The Way We Were

I'm not a nostalgia buff. Really! But the world was, in many ways, a better place when I was growing up than it is now. At the very least, the war I was born into had a real purpose: to save civilization

But there were other aspects of life, too, that were better. Even as a kid of 10 or 11, I could get on a city bus alone, or with a friend, ride to downtown Birmingham, Alabama, go to a movie at the majestic Alabama Theater, eat at The Krystal or Krispy Kreme, or both, visit the magic shop, just spend the day in fun, and arrive home safely.

I'm sure there were people dangerous to children then, as always, but I just don't remember hearing much about it growing up. Was it not reported to the authorities? Were there not newspaper articles about it? Of course, my family had no conversations about such things. We didn't talk about much of anything important, though my grandfather gave me wonderful life lessons that I still remember, but probably applied too little in my life.

Schools, too, weren't the cesspools so many of them have become. You went to school, you obeyed the teacher, and you did your lessons. If you didn't to these things, you found yourself in the Principal's office, and maybe later facing an even sterner parent or grandparent. Being a drop-out was a sign of cataclysmic failure in the eyes of most kids back then. I'm glad it was. I didn't think about quitting school until I was a senior in high school. But school certainly wasn't a place to be a smart-ass or a trouble-maker, not unless you wanted to find yourself in juvenile hall. School was quiet enough to learn, and I'm thankful for that. And I'm grateful for the teachers who gave me a good foundation and didn't put up with any crap from me.

People were definitely more polite back then. There wasn't the rampant anger I've seen grow over the last several decades. There was civility, an accepted standard of civility which has been lost. People today are often rude, sometimes angry, and occasionally downright dangerous simply because they've not been taught any manners, any restraint, any ability to postpone gratification, and any concerns for the rights and welfare of others. They want what they want, and they want it RIGHT NOW.

We might, too, have had one student in school whom we labelled a "bully," but we didn't have gangs of worthless punks who terrorized us. And usually even the "bully" eventually got his ass kicked by somebody. There was, on top of this, a decidedly lower pregnancy rate among teens in the post-War forties and the fifties. I don't think that was such a bad thing, though my guess is that I came into this world unplanned in that way. I'll allow this one exception.

No, I'm not some old fogey who looks back on the "good old days." Hell, these are the "good old days." These are the days we're living now, looking forward to a few more. And today I'm at least not unhappy about being here.