Were They Really the Good Old Days?

[smstonypoint]

I am sometimes reflect back on my younger days and think of them as the "Good Old Days." This article puts that idea in perspective: 50 Reasons We're Living Through the Greatest Period in World History

Some of my favorites:

4. In 1949, Popular Mechanics magazine made the bold prediction that someday a computer could weigh less than 1 ton. I wrote this sentence on an iPad that weighs 0.73 pounds.

14. In 1952, 38,000 people contracted polio in America alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2012, there were fewer than 300 reported cases of polio in the entire world.

19. According to the Census Bureau, only one in 10 American homes had air conditioning in 1960. That rose to 49% in 1973, and 89% today -- the 11% that don't are mostly in cold climates. Simple improvements like this have changed our lives in immeasurable ways.

26. Google Maps is free. If you think about this for a few moments, it's really astounding. It's probably the single most useful piece of software ever invented, and it's free for anyone to use.

32. Incomes have grown so much faster than food prices that the average American household now spends less than half as much of its income on food as it did in the 1950s. Relative to wages, the price of food has declined more than 90% since the 19th century, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

50. Only 4% of humans get to live in America. Odds are you're one of them. We've got it made. Be thankful.

Steve

 

[MoKelly]

I believe most older folks look back and view the past as "the good old days" because they were on life's journey. Once that journey starts to slow meaningfully (retire from job, children move away) we begin to look back longingly.

I very much believe in the saying "its the journey, not the destination". Once we get pretty close to the destination, we look back at the journey with happiness.


Also, the closer we get to old age the more we look back to when we were young vs. modern conveniences.

Who wouldn't trade being able to sit inside with air conditioning surfing the net on some machine weighing less than a pound, with being hot, sweaty, playing baseball with your friends in a field under the sun? A no brainer.

MoKelly

 

[kenmac]

In the good old days In the Good Old Days When Times Were Bad - YouTube Those were the simple times. Not the rat race it is today

 

[newbury]

Yes, they REALLY were the good old days.

I remember like it was yesterday. Warm, sunny, everything right in the world. But that was back on February 1st, 2014.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I am sometimes reflect back on my younger days and think of them as the "Good Old Days." This article puts that idea in perspective: 50 Reasons We're Living Through the Greatest Period in World History

Some of my favorites:

Well, I'll defer to the great antagonist, Dr. Pangloss of the novel, Candide by Voltaire. Quote " this is the best of all possible worlds ". Why, ? it is the one we are living in at the moment.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I believe most older folks look back and view the past as "the good old days" because they were on life's journey. Once that journey starts to slow meaningfully (retire from job, children move away) we begin to look back longingly.

I very much believe in the saying "its the journey, not the destination". Once we get pretty close to the destination, we look back at the journey with happiness.


Also, the closer we get to old age the more we look back to when we were young vs. modern conveniences.

Who wouldn't trade being able to sit inside with air conditioning surfing the net on some machine weighing less than a pound, with being hot, sweaty, playing baseball with your friends in a field under the sun? A no brainer.

MoKelly

Very insightful, thanks. Your comments remind me of a Beatles song, the line goes " the road behind us is longer than the road ahead". Makes one think.

 

[creekbend]

Thanks for posting. Seven of us lived in a Four Room Home. We took a bath in an outbuilding in galvanized tub in the summer time. We did the same in the kitchen in the winter. No runing water, outhouse,wringer type washing machine, clothes line, raised all our food except flour and sugar. We didn't know that WE were POOR, until we heard someone say it. In 71, I had security clearance to enter the logistical operations of Charleston Naval Yard. BTW, I was in the Army. The Main Computer was huge, probably 60 foot long and 15 foot tall. Thanks for listening.

 

[dave1949]

Good or bad (by comparison), I think nostalgia plays a role. If you didn't realize it was worse at the time, then it won't be remembered as such.

I do think people are built to remember the "good" more than the "bad."

I don't remember where I read it, but the point was made that humans don't remember the feeling of physical pain. We remember the incident or circumstance that resulted in pain, but not the nerve sensation of pain. Memories are somewhat similar.

 

[300UGUY]

I really don't look back much. Tommorow is much more important to me. I don't understand folks who live in the past.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

It's hard to be nostalgic when you can't remember anything!