I received the following in my email this morning and thought there are quite a few of us who can identify with the sentiments expressed:
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning....Uphill... barefoot..BOTH ways Yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of FIFTY, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.
They've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, they live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but kids today don't know how good they've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3' s for Pirate downloads. If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! Some of us had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig? We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mum, your boss, your bookie, the local police or a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! You actually had to use your imagination!! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
That's exactly what I'm talking about! The kids today have got it too easy. They're spoiled. These guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1960or before!
Regards, The Over 50 Crowd
Cruising Granny said
01:40 PM Sep 30, 2009
Wow! Now I feel really old, and I've been avoiding this feeling for years.
Lighting the wood stove to cook and get warm, actually washing dishes in the sink with your hands and a dish cloth(still do), washing clothes in a washing machine or by hand and using a wringer to reduce the water content before hanging the clothes on the line in the backyard in the sunshine and fresh air to dry.
Cars without aircon, houses without aircon (we had a fan which blew in only one direction) an iron without a thermostat so it had to be turned on and off as required, or an iron which had to be heated on the wood stove to the temperature required.
Typing, actually having to hit the keys to make an imprint on the paper in the carriage.
Carpel tunnel and RSI were unheard of because we actually used our hands and arms, and not just rested them as we fingered an electronic keyboard.
My how times have changed even in my lifetime, and I was raised by my grand parents, so I have seen the change of lifestyles of 3 generations, and my children make 4, and grandchildren make 5.
Rolly said
01:43 PM Sep 30, 2009
'
Alas and alack, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be
justcruisin01 said
06:54 PM Sep 30, 2009
The truth has been spoken,& so so true.If we tried to tell them about it they would say ...................WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW................................ I think we have already forgotten more than they will ever learn. ...................cyainthegreatoutdoors...................there'snoplacebetter...............
DellieMay said
10:18 PM Sep 30, 2009
I do agree with what you are saying to some extent, buuuuut.....on the other hand, I think kids of today have a lot more to contend with. Growing up for me was all about being able to pinch a smoke from any adult when they wern't looking, being told to "be home before dark", lighting a fire on the beach without getting into trouble and in general, getting up to as much mischief as I possibly could. Didn't have the temptation of all the social problems the kids have to contend with today. So damn sad to have to watch everyone with suspicion.So damn sad to watch the destruction of young lives because of drugs, booze, speed etc. To get a job was just a case of asking for one.....I advertised a position in our local paper recently and received 74 applicants. Broke my heart having to tell them they didn't get the job.....ended up employing 3 instead of 1. Nawwwww....I think I prefered our growing up time. Just my thoughts on it.
Cheers, Dellie
mike and Judy said
06:11 AM Oct 1, 2009
Right on Dellie,
I watch my kids and G/kids strugging to make a dollar, or doing reams of homework and wonder if there life will be any the easier for it ,its a hard world out there , glad I am fit ,healty, and over 70.
dont want to go around again
jimricho said
07:20 AM Oct 1, 2009
Oh for the good old days.....weren't they great!
Big families to ensure some of the children lived long enough to make it to adulthood!....Many women dying giving birth! Children dying from diseases today we treat/prevent with immunisation and antibiotics!
The cream of the nations youth going to the other side of the world to fight in the filth of the trenches never to return or returning physically and mentally scarred for the rest of their lives.
The good old days of the Great Depression..... one third of the workforce out of work, only dole the soup queues and food coupons. Homeless families, children's clothes made out of hand-me-downs and hessian bags.
1939....It was all on again....off to fight another war.....death, injury, wives becoming widows, children becoming fatherless etc etc....
The good old days.... a figment of a deluded imagination!!!!
Life today isn't perfect....
it never was and it never will be....
The past is for remembering....not for living in.
Ma said
08:29 AM Oct 1, 2009
Selective Memory
DellieMay said
10:27 AM Oct 1, 2009
You know Jimricho, what you say is true. Yes it wasn't easy in those day...such hardship, such struggle. I learned about those days from my parents and history books. To this day I still admire what my parent survived, however, they aren't MY memories. My memories of childhood is one of freedom, laughter and mischief. I credit the previous generation for that.I admire the previous generation for that. I thank the previous generation for that......however it doesn't stop me feeling sad for THIS generation. My generation , I think, were the lucky ones.
Cheers
Dellie.
DellieMay said
10:41 AM Oct 1, 2009
PS...I amy nearly 60 yrs old, one of 13 children, all living and have worked since the age of 4. .....still with the carefree attitude of my childhood.
dave06 said
11:15 AM Oct 5, 2009
my motto always has been and still is
"live for today, tommorow may not come and yesterday aint coming back!!"
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... barefoot.. BOTH ways Yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of FIFTY, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.
They've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, they live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but kids today don't know how good they've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3' s for Pirate downloads. If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! Some of us had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mum, your boss, your bookie, the local police or a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! You actually had to use your imagination!!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove! Imagine that!
That's exactly what I'm talking about! The kids today have got it too easy. They're spoiled. These guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1960 or before!
Regards,
The Over 50 Crowd
Alas and alack, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be
I think we have already forgotten more than they will ever learn.
...................cyainthegreatoutdoors...................there'snoplacebetter...............
Big families to ensure some of the children lived long enough to make it to adulthood!....Many women dying giving birth! Children dying from diseases today we treat/prevent with immunisation and antibiotics!
The cream of the nations youth going to the other side of the world to fight in the filth of the trenches never to return or returning physically and mentally scarred for the rest of their lives.
The good old days of the Great Depression..... one third of the workforce out of work, only dole the soup queues and food coupons. Homeless families, children's clothes made out of hand-me-downs and hessian bags.
1939....It was all on again....off to fight another war.....death, injury, wives becoming widows, children becoming fatherless etc etc....
The good old days.... a figment of a deluded imagination!!!!
Life today isn't perfect....
it never was and it never will be....
The past is for remembering....not for living in.