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I think most of the OP is rediculous and preys on the odd ball situations that have occured once..somewhere..while romanticizing the past. ie: Johnny and Mark shake hands and become friends? How do you come to THAT conclusion? Probably Johnny went home and huffed paint and died or something.
As someone who was born in the 50's I promise you it wasn't as sweet as people want to believe.
Totally agree with you (fellow baby boomer here)! Reps to you, also...have to spread some around before I'm allowed to rep you again.
I was a kid in the 50's and I had, due to working parents, a whole lot of freedom. We had a small amusement park with a fairly complete machine and welding shop. I was fairly proficient metal worker by 1958. So you take a creative kid with a machine shop and you can get all sorts of wondrous things like pipe bombs, rocket sleds (second cousins of pipe bombs) and all the fabrication needed for the miniature rail road.
I kind of enjoyed the late fifties and early sixties whenever my step father was dead drunk. The annoying part was just before he collapsed. Then he was a right mean ba88tard. After he could no longer beat on me because I told him I would kill him if he tried he started beating on my mother. They split up and mother took me into poverty and away from my shop. I did not enjoy that one little bit.
I got in a couple of fights in school because I was a skinny kid with thick glasses and an easy target. Eventually, after getting blamed for starting fights with the school bully, I realized this was a fixed system. I avoided the bullies until about 9th grade. By then I was no longer skinny and I had learned how to fight dirty. I broke a couple of the bullies and the rest left me alone. Even then I was sent home for a week for hurting the jerks. Some punishment, it was in late spring so a week away from the jerks was a blessing.
I’ll bet schools still have bullies but, instead of letting some kid teach them a painful lesson, the blame the victim and give the bully therapy.
I grew up in primarily the 90's and I did most of the things kids did in the 50's, playing with fire, fighting at school, making noise in class, climbing trees and getting hurt ( a lot). And contrary to belief, people took it pretty well.
I grew up in primarily the 90's and I did most of the things kids did in the 50's, playing with fire, fighting at school, making noise in class, climbing trees and getting hurt ( a lot). And contrary to belief, people took it pretty well.
I did as well. There are probably a lot of places that are just fine today. We're only gonna hear about the ludicrous ones on the news, of couse.
We used to have guns at school as well, so we could rush out and duck hunt after class. We were just told to keep them locked in the trunk of the car.
Lol. I like your scenarios. Sad but true is right. We are now a nation of nail biters worried about the next terrorist attack or school shooting. The world is a mess. But I'm sure back then there were other things that were swept under the rug that we don't hear about. It wasn't all Pork Chops & Applesauce I'm sure. Aunt B's warm apple pie could have been a plastic prop built by engineers in Hollywood.
I was born in 1945, grew up in the fifties and sixties, guys like "the Fonz" were carrying knives or guns, they'd use them from time to time and a lot of those tough guys went to jail. Alchoholism was fairly common among the parents of my friends, in turn many of my friends became alky's. We didn't have drugs, we didn't belong to gangs, but the violence was there, in the home, after school, at the movies, it was not Happy Days.
One thing that has contributed to some big societal change has been our huge population growth, economic oppertunity has been diminished greatly since the fifties and don't forget that holy grail in our country that has been the desire to see the youth live "better lives" than the parents. This notion more than many others has led a lot of folks to raise their kids in the manner most approved by Madison Ave, more toys, more money, less work, more play, why are we now questioning the work habits of the younger generation after they got so much stuff for free their entire lives. All in all I don't see the past or the present as anything but the natural outcome of a society hell bent on consumerisn and mindless entertainment.
I think most of the OP is rediculous and preys on the odd ball situations that have occured once..somewhere..while romanticizing the past. ie: Johnny and Mark shake hands and become friends? How do you come to THAT conclusion? Probably Johnny went home and huffed paint and died or something.
As someone who was born in the 50's I promise you it wasn't as sweet as people want to believe.
Depending what year you were born in the 50's you probably have no true memory of the 50's....
Actual recollection, 1950s. Every boy, from kindergarten on, carries a jackknife to school. During recess, they play games that involve throwing the knives. Some of the knives are switchblades (particularly handy in a fishing tackle box, one doesn't always have two free hands when needed), which are thought particularly cool by other boys.
Some high school boys keep fishing rods in their lockers. On nice days, when the art teachers says go out and sketch, you sketch with a line in the water You keep your fish in the sink at the back of the art room until it's time to go home. I'm not sure if guns were ever tested for hunting at school.
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