Choices
Contributed by softerware
on Monday, 6th November 2017 @ 11:17:16 PM AEST
Topic:
inspirational
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Let me tell you why every generation complains about the next one: we expect you to know what you can never know. Your past. We were there...you were not. Its ancient history...but its YOUR ancient history too!
Trust me, one day you will hear yourself saying the same things your parents say now. Things like "They have no respect. What is this world coming to? You call that music? (sound familiar? UGH.)
They have something you dont. Its called nostalgia. To experience it, try to remember something you really liked, that is gone and will never come back, and that no one remembers except a few of your very old friends. There you have it. Nostalgia.
Someday youre gonna hear yourself say "I sure miss those old fashioned cellphones". "It took us FOREVER to cook in a microwave! And we grew our food in dirt!" ...Look around you...see all that stuff? Its all going away.
So whats to miss, you say...I sure dont miss rabies--and measles--- the Good Old Days werent all good!
I wouldnt want to go back...but just the same, heres a peek at where you came from; how you started; what was, when you werent. Rest assured, you were just as loved then as you are now.
This generation (yours) has never faced national depression, bread lines, the cold war, the atom bomb, The Cuban Missile Crisis, agent orange, the draft, and presidential assassination on national television. One of our most beloved presidents lived in a wheelchair because there was no vaccine for polio.
We grew up with dairy farms; a national pastime; fireworks; Easter egg hunts; prayer and flag saluting in schools and at every sports event; two genders (not three); radio heroes, good guys with white hats we could emulate (pre-Clint Eastwood); dance bands with names you could say in public, and chaperones! We raked autumn leaves, and burned them; there was no EPA.
Men wore suits, vests, hats, scarves, carried pocket watches, and tipped hats to ladies. Women wore white gloves, dresses, pearls, heels, baked, ironed , and read us bedtime stories. Before McDonalds, eating out was a big deal; no one went in bluejeans. The milkman delivered eggs, butter, and cream to your door.
Doctors made house calls; free. Cops were called Policemen- they had beats they patrolled and you knew them. Kids were protected; and we felt sad for families whose mothers had to work or take in other peoples laundry to make ends meet.
If we wanted to play baseball, we went out in the street and played it with the neighbors. We traded stuff..baseball cards, marbles, comic books, and we collected stuff; records, autographs, action figures. We earned money delivering newspapers, babysitting, mowing lawns, washing cars, shoveling snow.
Kids had toys: Easy Bake Ovens, Light Brights, Plastic Cowboy guitars; roller skates with keys; Metal lunch boxes with our movie heroes on them. We played cowboys and Indians, Dolls, or Superman with a towel for a cape. Boys wanted to be GI Joe and girls wanted to be Barbie.
Cities had free medical clinics, school nurses, elevator operators, and kids were safe on the streets. You could go to a movie and stay to watch it all day over and over. It came with 2 cartoons and a newsreel for 25 cents, and someone with a flashlight led you to your seat.
Women cooked every day. We darned socks, and knit sweaters. We saved green stamps. Moms cut everyones hair, even dads! We read books (for fun!) And no one missed school! We got married, and THEN had babies. Tattoos were for sailors and "women of questionable morals" .
Schools had bands, glee clubs, art classes, shop, and home economics. We took vacations every year. In a car. The whole family went. Gasoline was 30 cents a gallon. Gas stations had attendants who would pump your gas, clean your windows and check water and your tire pressure - free. The commercial went: "See the USA, in your Chevrolet". We took photos we wouldnt see until we got home to develop the film. We navigated with paper maps. If someone got a flat tire, we stopped to help.
Most towns had community swimming pools you could use free if your taxes were paid. WE thought, like YOU think, that everyone would grow up that way.
And there is little doubt that you will do the same to the next generation.
You will give them too much. You will overindulge them and treat them as adults WAY too early; and they will have no identity; no concept of earning what they receive; and no regard for others unless it suits them. They are and always will be hopelessly in debt, and they wont know what they want except they are going to be rich and popular. The are the center of their own universe.
Heres what you have missed that no one can replace:
Values, rules. We make them, you break them and make new ones. A sense of purpose. Self-worth. And knowing that win or lose, we will always love you. Always. Always.
This wonderful lonely generation will do amazing things in spite of us. I am ashamed that we didnt do a better job. And I am very very sorry. Forgive us. Like you, we were busy trying to grow up. And we cant go back and fix it.
Lucky for us, you dont remember. And that will be the grace that saves you when your children come of age and find out youre not as all knowing as they thought you were.
And with a little bit of grace, they will tell you that they understand. Because they know you need to hear it. And when you do, consider yourself forgiven.
Copyright © softerware
... [2017-11-0611:17:16]
(Date/Time posted on site)
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