It was a time when doors were left unlocked, children played outside until dusk and what few television programs shown, were entertaining, informative or faith based. Even our Jewish neighbors appreciated watching ...
Posted on 12/31/2012 6:51:01 AM PST by NYer
New Year’s observances blend recollections of the past, celebrations in the present, and anticipation of the future. For a variety of reasons, I’m feeling nostalgic this year. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the decade of my childhood—the 1950s.
In October, my wife and I saw a play in which people weary of the hectic pace of contemporary life could escape to an “authentic” 1950s community where the more relaxed pace of the past had been recreated. In the play, the benefit of relocating to the ’50s was a simpler, less stressful life, but it came at a price—enduring racial and sexual prejudice. The problem was that the playwright—a man in his 30s—had zero feel for the era. He simply reproduced various one-dimensional stereotypes about the ’50s that he had heard or read.
... snip ....
My view of the ’50s is more benign. I recall it as a happy, safe time—almost a Golden Age in American history. ... snip ... I’m glad I got to be a kid at a time of peace and prosperity.
In the ’50s, homes were smaller, cars larger, attire more formal, and the range of consumer products far narrower. A sense of order prevailed. Neighbors watched out for everyone’s kids. We left our homes and cars unlocked. Kids behaved in school or were expelled. Most of us toed the line, because we knew that our parents would take the teacher’s side. Teachers were respected and principals feared. People accepted responsibility for their actions. If you hurt yourself doing something careless, you never thought of suing the company that made the thing with which you hurt yourself. Most of us went to Sunday school or synagogue every weekend, learning right from wrong and that we are accountable to a higher power.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
For those who share these memories and those who wish they did ;-)
In a nutshell ... a lott'a psychological health in those sentences
Even with regular Air Raid Drills and gruesome descriptions of nuclear war (”Don’t look at the flash or your eyeballs will melt!) I STILL felt more secure and safe in my Beloved America in the Fifties than I do now.
Remember Khrushchev banging his shoe on the desk? LOL!
The Good Guys were Good and the Bad Guys were BAD. I Loved the Fifties!
OK...I know the “shoe thing” was probably in the early 60’s. The “Fifties” ended on November 22, 1963. For me, anyway.
I remember when my brother and I were told to be in before the street lights went on guess what we were or else.
Parents were non existent on any given day ut for aan ankle and foot in a doorway in a distant room. But they knew what we were up to.
Tehere were older siblings, and they were sanctioned if we did something to embarass the family.
And we were not allowed to be in the house during the day. We had to brave a lot for that.
Once, someone fixed the lock on our front door so we could lock it. I was in my twenties.
The teacher was NEVER wrong. But she was a good person, out for my welfare.
Mean, though.
People dressed appropriately. I still do, and I get treated well for it. Dressing well is easy and way underrated.
It was a privilege to grow up in the ’50s.
***
Ditto!
During my period of great despondency immediately following the stolen election, I was lamenting the loss of our republic, when one of my elder sisters stated, “We got to live in the best part of it”. Still makes me tear up to type that, as it reminds me of what my grandchildren will never have.
I love Norman Rockwell!
Happy New Year, FRiend!
As we have been told, the cause of all of the current shootings is ‘the easy availability of guns.’
Well let me let everyone in on a little secret:
GUNS WERE ONE HELL OF A LOT MORE AVAILABLE DURING THE 1950'S THEN THEY ARE TODAY.
Most of the households back then had a father that had been in World War II. There were three M1 Garands in my neighborhood alone. One owner would load up all the kids in the block and take us out to the range to shoot his. Many houses had a 1911 Colt or some kind of wheel gun. None were locked up, and most were loaded.
And if you wanted to buy a gun, who here remembers, “Service Armament”? They were one of many MAIL ORDER gun companies. Just a money order and the Postman walked right up to your door and delivered.
My Dad said if I made all Bs in my sophomore year I could buy a pistol.I picked and Astra 9mm (I thought it looked neat, but it is really a poor design). I filled out all the paperwork and saved my money. To make a long story short, I still have the gun, and somewhere I may even still have the box it came in, addressed to me - a 15 year old.
If easy availability of guns was the problem, the 50’s should have seen daily school blood baths. It didn't. And that alone PROVES that the availability of guns has NOTHING to do with the causes of the current madness.
If you had said let’s take God out of the school system you would have to say, “how are you going to guard against the onslaught of the enemy?”
“If you had said let’s take God out of the school system you would have to say, “how are you going to guard against the onslaught of the enemy?”
Not quite sure what you are trying to say, but if in the 1950’s you had said, “let’s take God our of the school system” my parents and a whole bunch of other very angry parents would have shown up - and been VERY LOUD.
The liberals are a lot smarter then we give them credit for. The work like water, just slowly wearing away the morals and sanity that creates a good society. They’ve been at it for the last sixty years. It’s just now that we are really staring to see the effects.
I remember one shooting at school in the fifties. A guy brought his shotgun to Massapequa HS and killed some other guy over a girl. The teacher who disarmed him was Alex Baldwin Sr.
Yes, those were the good old days for firearms. My dad owned over 200 firearms at that time, all easily available in the home and you know what? With the exception of when we went out hunting or to the range or to clean them, I knew if I ever put my hands on one, they would stay on them...no joke, I just knew better.
The rest of the 50’s were pretty calm to, once the Korean War was over. Schools were places to learn, not day care centers. I went to a local church grade school taught by mostly nuns. We were praised when we did well, and if we did something wrong, well, I always felt the principal nun was hiding out from Nuremberg for having run a concentration camp. Frightening woman. I don’t recall the police ever coming to school except to hand out the safety patrol badges and gather them up at the end of the school year. A big night out was when the family went to the movies. One TV, a few channels and no filth on it. My parents decided what was on and when we went to bed. Yes, “go outside and play” was a daily thing, no hanging about the house playing video games and the like. Touch football ran from october to March and baseball from April to October, either at the park or in the street. Water ballon fights and tag games....a wonderful time to be a kid.
Meanwhile, we had chores to accomplish too. Mostly helping out but nonetheless we were involved. Minor plumbing, painting, car maintenance, cleaning game both fish and foul. We were taught how to do things besides checking Angie’s list.
Yes, I remember at least a couple of those kinds of shootings as well.
But I'm talking about a kid just showing up and indiscriminately shooting people for no reason. Two guys having a beef with each other - yes, high school kids killing people just for fun - no.
It was a time when doors were left unlocked, children played outside until dusk and what few television programs shown, were entertaining, informative or faith based. Even our Jewish neighbors appreciated watching ...
Remember when I was in the eight grade about `62 the
school took us on a field trip to the local jail..8 cells
Today we have a jail built about 8 yrs ago to hold 500,now
they are triple bunking them because of over crowding
“A guy brought his shotgun to Massapequa HS and killed some other guy over a girl”
Bingo - first correct answer.
Almost every home back then with kids had a Mom AND a Dad. Mom was kind but strict, and Dad had a large leather belt. And there was order and politeness in society, from the home, to the neighborhood, to schools. But as the liberals will tell you, those were ‘terrible times that restricted children’s growth and development.’ Never mind that those kids went on to build the largest free market economy on earth and STILL pay a huge percentage of the takes.
Since then we have been taught that there must be ‘freedom’ and ‘understanding’. That under no circumstances should a parent ever strike a child. And that all of the bedrock American beliefs are wrong and must be torn down.
Working out really well, isn’t it?
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