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Opinions are fun. My friends tell me I am someone with lots of opinions and that's fine since I don't get mad at others when they disagree with me. In this same spirit I am interested in hearing yours views as long as you are able to share your views without boiling over. I look forward to hearing from you. I tend to write in the form of short essays most of the time, but contributions do not need to be in this same format or size. Some of the content here will date itself pretty quickly, other content may be virtually timeless, this is for the reader to judge.
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Things ain't what they used to be.
Posted at: Oct/15/2009 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Historical Insights,
Things ain't what they used to be, that sentiment harkens back to a simpler day in which innocence was not met with sarcasm, a man's word was his bond and yadda yadda yadda. How many times have we heard that rant, it’s probably right up there with the “when I was a boy stories” we all get tired of hearing. What a bunch of bull &%#@. I would really like to know which time period in this country's history that phrase is supposed to be referring to? Are we talking about the witch hunts? Are we talking about the era of slavery? What about our Civil War pitting brother against brother? How about our westward expansion in which we nearly exterminated the Native Americans and the buffalo in the spirit of manifest destiny? Could this be the dust bowl era of the Great Depression? Maybe we’re talking about the rise of gangs and organized crime? How about the internment of Japanese during WWII? It must be the McCarthy Witch Hut trials of the 1950’s. I know, it could be the violence of the Watts riots and the Vietnam protest era? I could go on and on, I am sure you feel I have skipped over something important. Television's "Happy Days" would lead you to believe life in the '50s and '60s was all about high school dances and hot fudge sundaes, but many of us know that was hardly the case. Our history is fraught with change, hardship, abuse, and controversy. Take an honest look at this country's +230 years of history. Why not also include the 150 years leading up to our revolution, what you will find are moments of brilliance and triumphs, moral bankruptcy, abuse and hypocrisy along with a great deal of denial and revision by everyone. Ever noticed the selective memory new mothers have, despite all the screaming during child birth, a few hours later most are in bliss and talking of having another. Maybe you remember that car you had nothing but frustration with, but 5 years after it is sold you can’t seem to say enough about it’s reliability. It is because of our tendency to rewrite unpleasant aspects of our history. A friend of mine once said “never let a few facts stand in the way of a good story.” In war, as in much of man’s struggles the privilege of writing the history always goes to the victor. Maybe it is the rose-colored vision into the past that has us selectively forgetting the hardships and abuse in favor of poetic ramblings. Our march through time is a continuous series of changes. With each new technological or social change there are winners and there are losers. Some losers come about as a victim of change such as the family farmer and production line worker. Some loser come as a victim of others greed and averse. That we all continually struggle to create our personal interpretation of the American Dream means change won’t stop. That we continue to struggle means we have yet to make the kind of significant social progress we need to truly realize the American Dream. Winners or losers, take a realistic look at history and you will come to realize that life is pretty good right now. In other words, ignoring the ugly of the past can stifle the beauty of today. Some times it is difficult to truly appreciate how good things are now without an “honest” view of the past. Virtually across the board things are better now than nearly any other time in American history. It is true that we are currently in a recession, but this will pass. Even our recession is better than the “good old days”. In the Depression of the 1930’s unemployment was as high as 20% where we are currently seeing just over 10%. In the 1930’s people lost their savings when banks closed, now savings are federally insured. In the 1930’s unemployment meant bread lines or returning to the family farm, now we have a number of social and government safety nets to help make a soft landing. We seem to have romanticized the past so much that we have convinced ourselves we were a perfect people back then, (whenever then is). Change is inevitable, and therefore some version of progress is also ever present. Let’s be sure to remember our history realistically so we don’t repeat our mistakes and so we realize that just maybe things are better now. In current terms, let’s avoid “Photoshopping” out all the hardships of the past. Social, philosophical, and technological progress is much easier to make when you have a clear picture of where you have been and where you are. Life is actually pretty good right now by virtually any standard of measurement that compares then to now, that includes health, safety, longevity, diversity, and opportunity. Remember that life isn't black and white. Sometimes you have to peel back a few layers to fully understand what you're looking at. It reminds us that to error is human, and selectively not wanting to deal with error... well that may be the most common human trait of all. Me, I like indoor plumbing!
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