Friday, February 20, 2009

Remember When...

I am going to get on my soapbox today and talk about those chain e-mails that float around the internet entitled "Remember When..."
I see these in slightly different forms but they all amount to the same thing-remember when the world was great and right now sucks? Children played outside, people ran with scissors, and we all survived. It is human nature to remember the good but as a history nut, let me do my own version of "Remember When..." Some of these, it is pretty obvious they are before my time and some are from my life time, but they are all from the United States.

Remember When...
*It was okay to morally and legally discriminate...
*Nutritional Diseases were very common due to food being seasonal...
*Jackie Robinson was going to ruin Baseball...
*The biggest drug dealer in East Multnomah County was in four of my HIGH SCHOOL classes when he was arrested...
*Mental Health consisted of two sides-you were crazy or you weren't...
*Talking about any form of birth control, including abstinence, was punishable by a prison term...
*Contracting polio was a very real fear for children...
*Issues like child and spousal abuse, incest, alcoholism, and rape were never discussed and the victims had to suffer in silence...
*If you had a learning disability you simply failed school...
*It could take days to simply travel out of state...
*Giving Women and "Blacks" the right to vote was going to ruin this country...
*Meat Plants could legally boost their hamburger product by adding things like sawdust, metal shavings, and anything else they choose...
*Your employer could demand you work 7 days a week, or you could be fired...
*Children under the age of 10 could legally work, even in dangerous conditions...
*We polluted the water, air, and soil to the detrement of our health and other animals...
*Smoking was socially acceptable and done publically indoors...
*There was no financial aid for colleges...
*Wallpaper included prints for ugly flowers and paisley designs. (Ugh!)

Nothing is perfect, not then-whenever "then" was-and not now. We have some real problems. But we also have some real good things going on, even with the economy as it is. So why is that minors under 18, who are statistically safer than they have ever been before, have one of the fastest climbing suicide rates? Why do they view things as so bad?
If you send me one of these e-mails, I won't go balistic on you, but I never pass them on either. Delete can be a wonderful thing.

1 comment:

AMJ said...

Well groucherella............No things were not always good and they weren't all bad, It is not a bad thing to remember the good things from when we were kids or our parents were kids. However, instead of pointing out all the things that were bad then, why not point out the positives of today......Like, more choices, better nutrition, better mental health care, more help available for troubled teens, more opportunities for kids, better communication technology so we can stay in touch half way around the world.......Life is what we make of it and it is OK to remember the good things as long as we remember what is good now too. And learn from our mistakes........