While it's tempting to lament that our generation experienced the last of the "good old days," we know that they weren't always that good. But, there were some great things about the "good old days" from the Baby Boomer generation. This week, let's "take a walk down Memory Lane" and note those elements of our country, our culture, and of the 1950's - 1970's.
Here is my top 59.
1. God's name was respected, honored, and was considered okay to say anywhere, including schools and places of work.
2. Manners & Etiquette - "please", "thank you", putting one's napkin in one's lap when dining our and at home alike, and sending of "thank you" notes for gifts. The last baby shower gift I sent was never acknowledged and the baby is now almost a year old! And that's not unusual...but it ought to be.
3. Loyalty - loyalty to employees, employees to employers, customers to providers, providers to customers, etc.
4. Retirement Savings / Investments - it used to be taboo to steal from employees' 401K and other retirement savings plans. Apparently it's perfectly fine to not give workers what they earned and / or were promised.
5. Classy Women / Classy Men - when's the last time you saw someone under the age of 40 who you would describe as "classy?"
6. "Normal" sized meals - it's no secret that one of the variables pin why we are over-sized is because our meals are.
7. Value for your $
8. Modesty in dress, speech, attitudes, etc. Not being a prude here, but for goodness sakes, make sure your "cheeks" stay in your shorts and your midriff isn't the focal point of your accessorizing!
9. Movies/ TV shows had plots, and comedies were clever & G-rated.
10. Actors & Actresses could act, and they honed their craft.
11. Standards of Conduct - general assumed points of acceptable and "good" conduct.
12. Hard work = Get ahead
13. Saying the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school
14. Respect / Reverence of Elders in the society, in the family, in the church, etc.
15. Going out to eat was a treat
16. Knew your neighbors & they knew you too!
17. Religious services - most people went.
18. Knew Key World Political Figures
19. Knew American History - and took Civics class in high school.
20. Sears Catalog - everyone in the family fought over who got to leaf through it first!
21. Captain Kangaroo & Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, and Bunny Rabbit
22. Going on a 1st date didn't end with having sex
23. Home phone was on the wall in the kitchen.
24. Home ownership was a dream in reach and was an investment.
25. Count your friends on your fingers rather than in the thousands on social media
26. Self esteem was not over-inflated.
27. Your date had to come in to meet your parents
28. Music was good without being overtly raunchy.
29. Groceries were affordable.
30. Housing was affordable.
31. Cars & gasoline was affordable.
32. Insurance was affordable.
33. Got wrinkles? Sport bangs to cover them up; who ever heard of putting botulism into your face???
34. Quiet times & spaces existed in our lives.
35. Only rich people had "pagers", "car phones", "mobile phones"
36. Music mediums: 8-trak tapes, cassette tapes, reel-to-reel tapes, LP's and 45's
37. Making do
38. Going without
39. Saving up for
40. Coffee was a cup of Joe...espresso was in Italy
41. Brown bags for groceries was reused as trash can liners
42. Board games brought people together for fun & social time.
43. Boobs stayed inside your blouse, t-shirt, top, or dress.
44. Boxers were inside your pants & out of sight.
45. Sugar was sugar. No pink / yellow / blue / brown packets of sweetener.
46. Hospitality wasn't just a word in the dictionary.
47. "Grace" was said before all meals.
48. Call home once a week.
49. Party lines
50. Timepiece hands - people could read time! When I was teaching full time, very few of my high school students could read a clock that wasn't digital.
51. Rolls of film - loading film into your camera from a little black plastic cylinder, having the film developed into negatives, and having the negatives printed into pictures.
52. President of USA had previous many years of meaningful & applicable experience for the job.
53. Coke - having a coke at a party meant a drink, not a drug.
54. Teaching was a noble profession.
55. Child correction - it was okay for other people's parents to correct your children.
56. Not everyone wins a prize.
57. Computers took up an entire room & were certainly not in your house.
58. Service station - AKA the gas station - attendants pumped your gas, checked the oil level and the pressure in your tires, and also cleaned your windshield. And they wouldn't accept a tip for it!
59. People conversed with one another and really connected...and didn't have to have an electronic device in order to achieve communication.
* Please leave your comments on these or suggest others. Which ones of these elements need to be reintroduced into the 2000's? Look for a new post next week! Thank you for visiting my blog!
Missy - this is a good list (mostly!). Most of us have a positive retrospective bias which is where nostalgia comes from. But sometimes it makes us lose sight of the very real positive changes in the world. For example, the role of women and minorities in society has improved dramatically.
ReplyDeleteOther changes in the list have a certain ambiguity. Computers for example have had a transformational effect - some good, some bad. Since the beginning of the internet age, it has forced organizations into more transparency. For example, who recognized the depth of child abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church until victims and advocates across the world began connecting the dots on the internet.
Item #52 is a thinly-veiled critique of the current President's qualifications, perhaps? But isn't the office of United States Senator a reasonable qualification for the office of President?
I particularly endorse #56. A study of US vs other students worldwide taking a mathematics examination showed that US students had high confidence in their ability to perform on the test but their actual performance was the poorest. The opposite trend was noted among Japanese and Korean kids. The faux-confidence that is conferred by unearned kudos does no one any good.
Congratulations on your blog!
Your words have given me much to think about as you have reminded me of several issues that I need to reconsider and think about in depth. At this point in my life, I realize that I am not going "to change the world." But if I could reorient myself and help just a few others......
ReplyDeleteThanks for the bloggy thoughts.........lkw
Thanks, Alan and LKW for sharing your comments. Please come back again!
ReplyDeleteAha. I always knew you could sing. Now I know you can write! Not surprised, though. This is a cool piece. Write on.
ReplyDelete