Critically Thinking about “Progress”

Putting things in perspective…

Every so often it’s a good idea to step back to see if we have things in proper perspective. With the daily whiplash of modern society it’s easy to lose our bearings. Let’s have a quick reset. Remember when…

A quarter was a decent allowance, and it was made with real Silver!

You’d reach into a muddy gutter for a copper penny — looking to see if it was a 1943 silver penny!

Your family car’s windshield was cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking — all for free, every time. And, you got trading stamps, free glasses, etc. besides! (And if you needed air for the tires, it was free.)

Schools graded based on merit! Getting 90+ (A) on your report card meant that you were not only very intelligent, but you worked hard… Also, schools threatened to keep kids back a year if they failed… and they did it! (BTW this is my actual 8th grade pix. One nun. No discipline problems!)

Having a weapon in School meant being caught with a Pea Shooter.

Having cigarettes in School meant candy cigarettes.

Being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the misbehaving student at home.

We were in fear for our lives, but it wasn’t because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!

But we survived because their love was greater than the threat!

And it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner with your parents — even if it was just to get “fast food.”

Remember TV shows like Howdy Doody & the Peanut Gallery? The Lone Ranger? Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Fury, and My Friend Flicka? Gabby Hayes?

Think back to summers filled with bike rides, Hula hoops, visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar…

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, “That cloud looks like a …”

Catching Fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening

Playing baseball with no adults to help us with the rules of the game…

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles…

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers…

Newsreels before the movie…

Telephone numbers with a word prefix…(Redwood 2601).
And, some people even had a party line.

45 RPM records?

78 RPM records!

‘Race issue’ meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Taking drugs meant orange – flavored chewable aspirin.

War was a card game.

It wasn’t odd to have two or three ‘Best Friends’.

Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles.

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

The Worst Embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

So with all our progress, don’t you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today?

Didn’t that feel good to think back and say, ‘Yeah, I remember that”?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have Lived!

Pass this on to a friend who may need a break from their ‘Grown-Up’ Life.

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