My Good Old Days Were Better Than Yours

Ahh, the good old days. I had to think about that motto after an incident at a local gas bar last week. While fueling up my trusty steed, a small car masquerading as a big stereo pulled up. The teenage driver, oblivious to all outside stimuli, was bopping to a thunderous rap beat.

I don’t usually care what others listen to, because hey, it’s your mind melt. However, music that hits my eardrums like an auditory tsunami gets me a little wound up. The wanna be gangster must have seen my frown because he greeted me with a hearty, yet insistent digitus impudicus, or Trudeau finger.

So I found my mind drifting back to the gentler times of the 1940’s and 50’s, when North American life was less hectic, and mom and dad didn’t have dual careers; actually spending time with their children. They had to, because video games and Ipods didn’t exist to numb their little minds and keep them quit.

Rock and Roll was just in the infancy stage and many still listened to Big Bands and Jack Benny on the radio. I can’t remember reading of too many kids getting suicidal after listening to Tommy Dorsey.
Kids went to school, making real friends, instead of having internet chat buddies. They also played outside and incredibly, used their imaginations to think of things to do. If that didn’t work, Mom or Dad could always find plenty of chores or steer them towards helping those in need.

In those days, ‘grass’ was mowed, ‘coke’ was a cold drink, and the biggest school problems were talking in class, making noise, or running in the halls. Anyone getting out of hand was rewarded with a weekend of labour over a push mower, and crime was easily and cheaply monitored in the lock up, instead of group therapy.

Dates for the most part were still fairly innocent, involving drive-in movies, cherry cokes and listening to old 45’s. Back then, young people also got married first, then slept together.

In general, lives were governed by good judgment and common sense, and children were taught to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. In other words, character values and hard work were of higher priority than selfish activities leading to improper behaviour.

Times have changes dramatically since then and after listening to the kids complain about being bored once too often, grandpa would roll his eyes, get that really weird look on his face and proceed to throw all romantic notions of his time out on its ear:

“You kids have it too easy. When I was a young man rocks were heavier, journeys took a person uphill, BOTH ways, and we one had one shoe which we shared between seven kids while walking though year round snow.”

I admit grandpa poured it on a little thick to get a response. And yeah sure, there may have been some oversimplification on my part with the youth of old, but at least back then, digitary salutes consisted of a more positive thumbs up.