When I Was a Kid…
Things sure used to be different.
I remember when I was much younger, my older sisters had a VW Bug. Gas was 35 cents a gallon, and they would scrounge around in the seats and the floorboards, and come up with enough change for gas money to get them through several days. When I used to go grocery shopping with my mom, we would fill up two grocery carts, pay $200, and feed a family of six for two weeks (with a side trip or two for extra bread and milk.) A family paid $40,000 for a house. Homer Simson (of “The Simpsons”) supported a family of 5 with a high school education in a two or three story house on a single income, and it was a reflection of something that would have been realistic at the time.
Now, filling up with gas takes a good portion of your paycheck, $200 worth of groceries barely fills one cart half way, and feeds a family half the size for half as long, that $40,000 home is selling now for at least $600,000 and is above the price range of so many. Folks struggle to pay rent, let alone come up with the down payment for a house.
Media is another thing. Married couples like Rob and Laura Petrie and Ricky and Lucy Ricardo had to sleep in separate twin beds. “Splish Splash” wouldn’t be played on some radio stations because it mentioned someone taking a bath. Everyday, ordinary things from everyday, ordinary lives couldn’t be shown in the media. Married people sharing a bed?? Scandalous.
We’ve sure come a long way in that regard. Perhaps too far. I’m all about working put your angst through music, and I do believe that we don’t need to be so conservative in discussing daily life and all that entails. But there are still some things that maybe should be kept private. I don’t think we need to know every aspect of anyone’s private life. I don’t know that I want to. Folks ought to be able to make mistakes and fix them with out it being all over Facebook, Instagram, and the 24 hour news cycle.
When I was a kid, I had the joy and excitement of waking up on a Saturday morning and knowing that there was a full hour and a half of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Bugs Bunny and The Roadrunner. I looked forward to that all week, sometimes. Watching TV used to mean that you saw it when it was on or you missed it. You had to be able to get to the bathroom or to go get snacks during the commercials or you missed out on part of the show. How many remember the dreaded call, “It’s back on!!!” before we had finished whatever business had taken us away? Now, you can watch just about anything, any time, any where.
Phones are another thing. When I was a kid, my dad hated the telephone. I think he felt it was intrusive. Also, he worked for the railroad and he frequently got called into work. Because of this, we had very strict phone rules. No more than 10 minutes on a call at a time, and absolutely no calls between 5:30 and 7:00 pm. That was family dinner time and not to be interrupted. Now, we are accessible any time, any where, as long as we have our cell phone. Of course, we can always not answer the phone.
I don’t think dad was entirely wrong about the phone. It is intrusive.
Kids. Raising kids has changed. Spanking used to be the thing. It was acceptable and encouraged, even. Many parents still spank their kids. I couldn’t get past the thought that a parent was hitting a kid to teach them that hitting was wrong. That’s an oversimplification, but it sums up my feelings about spanking. The thing is, my parents’ generation didn’t have the vast amount of knowledge and resources available to them that we have now. We can read and research and make an educated decision on which path to take. I wonder if this hasn’t led to over-protecting our kids just a bit, though. Sure, we have to be careful what we expose them to and establish boundries, but then they have to learn to live in the world, too. They have to know what is out there so they are prepared to handle it.
It’s all bout moderation. (Except inflation. Inflation sucks.) TV isn’t bad, news isn’t bad, phones aren’t bad, even social media isn’t bad. Too much is where we get into trouble. We seem to be in a culture of all or nothing, though. Either we agree or we are enemies. Everything is offensive. There seems to be a feeling of I am right and you are wrong. There is no gray area, no place for debate, no room for compromise. I keep hoping that we can all find something we can agree on, compromise on, come to a middle ground. We used to be able to do that, but it happens less and less.
Things sure used to be different.
Different isn’t necessarily bad, or good, it just is. Different is inevitable. We learn to choose, to adapt to incorporate. Some things we can ignore, I suppose, but that doesn’t make them go away. The difference will keep moving along without you. And that’s okay too. Those choices, it’s how we grow. It’s who we are.
Peace,
Kat