Most families needed only one job... Meaning Mom was
home when school let out... And that was great!
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- You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets
were dried on the clothesline. NOBODY had a dryer! And that was really
pleasant!
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- People generally lived in the same hometown with their
relatives... So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and
uncles... And that was interesting. Educational.
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- TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in
glorious color... and you could run into the forest and down to the stream
and not worry about weirdos on drugs, Nam vets having flashbacks, homeless
men wandering around.... And that was certainly good.
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- Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor...
And the Dad next door knew how to adjust the TV knobs when the zigzag or
vertical roll happened. And that was very good.
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- Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard... And
chickens behind the garage... And that was definitely very tasty.
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- And just when you were about to do something really bad...
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- Chances were you'd run into your high school coach...
Or the nosey old lady from up the street... Or your little sister's piano
teacher... Or somebody from church... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone
number... And YOUR first name... And even THAT was good.
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- So, who can tell us that things as they are today is
evolution? Things have definitely changed.
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- Have they changed for the better?
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- Comment
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- From Sheryl Jackson
moonfyre1@earthlink.net
8-25-2
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- Ms. Hernandez there are several things you forgot...
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- Nothing was open on Sundays...most everyone went to church.
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- Kmart and Walmart did not exist, so there were no bluelight
specials.
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- In school, you started the day with the pledge of allegiance
and/or a prayer.
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- Schools had Christmas plays and pageants. Everyone knew
the words to "Silent Night" and "Away in the Manger".
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- Children said 'Yes, Ma'am' and 'No, sir.'
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- Children went to school to learn.
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- School was taught by rote repetition.
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- No one got kicked up into the next grade unless they
passed the last one with at least a C-D average.
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- Children studied the Constitution of the United States,
The Gettysburg Address and the Ten Commandments.
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- There were no computers, GameBoys, VCR's, DVD's.
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- Most people did not own a Television.
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- Sex and dirty talking were not in the movies. Nor was
gratuitous violence.
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- Rating systems were done by parents.
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- Elvis Presley was the 'baddest' dude on the planet. He
wiggled his hips. And that was or was not a good thing.
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- People took their marriage vows seriously and worked
their problems out instead of getting a divorce.
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- Sheryl Jackson
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- Comment
- Alton Raines
Alt_ON@hotmail.com
8-25-02
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- It's very easy to peer through romantic filters which
strip away reality and leave only the sugar coating. Sure, we miss the
good things, like then five guys rushed to your car to service it and a
time when it seemed there was little crime and corruption. But is that
reality? No. Let's not forget that the 50s were also a time of crushing
social conformity that resulted in explosions of Bohemianism. The 50s own
ducks-in-a-row pressures forced to the surface one carefully white-washed,
masked illness of society after another until a counter-culture emerged.
Some things have gotten better, just as some things have gotten worse.
People in the 50s complained of the 'radical' changes happening in their
day and saw it as total social upheaval -- the way the new generation talked,
walked, what they drove, how late they stayed out, advanced necking (and
in reality the necking was simply no longer lied about, they were doing
the same things in the 30s and 40s), the music was "abominable noise"
and the bomb had changed the world just a decade earlier. So, we could
look at it this way...
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- People died of myocardial infarctions the first time
out
The thrill of getting the news your legs won't work ... it's Polio!
Thalidomide babies! Those cute little flippers for hands.
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- Most people had a nice fancy set of dentures by age 55.
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- Children with catastrophic diseases and cancers died
like properly ill people. Quickly. http://www.stjude.org/newhp/SurvivalRates.html
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- There were no uppidy negroes. Black people could be beaten
and fed to police trained german shepherds, blasted with water hoses in
the streets and in some places hanged by the neck when they deserved it.
It was legal to discriminate against them in housing and employment.
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- Women knew their place was in the kitchen and in the
bedroom.
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- Filthy gutter words like "pregnant" were not
allowed on television.
Not trying to be depressing, just realistic.
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- Comment
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- From Jim Mortellaro
Jsmortell@aol.com
8-25-2
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- You left out so much more, Anita. So much. Like virgin
woods in the Bronx, in NYC. Like leaving not just the windows but the doors
open and unlocked. Such as many families (being immigrant families one
generation back) living in extended units. Gramma, Grampa and Mom and Dad
all home to give love. Like dad whistling up the walk when he was home
from work.
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- Like the smells of ethnic foods wafting through a house
filled with love and good will, not to mention the kind of love which is
'touchy-feely,' and where a young boy or girl actually HUGGED his parents
to death whenever they were reunited to each other. Even after a trip to
the store for a loaf of Silvercup Bread or a pack of Chesterfield's for
an uncle (the Chesterfields cost a quarter) and like the neighborhood kids
walking to the movie theater on a Saturday afternoon with less than fifty
cents in their pockets, which bought a ticket and enough popcorn, candy
and ice cream with which to give diabetes to the Chinese Army.
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- Like candy DOTS on paper and Pea Shooters and Wax Candy
Lips and a Two Cents Plain what cost a PENNY. And a cherry Coke with a
pretzel from the candy store man who sold it to you for a nickel when it
really cost seven cents.
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- And yes, everyone knew everyone else. And life was simple,
slow and Sundays (no matter what religion you belonged to) were days of
rest. Even Saturday was a holiday for the family. And that family lived
for TWO WEEKS for only about twelve bucks at the supermarket.
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- And graffiti ... what the heck izzat?
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- And kids with guns. Sure. I took my first shot at age
five. And I never brought the thing to school and wiped out my classmates
or even my teachers.
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- When God was good. And the world was a safe place. If
I could go back, I would do so in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, we all grow
up. And we of the fifties generation are alone in this. All alone. Not
enough to make a difference in this world which we've inherited. And not
young enough with energy with which to fight the fight.
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- I remain alone, which is the way I came into this world.
And the way I will leave it. And the only thing which would make it all
worthwhile, for me, is the firm and bitter knowledge that I had so much
to offer. And no one would take from me, that which I was able to give.
That's what is worth it? Yup. I had it all. And no one wanted it. More's
the pity. More their loss. That'll teach 'em.
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- Jim Mortellaro, Ph.D.
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