Today is the ‘Good Old Days,’ Even for Me!
Posted: Thursday, January 07, 2010
by Bruce Horst
WryteStuff
I know that to many who read this it will make no sense at all. I guess I'm writing this for everyone else. I grew up in a rural part of the country where people longed for ‘the good ol' days.' Days where life was simple, right and wrong were black and white.
I met a man about a year ago who said that he was living in the good ol' days. This guy was black, and he said that he had never imagined that he would see a black President in his lifetime. Of course he was wrong (about the black President thing.)
When were the good ol' days, after all? During the American Revolution, when only white men were allowed to vote, and blacks were not even considered fully human?
I think about the early 1900's when women were thought not competent to make decisions like voting. Those were not good days.
How about the 1950's when physical and sexual abuse were so stigmatized that if you were abused it was easier to remain silent than to speak the truth and reveal the heinous acts committed against you? Not good days either, unless maybe you were the one doing the abusing.
No, I think today is the good ol' days. I'm glad to see racial minorities and women and others who don't fit the ‘societal norm,' as my equal in every way. Today is a great day, and I don't want to go back.
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More commentsWhen people refer to "The Good Old days," They're usually talking about the days of their youth- when they were young and handsome, beautiful and strong. They're excitedly teetering on the threshhold of their lives- building- planning- hoping and dreaming of change, and being a viable part of that change. There has always been something "bad" going on in the background of every generation, but it's those other things we so fondly remember. A very thought provoking article- Thanks- EllaThanks for your comments Ella. I do think we tend to remember the good of the past.
When I look back and see all the changes our country has gone through even though there has been turmoil, there have always been improvements. Yes I believe that we live in the good old days. I am glad I am where I am. Thanks for sharing another great article.
Good points, well spoken.
Great article Bruce. Thank you for sharing this very insightful, optimistic and well-written piece. I never heard my parents talking about the "Good Old Days" because there were none. Everything was difficult and hard to come by. I remembered when I talk to them over the phone long distance, I used to have a timer in front of me because it was $!.20 a minute from the U.S. to the Philippines. Now, like you said, one can communicate with the whole world instantly costing almost nothing. Thanks Bruce. ~Nenita~
I GET it - putting this photo on SW is why no one could access and of the SW websites or sister sites today - they all went belly up from the view! GRIN. MarijoOops, forgot it was still there!
Yeah, despite many of the things about modern society that really irk me (SearchWarp readers have read my rants over and over again), I would have to agree that we are living in the good old days. Modern medicine is one of the determining factors for me. I couldn't imagine living an earlier era in which surgical anesthetics were very primitive or even non-existent. Oouuuch!
Your article reassures us that we live in a BENEFICIAL time and not one of despair. The hell with 2012 and the lunatics who believe in the worst! You're right Bruce, things are getting better, but we must be careful not to put too much emphasis on electricity and electronics because if they fail us we will be back in the stone age. Time for a backup plan.Maybe we should start asking the government what steps are they taking to reassure us of our existence in case there is a catastrophic unforeseen happening, instead of more funding for wars!
A very good article reminding us that the "age of innocence is fading like an old dream" !!But its time we stopped with gadgetry and worthless pandering and bickering with PCs and went back to stone-age !from the album Dance of Death by Iron Maidentrack - Age of innocence
Yea I guess now is not so bad if you really think about it. Good articcle!Thanks for reading and commenting, Jerry!
Good article to get one thinking, Bruce. However, you should not condemn whole eras because bad things happened during those eras. Show me an era where bad things didn't happen. Good things and bad things are happening all the time. Today is the "Good Ole Days"? Ask someone who has lost a friend or loved one in one ot the two wars we are in now. (Not commenting on the correctness of being in either of those those wars.) I think today in our country there is more crime and abuse than there ever was in the 50s. I will give you the fact that people are less afraid to report it now-a-days. In my opinion, "Good Ole Days" is a more personal thing than a global thing, depending on what you were going through when, and what you are going through now. I also agree with some of the comments to your article, that people wishing for the 'Good Ole Days' are looking to regain the capabilities of their lost youth.Thanks for reading and commenting, Bob.The point I was trying to make with this article was not that everything is better today for everyone, but that different people have different perspectives. There are a lot of people right now who believe these are the worst days in the history of the United States. My point is that this isn't universally true as it is not true for everyone. Indeed, it isn't true for a lot of people.I don't have a source at my fingertips right now, but I've read several reports lately which state that violent crime in the U.S. has been on the decline since the 1970's. Not sure what the cause of this is, though.I agree whole heartedly, and that is basically what I got our ot your article. People get too hung up on what is happening globally, or fixate on an atrocity, real or imagined, to see any good that is going on all around them.I also read that violent crimes as a percentage of the population has declined in the last trhee decades. I have my own opinion about why that is; may just write an article sometime. However the absolute number of all crimes is higher due to the much higher population. The FBI is the clearing house for national crime statistics.There used to be an attraction at Disneyworld where a song permeated the show, "These Are The Best Of Times". It took you through the lifestyle changes from the late 1800s to the present time. Mostly about housing and gadgets changes through the decades. The point being made was that the present is looked at as the 'best of times' by the people living in those times.However, with what is going on in our government, my fear for our country is that if something doesn't change, the United States will slip into 'third world nation' status.
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