I pretty much ‘grew up’ during the 80s/90s, and even then, those were FAR better times. I miss those decades.(even the damn Clinton years for God’s sake)
I was Navy JROTC. Color Guard and Drill Team. Showed up for school early because my partner and I raised the Flag every morning.
Good times. But...that world is forever gone. We have gone through the looking glass.
You’re right, Doc, about it being nice to look back and also a little sad. I got a little misty-eyed just reading your list, and I’m a 45-year-old woman. :-)
I know the sadness is not for what we had back then, but for what we have watched our country become today, and the dread we feel for tomorrow.
Thank you for sharing this list with us.
I would put on FNC in the morning for 3 hours. Limbaugh for most of 3 hours. And peruse FR on and off all day
Now I watch FOX in the AM for about an hour. Same for Limbaugh and peruse FR for much less
I need to keep my blood pressure down. The news is so bad lately I have to stay healthy so when the SHTF I am ready.
MOLON LABE.
Great list doc!.. I grew up in the 50’s we would get up in the morning pick sides spend the whole day outside playing baseball using a tennis ball,water balloon fights, ride our bikes four blocks away to a gas station to buy a bag full of penny candy(if we were lucky enough to have a dime and a nickel).Run around until the street lights came on which was the signal to get home. We were told to lookout for strangers but never really had to worry about it, we didn’t even really know about some of the crap that goes on today.
Hate sounding like an old foggy but those were the greatest of times!
Great list doc!.. I grew up in the 50’s we would get up in the morning pick sides spend the whole day outside playing baseball using a tennis ball,water balloon fights, ride our bikes four blocks away to a gas station to buy a bag full of penny candy(if we were lucky enough to have a dime and a nickel).Run around until the street lights came on which was the signal to get home. We were told to lookout for strangers but never really had to worry about it, we didn’t even really know about some of the crap that goes on today.
Hate sounding like an old foggy but those were the greatest of times!
Doc, thanks for the post. I can relate to most of your memories growing up around the same time, same area. Those days I’m afraid are long, long gone. The demographic makeup of the country, along with the mindset of most of the American people has changed drastically for the worse and won’t return, especially the demographics. I won’t go there because I’ll be labeled the usual lie. Doesn’t matter, the memories were wonderful, what I only regret is what remains for our children and grandchildren. Hope, prayer and action are to be pursued for the return to some sense of balance/purpose under the Constitution and to reintroduce and promote the strengths and virtues of a Republic under the historical structure of Judeo-Christian Western Civilization before it’s permanent decline. Or die trying....wake up, America, before it’s too late.
Favorite Moments of growing up in the 1970’s Bronx:
1) Anytime a fire hydrant was opened during the summer
2) Watching Reggie hit three HR’s in game 6 of the 1977 world series
3) A good slice of pizza
4) Surviving Ed Koch ‘s idiocy
5) Not becoming on of Son of Sams victims
6) Sneaking off to CB-GB’s to watch the Ramones
7) Getting into fights with pansy Disco fans near Studio 54
8) NEVER getting mugged
9) The Bronx is Burning!
10) Being the only kid who supported Reagan and Loathed Carter.
Thee and me, brother! It's a shame that younger folks, today, will never experience some of the great times WE had when we were young'uns!! I know that time marches on and our childhoods seem like ancient history, but I would LOVE to see the America of my youth! It was a proud, great country that was respected in the world and we were all proud to be Americans.
Today, Ireland is starting to look pretty good, but it's out of reach.
(sigh)
I'm oooooold! And I'm not happy! And I don't like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress -- phooey! In my day, we didn't have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state -- it was open only one hour a year. And you'd get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people -- fornicators and thieves, mutant children and circus freaks -- and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn't remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Life was simpler then. There wasn't all this concern about hy-giene! It my days, we didn't have Kleenex. When you turned seventeen, you were given the family handkerchief. ... It hadn't been washed in generations and it stood on its own ... filled with diseases and swarmin' with flies. ... If you tried to blow your nose, you'd get an infection and your head would swell up and turn green and children would burst into tears at the sight o' ya! And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Life was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn't need moooovin' pitchurrrres. In my day, there was only one show in town -- it was called "Stare at the sun!" ... That's right! You'd sit in the middle of an open field and stare up at the sun till your eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, "Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn't've stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open." But it was too late! Your head was on fire and people were roastin' chickens over it. ... And that's the way it was and we liked it!
Progress?! Flobble-de-flee! In my day, when we were angry and frustrated, we just said, "Flobble-de-flee!" 'cause we were idiots and we didn't know what else to say! Just a bunch o' illiterate Cro-Magnons, blowin' on crusty handkerchiefs, waitin' in lines for our head to burst into flame and that's the way it was and we liked it!
I bought my own for about $48 with money I had saved. Three days later my foot slipped off the pedal and went into the front wheel, breaking 3 spokes........
Yea, I remember! Just had to bring it up didn't ya?
Tose are wonderful memories of a world that is gone. Preserve them. Revisist them and share them.
Now, there is no future worth waiting around to see. Every day brings a world more decayed, more sick, more giddy with it embrace of evil.
If I had known had bad things would get, and how quickly, I would never had children. I hope they never have children.for to bring progeny into the clutches of the horror to come would be nothing other than cruel.
I don’t know if we are fortunate to have seen civilization’s peak before witnessing its collapse, or if we are cursed for it.
we grew up down the street from the Biden’s we allways had to worry about playing near there front yard, afraid we might get hit with a shotgun blast thru there front door!
I remember changing the back tire on a hand me down bike to an older fat balloon tire because it tracked better in the snow. It worked great for weeks, until one day I was doing about 30mph down this long down hill path in Kearny Park and it blew,I lost control, hit the base of a lamp post so hard it split the front forks like a wishbone.....if you wore a helmet back then, people felt sorry for you...*smiles*
When I was playing little league baseball, there were so many kids there wasn’t enough ball fields for everyone. Now I see empty ones. It’s a sad sight on Saturdays in the summer.
It was hilarious listening to all the kids commenting on each run...
"hey! I want a sled like that!"
LOL!