My earliest boyhood memories were during WWII. People all worked together on the home front and on the front lines to win the war. We all sacrificed to get the job done. Nearly every family with men in the 18-35 age range had a man or men in the services. Many women volunteered also as WACs, WAVEs, and WAFs, and even to be donut dollies with the USO. I remember saving money to buy war bonds. Even us kids pitched in.
After the war, thousands of returning GIs restored the country to prosperity, working hard, paying taxes, and doing their best with little or no government help other than the GI bill of rights. I watched those guys. They were my heros.
Every boy was raised with a BB gun for plinking in his back yard. He usually had a .22 rifle, too. I got mine at age 11. In our neighborhood, no one had to lock their doors. I don't remember that I ever had a key. The house was guarded by my pet dachsund, Fritz. And he was my constant companion in the field when we'd go hunting for rabbits. I cried bitter tears when he died, bless his little doggy soul.
We were tought respect for our elders and manners in school. We had to be able to recite the preamble to the Constitution in order to graduate from 8th grade. Most of us could do the first part of the Declaration of Independence, too. For most of us, our introduction to drugs was seeing the movie "the Man With the Golden Arm" starring Frank Senatra. "Lost Weekend" with Ray Milland taught us that alcoholism was not a good thing to get into.
In high school, they trusted us with guns. I took ROTC and learned how to handle them. Took an M1 rifle from our ROTC armory home on weekends for big-bore matches. Carted it to my afternoon classes and stowed it upright in a corner of the classroom. No one thought anything about it.
Ayn Rand wrote "Atlas Shrugged" in 1957. We all read it, but the warning it contained seemed too far fetched. I understand that even today it's on the best seller list, and that's because it was WAY too predictive.
We weren't taught racism - in fact, one of my teachers was a Black lady who we thought of very highly. She was accepted and respected like all of our teachers except one, and she was a White nut case.
We got demerits for "undue familiarity" like holding hands with our girl friends, and for smoking anywhere but in the baseball dugouts, where it was allowed but supervised.
In high school, Ike was President and times were good. We trusted our leaders because we knew and they demonstrated that they were acting in our best interests instead of trying to keep their particular party in power. Democrats and Republicans eyed each other a bit warily, but in general they got along and cooperated to get stuff done.
Gas was 30 cents per gallon, and there was plenty to go around. The car companies made pretty good products and priced them reasonably. No one in government cued them on what to do, what to say, or who their executives should be.
Self-reliance was a way of life. There weren't 20,000 government agencies and bureaucrats to "help" us. We just did what needed doing. We went to school, got educated, got meaningful jobs, and raised families of our own. I married my high school sweetheart, a lovely girl I had picked out of the pack back in the 3rd grade. She and I are still best friends and love each other more and more every day.
Our kids turned out all right. We warned them about drugs, and helped them to get college educations. We encouraged them to be with their grandparents, who were the best of role models. Our kids are raising their own families now.
We cared for our parents in their sunset years until they passed on, secure in the knowledge that they were loved, appreciated and respected.
Just today I went and placed flowers on the graves of my mother and grandmother in the local cemetery. They were special people and members of generations who were, by and large, exemplary folks. They went through the Great Depression. They were made of iron, and came through the fire forged into steel.
I'm retired now. But I remember an America that no longer exists, and I miss it a great deal.
What happened... what happened? I guess I'm just getting old.
After the war, thousands of returning GIs restored the country to prosperity, working hard, paying taxes, and doing their best with little or no government help other than the GI bill of rights. I watched those guys. They were my heros.
Every boy was raised with a BB gun for plinking in his back yard. He usually had a .22 rifle, too. I got mine at age 11. In our neighborhood, no one had to lock their doors. I don't remember that I ever had a key. The house was guarded by my pet dachsund, Fritz. And he was my constant companion in the field when we'd go hunting for rabbits. I cried bitter tears when he died, bless his little doggy soul.
We were tought respect for our elders and manners in school. We had to be able to recite the preamble to the Constitution in order to graduate from 8th grade. Most of us could do the first part of the Declaration of Independence, too. For most of us, our introduction to drugs was seeing the movie "the Man With the Golden Arm" starring Frank Senatra. "Lost Weekend" with Ray Milland taught us that alcoholism was not a good thing to get into.
In high school, they trusted us with guns. I took ROTC and learned how to handle them. Took an M1 rifle from our ROTC armory home on weekends for big-bore matches. Carted it to my afternoon classes and stowed it upright in a corner of the classroom. No one thought anything about it.
Ayn Rand wrote "Atlas Shrugged" in 1957. We all read it, but the warning it contained seemed too far fetched. I understand that even today it's on the best seller list, and that's because it was WAY too predictive.
We weren't taught racism - in fact, one of my teachers was a Black lady who we thought of very highly. She was accepted and respected like all of our teachers except one, and she was a White nut case.
We got demerits for "undue familiarity" like holding hands with our girl friends, and for smoking anywhere but in the baseball dugouts, where it was allowed but supervised.
In high school, Ike was President and times were good. We trusted our leaders because we knew and they demonstrated that they were acting in our best interests instead of trying to keep their particular party in power. Democrats and Republicans eyed each other a bit warily, but in general they got along and cooperated to get stuff done.
Gas was 30 cents per gallon, and there was plenty to go around. The car companies made pretty good products and priced them reasonably. No one in government cued them on what to do, what to say, or who their executives should be.
Self-reliance was a way of life. There weren't 20,000 government agencies and bureaucrats to "help" us. We just did what needed doing. We went to school, got educated, got meaningful jobs, and raised families of our own. I married my high school sweetheart, a lovely girl I had picked out of the pack back in the 3rd grade. She and I are still best friends and love each other more and more every day.
Our kids turned out all right. We warned them about drugs, and helped them to get college educations. We encouraged them to be with their grandparents, who were the best of role models. Our kids are raising their own families now.
We cared for our parents in their sunset years until they passed on, secure in the knowledge that they were loved, appreciated and respected.
Just today I went and placed flowers on the graves of my mother and grandmother in the local cemetery. They were special people and members of generations who were, by and large, exemplary folks. They went through the Great Depression. They were made of iron, and came through the fire forged into steel.
I'm retired now. But I remember an America that no longer exists, and I miss it a great deal.
What happened... what happened? I guess I'm just getting old.
