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A new referendum for a good life

 I read some things the other day, I think on the Internet, as much of what I read comes to me that way these day. I want to share with you some ideas and things, that maybe you would agree with. But then again I am an old fuddy-duddy, probably nearing dementia so maybe you will say as some of my family and friends say…Oh God there he goes again, and just hit the delete key.  

I have had comments about my views here on my web page that have ranged from deep gratitude to dire warnings about my mental health and advise to others to avoid me at all costs. So with those evaluations in mind, proceed with caution or anticipation, which ever fits,  to another gem.

 Life seems to run in cycles as does the general condition of mankind. There are periods of prosperity followed by downturns in our economy. To me there is a direct correlation between our economic condition and the moral values of the world. We have recently been caught up in a downward spiral that I hope is soon to end. But have you noticed that just about everywhere you look you can see the values we have held so dear in this country, have been completely or nearly completely trashed. Violence, sex, drugs, and dishonesty are rampant. Just about every day we hear about some crazy person killing people in a mass murder rage. Our business are dishonest and the employees are also dishonest, lazy and or incompetent.

In all my years I can not remember the levels in these extremes, so expressed. Yes there were people being murdered and robbed. Business people were crooks at times. There have always been folks who have led immoral lives but really to the extent we see today? No it is not just that we hear about it more. I know the levels that my youngsters are exposed to is a thousand times worse than what I ever even heard about when I was their age.

Many people say it is not healthy to keep living in the past, but really, I think we need kind of a revolution to bring back yesteryear. Back to the times when things were simpler, people did not have to take ethics classes in college, when a hand shake was all the contract that was needed. Can we ever get back to sanity again? Can we bring back some morals and start bringing the values back to our country that made us great?

Below is the way back machine ( that term in itself is an antique from one of the first TV shows). Read these things and see how they relate to our lives today.

 'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?' 'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.' 'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?' 'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 18 and a senior in high school. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people.

I was an adult before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line. Only adults were allowed to make phone calls as the cost was very high and the phone was considered to be a communications device to be used in a serious way. Never to be considered a toy or entertainment device as they are today.

 Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was. All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at 6AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.

Cleaning out my grandmother's house we found an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughters had no idea. They thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many do you remember?

 Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.

Ignition switches on the dashboard.

Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.

Real ice boxes.

Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards..

Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.

Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Can you remember any of these without someone telling you bout them?

 1.     Blackjack chewing gum

2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water

3. Candy cigarettes

4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes

6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

7. Party lines on the telephone

8. Newsreels before the movie

9.. P.F. Flyers

10. Butch wax

11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])

12. Peashooters

13. Howdy Doody

14. 45 RPM records

15.. S& H green stamps

16. Hi-fi's

17. Metal ice trays with lever

18. Mimeograph paper

19. Blue flashbulb

20. Packard’s

21. Roller skate keys

22. Cork popguns

23. Drive-ins

24. Studebakers

25. Wash tub wringers

 Those where the days, and I for one think they were better than now, but who the hell put me in charge?