What Happened to the Good Ole Days...Were They Really That Good?
Friday, December 12, 2008 at 12:22pm
The following is meant to provoke thought and discussion based on two opposing views. I was reading through a number of news articles, mostly international stories, and just found myself wondering how things have continued to degenerate so far. I started to think about life, society and culture in this country. How much have we changed? So I thought I would let my mind wander off for a bit...
Do you miss the good old days? Were they really that good? Were things safer, simpler, and even sexier back then? Was less really more?
I do believe in them, and I do think I'm a bit too "old school" for this day and age.
Has discipline in school really changed so much from talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, skipping in line, wearing improper clothes, and not putting trash in garbage cans to Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, theft, assault, and guns in school?
Certainly, life was different back then. Most people got married first and then slept together. Back then having a meaningful relationship was when you spent time getting to know a person and learning about them. Now it's about satisfying your emotional emptiness through momentary and ultimately unfulfilling physical pleasure. A long term relationship is anything that lasts longer than a month, and a person's status and their 'game' matter more than their values and personality.
Life was slower sure, but at least then you could spend a minute here and there to remember it. Service stations had service. Fast food was when you reheated leftovers from the previous night. People ate dinner at a table and talked to each other. It seems like in today's world our attention spans have been reduced to that of a goldfish, we get angry when something takes longer than exactly three seconds to get done, our vocabularies have been reduced to a string of four-letter words, (it's a long sentence, are you still with me?) and by the age of 15 we have already had our first stress-induced breakdown.
Back then a quarter meant a huge chocolate bar or an ice cream float from a soda jerk. Now it's something we drop into the tip jar because we don't want to deal with it. Oh yeah, that quarter could also get you a gallon of gasoline.
The good old days meant climbing trees, playing games with real people in real streets. Actually going outside to see the sun on a daily basis and using your imagination to pick out shapes from clouds as you laid in the grass just for the simple pleasure of it. Now we spend our time in front of a television, or an all-in-one phone, and have trouble creating anything without having it spoon fed from some mainstream media source.
Sure we had our problems in the past: Bigotry, racism, war. I sure am glad we've successfully rid ourselves of them!
My stance in this debate is abundantly clear...how about yours?
The following is meant to provoke thought and discussion based on two opposing views. I was reading through a number of news articles, mostly international stories, and just found myself wondering how things have continued to degenerate so far. I started to think about life, society and culture in this country. How much have we changed? So I thought I would let my mind wander off for a bit...
Do you miss the good old days? Were they really that good? Were things safer, simpler, and even sexier back then? Was less really more?
I do believe in them, and I do think I'm a bit too "old school" for this day and age.
Has discipline in school really changed so much from talking, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, skipping in line, wearing improper clothes, and not putting trash in garbage cans to Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, theft, assault, and guns in school?
Certainly, life was different back then. Most people got married first and then slept together. Back then having a meaningful relationship was when you spent time getting to know a person and learning about them. Now it's about satisfying your emotional emptiness through momentary and ultimately unfulfilling physical pleasure. A long term relationship is anything that lasts longer than a month, and a person's status and their 'game' matter more than their values and personality.
Life was slower sure, but at least then you could spend a minute here and there to remember it. Service stations had service. Fast food was when you reheated leftovers from the previous night. People ate dinner at a table and talked to each other. It seems like in today's world our attention spans have been reduced to that of a goldfish, we get angry when something takes longer than exactly three seconds to get done, our vocabularies have been reduced to a string of four-letter words, (it's a long sentence, are you still with me?) and by the age of 15 we have already had our first stress-induced breakdown.
Back then a quarter meant a huge chocolate bar or an ice cream float from a soda jerk. Now it's something we drop into the tip jar because we don't want to deal with it. Oh yeah, that quarter could also get you a gallon of gasoline.
The good old days meant climbing trees, playing games with real people in real streets. Actually going outside to see the sun on a daily basis and using your imagination to pick out shapes from clouds as you laid in the grass just for the simple pleasure of it. Now we spend our time in front of a television, or an all-in-one phone, and have trouble creating anything without having it spoon fed from some mainstream media source.
Sure we had our problems in the past: Bigotry, racism, war. I sure am glad we've successfully rid ourselves of them!
My stance in this debate is abundantly clear...how about yours?
posted by Marcos Redondo - Running For Hope at
11:02 AM
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