# America we grew up in......I miss it.



## Obie (Dec 16, 2014)

Remember this about school......we said the Pledge to our flag, we had a Bible reading, we sang lots of songs about America.  My teacher asked the blessing in our little lunch room and helped us with our table manners.  Everyone's parents were married and most of the mom's did not work.

Grown ups were respected and our neighborhood was safe and friendly.  We ate supper with the family and it was home cooked.  TV was in the living room, not the kitchen.  If I was allowed to stay up late and watch TV, when it went off the air and the National Anthem was played, we stood up.

Simple times, productive times, moral times.  I miss that America.


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## Pappy (Dec 16, 2014)

Me too, Obie but it's never going back to that again. We had our time and it was great. Today, everyone is so worried that they going to offend someone. I say TS.


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## AprilT (Dec 16, 2014)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/opinion/sunday/coontz-the-not-so-good-old-days.html

http://pleasecutthecrap.com/those-w...od-old-days-get-a-clue-they-werent-that-good/

Offend how, if some don't agree that the old days weren't so good for all people or that so much about those days weren't good for many women and children, people with different gender orientation or those living under the strain of things like Vietnam or the great depression?  The good old's syndrome is just that a syndrome for many, something that only exist in the minds of some people.  Or offended if people want to feel free to slap labels on people without being challenged if the other person doesn't degree, or maybe it was great when women or people of color knew when to keep their mouths shut.  Yes great times indeed.  I'm sure it was great times for a chosen few, but, don't get bent out of shape if some people don't share that view.  It really does feel good to be able to voice that view without fear of a noose ya know, that wasn't possible for many in the good old days.

Must be nice to miss how impolite people could be toward people who were different from the majority in any way.


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## Pappy (Dec 16, 2014)

Was that rant really necessary, April. The last thing I would ever do is offend anyone. I wasn't brought up that way. Maybe  I should have left out the term, TS? Just making my point as I go way back into the 40's and I enjoyed them.


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## AprilT (Dec 16, 2014)

Pappy said:


> Was that rant really necessary, April. The last thing I would ever do is offend anyone. I wasn't brought up that way. Maybe  I should have left out the term, TS? Just making my point as I go way back into the 40's and I enjoyed them.



Maybe not, but it was that TS that brought it home.   LOL, come on we're all friends here and speak our minds without being considered ranting.  I'm just making a statement.  Plus it's been a theme today with this loving on all things back in the day, which I can't say I love much about.  I'm sure I could have left out hat noose part, but it seems as comical as the thought of the old days, I just had to include it.  I'm not bad as it may appear and truly have a sense of humor about some it to a degree, but, today some are getting on my last nerve with all this nostalgia.  

Hugs and kisses and flower gardens and daisies to all.


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## AZ Jim (Dec 16, 2014)

Methinks April is having a bad day.  I hope it improves.


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## Cookie (Dec 16, 2014)

Obie, sounds like when you were a kid in the 50s or 60s? the world seemed so simple and innocent.  In Canada we did the prayer and the national anthem, etc., dinner with mom and dad and then TV in the living room too. I didn't see much scary stuff on the news in those days, either, until 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated and Viet Nam was going on and all hell was breaking loose.  The bubble burst.  But hell had been there all along  (WWI, Depression, recent World War II) little kids didn't have to know about that or see it, except in a very sterilized way. 

It would be nice to have that child's innocence (and blissful ignorance) again, but there's no going back - we now know what was there along along - the world can be a dangerous place. There's still killing and madness all around us (eg. nature even feeds on itself). Our wish for peace and goodwill has to come from within. How do we stay connected to the positive, harmonious forces in the face of recent events?


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2014)

I agree with Cookie, America has changed and so have we.  I only had prayer in my grade school, because it was a Catholic school.  I take no issue with schools not having religion in their daily routine today.  The US government has also lost the trust and respect of many, due to some of the things it has done that often don't make the headlines. 

The economy has a lot to do with mothers even being able to stay at home while the husband works, even when I was a kid a lot of mothers had a part time job or something they did at home to supplement the income.  Of course prices for everything were also much lower way back then.  We can't live in the past, that's for sure, just have to make the best of the present and the future if we can.  Things change, we can't and shouldn't fight it IMO.


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## Pappy (Dec 16, 2014)

Wish I had said that to begin with, SB. You and Cookie nailed it in a much way than I put it.


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## AprilT (Dec 16, 2014)

Seriously forgive my mouth in foot approach on this matter, just not feeling it and my mother probably would have smacked me for speaking to my elders this way, being that most here just might fall into that category, except for those not in their 70's.  OOP's mom's just reached out from the grave and air smacked my head again.

I will leave you all to enjoy reminiscing, there were some great things, about the old days, manners my momma taught me back then afforded me some great opportunities in years later.  What happened to those manners? Early onset senility.


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## RadishRose (Dec 16, 2014)

Nice post, April


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## AZ Jim (Dec 16, 2014)

At 78 I enjoy reliving with other seniors those "good old days".  Those days were not without their challenges but we were able to cope.  In the "dirty thirties" and 40's people had to be tough to survive.  But, it made better people of us for it. Old nostalgia is good enough for me and those who don't like it can do as I do with things I don't care for.  I know I am old fashioned but that's just fine with me.


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## Cookie (Dec 16, 2014)

AprilT said:


> Seriously forgive my mouth in foot approach on this matter, just not feeling it and my mother probably would have smacked me for speaking to my elders this way, being that most here just might fall into that category, except for those not in their 70's.  OOP's mom's just reached out from the grave and air smacked my head again.
> 
> I will leave you all to enjoy reminiscing, there were some great things, about the old days, manners my momma taught me back then afforded me some great opportunities in years later.  What happened to those manners? Early onset senility.



AprilT, you are not mistaken to bring up the dark realities of the times back then, which were whitewashed for the general population by the powers of the day and hidden behind a 'nice' way of life. I know what you mean but the elders remember the sentimental past thru the rose colored glasses longing for lost childhood and youth.  Old classic movies reveal the intolerance of those days, as in Road movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and plenty more. Political correctness is here for a reason.  I totally agree with you, although I can also see the view of people who were children at a time when things felt safe and seemed in control.


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## Ameriscot (Dec 16, 2014)

I was born in 52 and my childhood was lovely and innocent. But then I was a white Christian child. Would have been a completely different perception if I was a minority and/or non-Christian, or gay. Also a completely sexist time. 

The good ole days were not that for everyone.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2014)

I liked the times when we could hear the news on the television by Walter Cronkite and trust that he was telling us the truth and what we all needed to know.  It was a simpler time without all the messages scrolling across the bottom of the screen, all the pop up photos next to him in the newscast and all the information overload and opinionated newscasting we get these days.


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## AZ Jim (Dec 16, 2014)

SB I have said many times when I used to come home from work and turn on Walter on CBS I knew we were gonna be alright.  I remember his tears when President Kennedy was assassinated, his joy at the space program.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2014)

I remember those things well too Jim, he was very much like a father figure, very sincere. :sentimental:


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## Ameriscot (Dec 16, 2014)

Very fond memories of Walter Cronkite.


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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2014)




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## SeaBreeze (Dec 16, 2014)




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## ronaldj (Dec 17, 2014)

the good old days are right now, make the best of them


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