I received this in an email and thought its' context was interesting. Sometimes we simply don't realize how much has changed in such a short time. After reading this, I realized that I can personally relate to most of this.
Quote:
Stay with this -- the answer is at the end - it will blow you away.
One evening, a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.
The Grandma replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill..
There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.
Man had not invented pantyhose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk on the moon.
Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together.
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, "Sir"- - and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, day-care centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends - not purchasing condominiums.
We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios. And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in ***an' on it, it was junk.
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.
Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5&10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel......And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one? Too bad because, gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day, "grass" was mowed, "coke" was a cold drink, "pot" was something your mother cooked in, and "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
"Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office, "chip" meant a piece of wood, "hardware" was found in a hardware store and software" wasn't even a word.
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
And how old do you think grandma is??? Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time. This is something to think about. How time has changed....
Grandma is 58 (born 1946)
How could so much go wrong in such a short time?
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I have thought about this a lot. Of course I am even older. Thus my Grandmother was older. Look at the change she saw being born about 1895. Even my mother born in 1920. And yes me born in 1944. Its no wonder my head spins at the rate things have changed. Even I did not realize all the things that have come and gone since 1946. A real thought jolter. To My grandmother, a trip to town (13 miles) was a big event yet she saw space travel and three worlds of other things. When I was a kid in the sticks of SD we had no electricity or running water or indoor bathrooms. My folks still used the smokehouse and canned everything that would not keep in the root cellar. In her older years my mother would shake her head and say "We were so poor, and so happy" and we were. Good old days? Yes they were, but now living in North Dakota, Thank god for indoor bathrooms.
Before Grandma-coke actually contained coke-the movie reefer madness was actually made in 1936 and railed against the use of marijuana even back then-that generation created the nuclear bomb from which I was taught to hide under my desk at school, we had Hitler try and exterminate the Jews, Native Americans were killed by Anglos at the rate of 3 per week and noone was ever prosecuted, *****es were routinely hung for 'looking at white women' and couldn't even drink from the same drinking fountain or shop in the same stores. Hindsight is enduring and recalling what was pleasant in our pasts is a privilege but to think the world has just recently gone in the toilet is myopic on our parts-yet I long for the old days myself.
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A bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office!
I've always got a kick out of this regardless of some of the inaccuracies; penicillin was actually discovered in 1929 and was commonly available before the end of WWII. Television was invented in the 1930s although it was not commonly available until the mid 50s and air conditioning had been around for 30 years or more although, again, not generally available for household use. Draft dodgers were a well known (and despised) form of life and had been well before this Grandmas birth. Drugs had been a problem and the problem addressed nearly 40 years before this Grandma was born and although Grandma and Grandpa didn't live together before marriage it doesn't mean others followed their example. Out of wedlock births were a well known phenomena for a long time before grandma was born and she most likely had a number of friends that "had to get married" and that ice cream cone that cost a nickel was a significant part of an hours wages which averaged about $1.00 an hour equivelent to what an ice cream cone costs today or perhaps a little bit more. She also failed to mention practising for nuclear attack, taking those iodine pills in school every week and many other things that weren't a real pleasant part of growing up during that time. All in all, a fun read but not entirely accurate. I know because I was there too born only a year later than this person in 1947.
I think a lot of us recall the good parts of our childhoods and that perhaps flavors our memories a bit.
Sorta ... some exceptions tho too, not all bad tho either
My mates granma lived to be 101- bet things changed a lot in many ways in that 100 yrs.She died in the 1980,s i think..got some ol photes of her as a baby, teen, in rural pa.
glass ,tin , some hand coloured,painted photos
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Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.-- Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 18)
Things ain't what they used to be and probably never was. ~Will Rogers
Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.
"Shouldn't someone tag Mr. Kennedy's 'bold new imaginative program' with its proper age?" "Under the tousled boyish haircut it is still old Karl Marx—first launched a century ago.
There is nothing new in the idea of a government being Big Brother to us all. R.Reagan-1960
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RE: Perspective on Time Through Grandma's Age
Yep, back in the good old days, blacks couldn't use public facilities, lead was a major ingredient in may paints and wall treatments. Vics vapor rub, kerosene, and caster oil were cure alls. One out of ever 4 children died due to ignorance/lack of med. treatment. Asbestos was used for many building materials. Businesses were controlled by mobs. Corporate corruption was at a high. We need to go back to the real good old days, when great grandpa used a bow, he didn't need to use a gun. Our clothes were made out of animal skins, we didn't need any material made by those polluting factories. etc. etc.
Point being; Things change with time, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I feel most of the problems we see today are due to; over population, mass transportation allowing different cultures to mix, and a feeble attempt to appease everyone. One generation leads into a new one. The old always like things how they had it, while the young are developing there way. I can only hope that the young, of ever generation, learn from the old and embrace change. If not, the dynamic world will keep society miserable.
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kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
Perspective on Time Through Grandma's Age
