If you were born between 1930 and 1979, would like your opinion?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at
12:21 am
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I didn’t do most of these things myself. But I do remember when polio was a big problem, and I knew kids who got TB, diptheria, whooping cough, etc. because they didn’t get vaccinated, or the vaccines in those days didn’t work as well. I knew kids who got concussions from falling off their bikes. Infant mortality was higher, as were problems like low birth weight, mental retardation, etc.
People tend to think of them as ‘the good old days’ but today is better in a lot of ways. If a divorced woman moved into a neighborhood, nobody would talk to her, she was ostracized, and every woman in the neighborhood thought she was after her husband. Girls who managed to get themselves ‘in trouble’ (and it did happen!) had no place to go. Our neighborhood was lily white, blacks had their own neighborhood with their own stores, theaters, restaurants, parks, churches, etc. Asians were considered dangerous and ‘dirty’ as if they carried disease!
I think it’s true, though, that kids had a lot more freedom in those days. At the age of six or seven, we were out exploring the neighborhood on our own. All through grade school, we only had to be home when the streetlights went on. You sure don’t see that today.
The idea that these problem caused our generation to come up with risk takers and innovators, I’m not sure I go along with that. Maybe it’s because all the stupid ones died of preventable childhood diseases and accidents. 8^) But also the 50s was a time of great prosperity and ‘normalcy’. A man with a high school education could earn enough to buy a house, two cars, raise a family, so his wife could stay home with the kids. Politics wasn’t consumed with partisan bickering. The whole idea of capitalism was different–workers had rights as well as management.
It means,Health and Safety have a lot to answer for.
Everything in there is correct.
These days everything that you say and do is governed and "elf N safety" rule the roost to the extent that kids are not allowed to take risks which are or rather should be a part of growing up.
We learnt to deal with failure and disappointment at an early age and realised that everyone was not equal. Therefore we learnt that we had to excel in other ways to be successful.
We ate things which were not pre-packed and sanitised and yes, we got ill, but only the once because our bodies developed immunity.
We played outside (in all weathers) and did not become obese at the age of 10.
We were told not to talk to strangers and even though there were "weirdos" around we survived.
If we did something wrong we were punished – maybe with a clip around the ear from the local bobby and then our parents, rather than taking our side would give us another clip because we must have done something.
Therefore we learnt right and wrong and we learnt respect for property and people.
Ah, the good old days. Bring them back.