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I would like to get the perspective of people who have lived for a long time. We always hear that we are living in hard times and many old timers tell us things are tough now days. To me, someone who is over 50, life does seem tougher than ever before for the average person. We sure are working harder and we seem more isolated and alone than ever before. Finding and keeping a good job seems harder than ever and kids in school are facing incredible social and cultural pressure. The academic demands on today's youth is incredible. So are things really that tough in comparison to 20-30-40 years ago?
I think one of the hardest things, for me,at least, is technology...I still have my VCR and am not giving it up for DVD CD whatever till it dies
I have no desire to learn about blue teeth and pods for ears (peas come in pods.. not music)!!
Some things of the 70's as when i was a kid i'll always value for the rest of my life and that is back then we had no Computers, Video Games, Cell Phones and Big Screen Tv's etc...so we all were all physically active as we played sports for hours upon hours back then. When my dad took me to K-Mart to get a new basketball every couple of years as mine would ware out ...you'd thought i won the lottery. I thrive on physical work and not sitting in an office or chair type employment.
So to this day i do not own any of the electronic games or big screen tv's etc... except my computer with the internet as i still keep my basketball in my truck and i always go to the park and shoot hoops even though i'm 43. If alive at 93 i assume i'll be shooting hoops at the nursing home....lol....
Back in 1978- I had my Mustang, a nice TV with about 6 channels, a cassette deck, and a stereo-and I was happy- today the number of consumer goods and electronic technology is bewildering-
Earlier generations triumphed over the Great Depression and WWII, to give us (not to be presumptuous, but the baby boomers) the prosperity and security of the 50s and 60s. I see a lot of social decadence today.
On the other hand things are light-years better on the medical and technological fronts. And because the world is "shrinking" thanks to technology the new generations of all countries and belief systems have a much better opportunity to understand and appreciate each other.
As I crank up my washer, dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposer, and head out the door to do something else besides manual labor, I am reminded of how much easier housekeeping is today.
I also get to get into my car instead of having to hitch up a bunch or horses to my wagon in order to get to the tennis court.
Do we have pressures that our forefathers didn't have? Sure, but the hardships they faced were plenty hard too...just different.
It depends, It was easier to "get by" 40 years ago. A person could survive on the minimum wage, but getting ahead was harder. There was little money to be made from speculation. Blue collar jobs were harder and worker safety was not something most employers gave much thought. Jobs were harder to get, and money was harder to borrow, if you could borrow it was more expensive.
While us oldsters have lived through a bit, we haven't lived through recent times as kids, so I'm not sure how much validity our thoughts have.
I would say that the 1990s were about the easiest times. Prices hadn't really started spiraling out of control, there wasn't as much military action overall, jobs were easy to come by and new gee-gahs abounded. The whole nutso fear within the country about terrorists hadn't started.
The fifties had little money except in certain industries and/or unions.
The sixties and seventies had the draft and Vietnam. That could ruin your day pretty quickly. Then there was the energy crisis and the real start of both environmental concern and the enviro-cults.
The 80s were a strange time. Overspending the soviets and a quiet war in Afghanistan ended the cold war by bankrupting the USSR. (Hmmm, wonder what China is doing to US right about now...)
The past eight years have been an unmitigated disaster in so many ways. Job losses, loss of manufacturing capability, lack of agrarian stability, an idiotic and costly invasion of Iraq, the lack of finding Bin Laden, the tightening control of government, the insane increases in taxes and fees on municipal levels in many areas, the list goes on and on.
The key difference now is that all the previous decades were decades when we expanded in some fashion. We went to the moon on technology that is far less complicated than an average cellphone! Now we look forward and don't see as much promise in the future. Technology has become more of our keeper than an enabler. Environmental regulations make any great or massive projects unlikely, and the U.S. is beginning to see the effects of worldwide economic competition. IMO, the person who has had the most lasting effect on our situation is Dr. Strangelove... err Dr. Kissinger. I personally think he sold us down the river and made us think he was doing us a favor.
There is no "average" person that would be an indicator of whether the times are good or bad. For many people, gains made over the years have brought them into wealth and plenty. Others are foundering on the rocks of financial disaster. I think the sheer numbers of people in that second group will continue to grow in the near future.
While I don't feel sorry for kids growing up today, I know I would not want to be one of them unless it was in an isolated rural society.
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