Retired: Do you think much about the good old days?

[LittleDolphin]

What I miss from the good old days, is as so many have noted, the wonderful freedom we had...roamed the woods behind my house with my dog--it was so magical, the little creek with the crawfish and all the birds and rabbits..and even snakes, I wasn't afraid to catch them then. Today, I don't like to think about touching them, let alone go turning over rocks to find them...

And getting my first two-wheeled bike ( a Huffy in chartreuse and black, complete with horn and front light and white wall tires) meant a ticket to far-away places. Oh, I was gone...never home until dinner time--and then I was outside again, playing with all the neighborhood kids...and I sure didn't have a weight problem--always on the go.

Chasing fireflies at night, playing hide n' seek and softball and getting water-ices and Toasted Almond bars from the Good Humor Man's white ice cream truck or orange cream-sicles for the Jack ' Jill truck...neighbors sitting out on their stoops on a hot summer night listening to the Phillies ballgames, Dads in undershirts drinking Ballantyne beer and eating pretzels...it was fun!

Those days seem so innocent in retrospect, growing up in a small town where I felt safe--even when practicing "Duck n Cover" in school, which was supposed to protect us from nuclear fall-out.. Made no sense, did it??

Then along came the Cuban missile crisis and the deaths/murders of JFK and RFK and Martin Luther King and my/our world very quickly got very ugly. That was the loss of innocence...

And today? There's still a lot of joy, but innocence? No, that's long gone, alas. But I still see the old magic in small childrens' eyes, even today...

[Peggy Anne]

From a practical standpoint, I loved it back then. I could write a book about it. There are things that I miss a lot. I spend hours looking through old catalogues online. I miss the architecture, the mom and pop stores, old department stores, movie theaters, skating rinks, ice cream shops, and bakeries. I miss the toys. I watch old episodes of Topper. They were kind of zany. I really miss Holidays from back then, too. Each generation will experience this nostalgia. We don't live in the past, but we do recall the good times.

[stillkit]

So far as I'm concerned, THESE are the good ol' days! I'm more happy and content now, at 60, than I ever was before.

Maybe it's just a case of perception.

[62inwendell]

Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler

When ever I am around the older people in my family, I always hear the term, the good old days. It is really brought up when they are looking at pictures. The photos sure bring back memories and they did sure seem to be good old days. What a time it was in America from 1945-1965. Those were the days many of my retired friends felt was the best time to be an American.

Now that you are retired, older and lived life and seen things from a mature perspective, give us an honest answer. Do you miss the good old days?

Absolutely!!!!!! If I could I would turn time back sixty years. Life was simpler, the world I lived in was cleaner, healthier, happier and I might get a second chance to do lots of things correctly. I've breathed the cleanest air, drank water out of irrigation ditches and mountain streams and rivers with no ill effects, caught fish every where, every year, harvested game with ease. I could walk along the highways without fear of being kidnapped and murdered by some pervert. I've picked up dozens of hitchhikers and helped them down the road a ways, and had eveyone of them tell me "Thank you". Everyone said please and thank you and expected no more!! When among adults who were visiting, children were seen and not heard. That was a good lesson for the future.
Girls wore dresses to school and boys wore trousers with no holes in them.
YES, I miss the good ole days.

[in_newengland]

The 50s were boring, the 60s were exciting, the 70s seemed like a void. What I miss the most, I think, is integrity. We believed (maybe falsely) in our government and trusted our leaders. Kids mostly did what their parents told them to do, not spoiled and coddled like a lot of kids today. Teachers were held in respect and the kids sat down and payed attention. The parents supported the teachers instead of protecting their pampered, precious little spoiled brats.

I feel so cynical now, so skeptical. Maybe I just used to be naive or have times changed that much? Even tv and movies could be trusted; you knew they'd be worth watching and you could trust them not to be full of trash and shock value.

I don't understand people taking drugs and I wish they'd all be locked up in jail for life. It's just something that I don't get! There's enough information out there telling people that drugs will ruin their lives so why do people still do it? There would be a lot less theft and murders if we didn't have drugs. We'd all feel safer.

I miss the excitement and innovation of the 60s and I miss the safe, trustworthy world we had. At this point in my life, I choose to live in a small, decent town and not pay much attention to the trash on tv or the hype of the media. Where I live now, the quality of life is much like what I had growing up so I'm not missing out on much in my own life, I just feel bad for the decline of our society in general and that secure feeling that all is right with the world--and if it's not quite right, we'll work to make it better.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by stillkit

So far as I'm concerned, THESE are the good ol' days! I'm more happy and content now, at 60, than I ever was before.

Maybe it's just a case of perception.

I kinda think the same way.

the "good" about the good old days--------- Sunday afternoons was always for visiting at grandparents, aunts and uncles, or they came to our place. Many happy memories of knowing my cousins cuz we didn't go to the same school
Much of that has disappeared today ( even amongst my grown children) as everybody is so busy and Sunday afternoons lost their meaning they had )

the " bad" about the good old days -------- despite the thoughts to the contrary, there were many families who lived in poverty and had a tough life.
With few modern conveniences, it was a lot of hard work to just "get by"


Credit was very tight back then.
Basically, you only had your small town banker to rely on and you better do what he said despite the fact he might be crabby, sarcastic, and would never be employed in a bank today cuz of lack of " people's skills". He solely got his job cuz his dad started the bank.

I also think years ago,a person had a huge advantage in a small town based on your last name. ( even if your last name had no bad reputation, you sure had to prove yourseld in school ,in the community, and to your banker to even get treated ok)

[Weekend Traveler]

Everyone talked about how terrible things got in the 1960s. I agree that is when society started to go down hill but all the killings and war were so far away to the average person even then because people still talked to each other back then and life was simpler at the home level.