Open Writing

People of my generation talk longingly about the Good Old Days.

I hear them say, "What has happened to the melody in music and where has the beauty gone that once was in art?''

"Where has the romance gone from love and where is the commitment in marriage, as it was when we were young?''

"Where the responsibility in parenthood and togetherness in family life, as it used to be?''

"Do you notice how little civility and respect is shown to elders? How not much compassion is shown to those less fortunate?''

"Do you see prudence in regard to the spending of money is not a part of life as it was when we were young?''

All these questions are asked in order to suggest that today things are not as good as they were when they were young.

I think people who brood about the so-called Good Old Days should think carefully about what those days were really like for many people.

Was it really as good in those distant days as many of the older generation would have us believe? Many good things exist today. just as they did years ago - and also many bad things.

People are people. There aresavers and spenders, the heartless and the caring, gamblers, the drug addicts, alcoholics, the wife bashers, sadists, thieves. They are with us today. They were with us years ago.

Maybe we need to stand back and take a closer look at those so-called Good Old Days.

Notice how people are better off in health today. See the help that exists out there in the community for the sick, the aged, the dying.

So much help is available to help people cope. So man give their time and love. with no financial reward.

People who care today just as much as they did in the days gone by.

Children now grow up healthy instead of dying young as they used to. Tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox, a lack of nourishment took many young children. It was then accepted as a part of life.

Today mothers rarely die in childbirth, or have so many children that their health suffers .

Dental care and personal hygiene were then not part of everyday life .

The soap thatwas used to wash faces was also used to wash the family laundry.

Newspaper for the outside WC was the only avialable toilet paper.

Men worked hard for the major part of their lives, trying to keep the wolf from the door, taking care of their families.
Most men today are able to enjoy leisure time.

They do not have to work until they are worn out, so that when they finally retire there are only a few years left for them to enjoy. They do not have to slave, to take underpaid work as they did in those Good Old Days, or have suffer the humiliations to bring home a wage which was barely enough to feed a family.

No longer are theyexpected to doff their caps to the so called upper classes.

Children now have the opportunity of a higher education which was only available for the rich, years ago.

In the Good Old Days holidays were not part of life for the working classes.

Only people immigrating to New Zealand or Australia were able to enjoy the pleasure of a sea voyage. Owning one's home was out of the question. Landlords prospered, and many people lived in squalid slum conditions. The Church was one of the biggest offenders in allowing this to exist.

In many poor homes Christmas was a special time. There was more food on the table, due mostly to the fact that the parents had joined a local Christmas Club and saved a few pennies a week,the only way for most of the working class to afford any extras.

This was a once a year treat, with plenty to eat and drink , and extra goodies. A very special time for most families. Turkey, Christmas Pudding, all sorts of fruit jellies and sweets and maybe a small present from Santa.

A glass of Port and a cigar for Dad. A real treat! And it happened only once a year.

Today most families in the Western World eat well every day of the year. Sadly, many eat far too much.

Now there are few children who are thin and undernourished, as they were in those so called Good Old Days.

Worn out shoe soles, with cardboard inside them to stop the rain getting in. Patched clothes. Hand-me- downs. This will be a memory of childhood for many grown-ups today.

Love and compassion still abound, but we only hear about the bad things because that is the news people seem to want. Evidently nobody wants to hear ofthe good deeds that are happening every day. Newspapers would not stay in business if they printed only the good news.

Remember, those Good Old Days saw poverty. Children were reularly beaten, suffering cruelty, hunger, illness, despair.

Men often drank too much to blot out their disappointment at what life had handed out to them.

Women were obliged to stay in loveless marriages, living as drudges.

The Good Old Days are a myth.

Some say they would like to be young again, go back to their forties. Ask them if they would like to live the last thirty years over again. Most will say no! They really only want to feel forty again.

I am beginning to wonder if Nature plays a part in the need for many older people to look into the past and see life as being better then than it is today .

Romanticising the past only helps to make the present look less attractive .