(Contributed by Ann Marie Rossetti
Malvey) Were you a kid in the Fifties or
earlier? Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians
joke. Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and
say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad?
Judge for yourself: In 1953 The US population was less
than 150 million... Yet you knew more people then, and
knew them better... And that was good. The average annual salary was under
$3,000... Yet our parents could put some of it away for a
rainy day and still live a decent life... And that was
good A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents...
But it was safe for a five-year-old to skate to the store
and buy one... And that was good. Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie
and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So nobody ever heard
of ratings or filters... And that was good. We didn't have air-conditioning... So
the windows stayed up and half a dozen mothers ran outside
when you fell off your bike... And that was good. Your teacher was either Miss Matthews
or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... But not Ms Becky or Mr.
Dan... And that was good. The only hazardous material you knew
about... Was a patch of grassburrs around the light pole at
the corner... And that was good. You loved to climb into a fresh bed...
Because sheets were dried on the clothesline... And that
was good. People generally lived in the same
hometown with their relatives.. So "child care" meant
grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was
good. Parents were respected and their rules
were law.... Children did not talk back..... and that was
good. TV was in black-and-white... But all
outdoors was in glorious color....And that was certainly
good. Your Dad knew how to adjust
everybody's carburetor... And the Dad next door knew how
to adjust all the TV knobs.. And that was very
good. Your grandma grew snap beans in the
back yard... And chickens behind the garage... And that
was definitely good. And just when you were about to do
something really bad... Chances were you'd run into your
Dad's high school coach... Or the nosy old lady from up the
street... Or your little sister's piano teacher... Or
somebody from Church.... ALL of whom knew your parents'
phone number... And YOUR first name... And even THAT was
good! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REMEMBER... Send this on to someone who can still
remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy,
Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda
Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger,
The Shadow Knows Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and
Buttermilk as well as the sound of a real mower on
Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides,
playing cowboy, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and
Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local
theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to
the pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax
lips and bubblegum cigars Didn't that feel good, just to go back
and say, Yeah, I remember that! And was it really that long
ago?