Harking for a simpler time.....

[HOP UP]

Hey all....Ive been a member on the HAMB for many years and some time ago remembered a thread about the Golden era and one particular post really summed it up for me and how things have become.

Still rings true more than ever and I thought Id share it with you all.


Yes the Golden Era it was a good time period in regards to a lot of things that made it a good period. It was THE PEOPLE and they way in which THEY were AS A PEOPLE made it a good time! Its not a matter of the material,...but of the tangible things within and the surroundings you exist within.

Its good you say what you do regarding your days as a young kid, but its a young child's viewpoint of the period, and you are suject to your upbringing, and your surroundings. Things instilled in you and your family and friends. Many things make an experience and a memory.

Today, out of nowhere and ironically as this has been an ongoing topic, a fellow stopped by when I was working in the garage. Wouldn't you know,...a WWII Marine Corps Vet! What are the chances!!??

Well one of the things I stuck out right in the midst of our conversation was the question, "well, I guess though in those times growing up and being in the war it was tough, and not the greatest of times??"

His answer was immediately, "well, no, no, hell you could go to the store with $10 dollars and get three bags of groceries or more,....today you'd be lucky to get a porckhop and a can of coke!" "no there were a lot of good things then,..." Now this is a guy that was shot at on Tinian during WWII in the Pacific.

People fixed what they already had because you lived in a world then that taught you thiftyness and common sense. This has been replaced by wastefulness and stupidity! Not only was there a shortage,...people knew what they had, they "got it" and realized the value of things and their priorities made sense, not "for the time period" but they had the air of common sense and simplicity. Back then everyone could do for themselves, today everyone needs their cell phone and their computer to get through the friggin day!

I say bring back the Victory Gardens, the church on Sunday, the town hall dances ( and not to the latest booty shakin Jay-Z crap either).

Teach some morals, teach some history and some respect for each other.

Bring back the common place scenes of pledging allegiance to the American flag.
The manners for each other. Teach kids to hold the door for others, and to say hello instead of grimacing.

Let men tip their hats to women, and stand up when a woman walks into the room. :eusa_clap
Teach men that their place is to get a set of balls and be a man when they decide they were man enough to get a girl pregnant! A man stays, a bumb runs.

Teach a woman that they need to have a little respect for themselves and not act like cheap whores in skimpy clothing,....there's nothing like the lines of a woman dressed in a flowing dress when it acentuates her from her hips to the bones of her legs!:eusa_clap

Imagination,...leave something to it! Without it, you dumb down your senses and cheapen yourself and your emotions.

Bring back the farms, the steel industry, the policeman walking the beat.

Bring back the town hall events, the community days, and the parades.

Bring back the mom and pop businesses, make the big stores that have taken over the towns close up for once and wonder what happened in the middle of the night, like so many of our townspeople across the United States have wondered and been bewildered down to the core of their beings. Lost, left on the side of the road. Needing to start a new, even though they had a legacy that someone with more money than brains took from them!

Teach hunting and not killing.

Teach fishing and not stabbing.

Teach camping and not hanging out untill 3AM when you're 12-15 years old.:eusa_doh:

Teach compassion and not to turn a blind eye when someone is in need,...whether it be a cup of flower for the afternoon's dinner, or the need of defense from a mugger or harrassment by thugs, jerks, or bullies.

Reach into the soul of what WAS and make it was IS!

Do not succumb to the banters of the media or the big business conglomerates frowning upon your trying to get back to a better time!

Rise like a dawn, like a new day, firm, planted and steadfast ignorant to those who try and raze the spirit of Americanna! Take the hand of those who were there and ask them to teach you for tomorrow!

OR,.....

Sit back, relax, rot away and slip into a soft death of the senses.....

Comments invited....

HOP UP

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Awesome. I absolutely loved reading through this! This fella obviously knows what's going on.

 

[R.G. White]

Though there are some things I disagree with (church on Sundays, pledging allegiance to the flag, etc.) You have a great point, but unfortunately there are not enough people who want a change for it to happen, I think. I hope things will calm down within the next few decades, but I think we're living in a time where no one really knows what to do with themselves and is acting a bit crazy.

 

[Hercule]

{LANGUAGE!} Every time I hear someone refer to a past era as a "good", "simpler" or "better times" my bloodpressure goes up and it's all I can do to supress the tirade that wants to flow - good air in ... bad air out...

 

[vitanola]

Whilst I much prefer the mores, pass-times and styles of those dear dead days long gone by, one might do well to note that EVERY generation seems to have viewed their grandmother's day as a simpler, slower, more wholesome time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't think there's any such thing as a "simpler" time. I'd gladly settle for a less idiotic one.

 

[scottyrocks]

There were plenty of jerks and bad manners in the GE. Plenty of simplicity/stupidity, as well. Today, we have replaced them with more modern versions of the same.

We now live in a 'don't tell me what to do' generation. Lack of information in the past has given way to too much information now that is available to people who don't need it, namely children, who have always been influenced by those around them. Now 'those around them' come from all over the world, and many of them are preaching what is not in the best interest of said children, who are being moulded into beings that would've gotten a stomping 50 years ago.

It's an unstoppable juggernaut, as far as I'm concerned. It's going to take a well focused dose of shrewd psychology that no coherent amount responsible adults possess. The hypocrisy of society makes it so. Results are sought but everything that can be done to ensure the opposite is what occurs. That's how far we have deteriorated.

 

[Flicka]

As someone who's currently reading up on the dystopia of the '30s, I have to point out that quite a few people back then did not perceive their era as 'simple'. Rather the contrary. I dare say things look different in retrospect and from a distance than they do up close.

Anyway, I don't necessarily see simplicity as an ideal. I think making choices is what life is about, both then and now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We have more information available now than ever -- but too many people assume that it's all equally valid, the Wikipedia "truth by consensus" principle. I don't consider that progress, and it certainly isn't making us a more intelligent, thoughtful society.

We have information that screams "unfiltered citizen journalism!" which is actually strained thru every ideological filter you can name and is "journalism" one step removed from the scrawlings on a bathroom wall. That's not making us a more intelligent, thoughtful society.

We have "social progress" that uses the overcoming of one injustice as justification for ignoring fifty others. That's not making us a more intelligent, thoughtful society.

We have a popular culture that celebrates violent, selfish, stupid excess -- the bigger, the louder, the greedier, and the more vapid the better. That's not making us a more intelligent, thoughtful society.

 

[sheeplady]

All I can say is that I grew up on a farm and I often get asked why I didn't stay there for that "simple" "rewarding" life.

I've found that people who tend to ask this have very romantic views of what farming is like. All I can say is that my life now is much more simple. I think it is natural to romanticize the past or a different life style.

 

[scottyrocks]

There are two versions of 'simple' here.

One references the amount of known information. The other is quality of lifestyle. For the most part, these are inversely proportional to each other, but indirectly. The less stuff we have, the less simple our lives are because we have to do more. The more knowledge that produces 'stuff' we have, the less we have to do because we have things to do other things for us.

Quick example: the evolution from washing clothes in a river to using a washboard to electric washing machines. Almost any electric appliance can fit the example. Knowledge is necessary to create these time-saving, life-simplifying machines. Cars, phones, vacuum cleaners, computers - it's all part of the simplification of life through technology, which is not so simple. My computer-panel controlled Whirlpool front-loader is way more complicated than a washboard, but it simplifies my life in a huge way. Etc, etc.

So maybe the 'old days' were simpler because of lack of knowledge, but not in day-to-day tasks.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's also a question of our own definition of simplicity. To use the washing machine example, I use a wringer machine. It's more physical work than using a modern machine, but I never, ever have to worry about it breaking down, and as long as I remember to squirt a couple drops of oil down the gearbox every six months, there's no reason why it won't last indefinitely. I'll never have to worry about buying a new machine, or installing a new one. I'll never have it go berserk and flood my kitchen with suds, I'll never have the computer chip popped by a power spike, I'll never have to worry about it at all. For me, that's the definition of simplicity. It might not be someone else's, but we all value and prioritize things differently -- and define our ideal approach to life accordingly.

 

[sheeplady]

Quick example: the evolution from washing clothes in a river to using a washboard to electric washing machines. Almost any electric appliance can fit the example. Knowledge is necessary to create these time-saving, life-simplifying machines. Cars, phones, vacuum cleaners, computers - it's all part of the simplification of life through technology, which is not so simple. My computer-panel controlled Whirlpool front-loader is way more complicated than a washboard, but it simplifies my life in a huge way. Etc, etc.

Except for the fact that because of modern appliances, we're expected to wear clean clothes *everyday.* Before electric washers (at least where I come from) you were expected to re-wear your clothes unless they were physically dirty or really smelled. Even when I was young, I wore clothes to school multiple times before washing them.

The amount of work done around the house hasn't gone down. Expectations rose to match the modern convenience.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Except for the fact that because of modern appliances, we're expected to wear clean clothes *everyday.* Before electric washers (at least where I come from) you were expected to re-wear your clothes unless they were physically dirty or really smelled. Even when I was young, I wore clothes to school multiple times before washing them.

The amount of work done around the house hasn't gone down. Expectations rose to match the modern convenience.

And the same can be said about all of these devices and gadgets which were meant to simplify our lives - mobile phones, email, etc. - which are the same kind of double-edged swords.

I don't think that the information (and misinformation) overload that we're subjected to on a daily basis has made life any easier, or made it easier to make intelligent choices. How many things, people, messages are vying for your attention at any given moment? Just that constant pummeling has got to make life today, in this respect, less simple than in the past.

 

[Miss Stella]

I don't think there's any such thing as a "simpler" time. I'd gladly settle for a less idiotic one.

AMEN!!

I was reading another forum the other day...people are so enamoured with the "vintage country" life...living off the grid, in the hills....and it was said,"where are the cute aprons? The happy faces? The wildflower in a mason jar"?
Those "vintage" country folk weren't worried about any of that. They were hungry, they didn't have much of anything and wildflowers might have been all they had! It wasn't romantic, it was LIFE.
And, yet, we yearn for what we feel is a "simpler" time then we are in now...
and that takes people back to any era...from the "middle ages" to "the roaring 20's"...people are yearning for SOMETHING.

Many of us have settled for the times covered here in the Lounge....there's nothing wrong with that at all. While I do live in the "real" world...I leave it alone as often as I am able.

 

[FountainPenGirl]

Hi all, I think simplicity means something different to everyone and I do believe people are seeking something that they feel was left in the past. Life was a lot more work but tremendously less stress. Now the average home has many more gizmos and gadgets than ever before. I see ads on TV and don't know what most of these electronic gizmos are or even why anyone would need them. I got here just fine without any of it and can't imagine why I would ever want any of it. Now people have to work extra jobs to pay for all this that they wouldn't have to do if they didn't clutter up their lives with things they don't need in the first place. Then maybe they could enjoy sitting on the front porch and reading a good book. People are engaged in many more activities than ever before. They get into this go, go, go thing. That's deffinitely not a simple life.
Myself I use a wringer washing machine, kerosene lamps, cook on a wood stove. There's not much of my life that is part of the present. The more of my life I can get back into the "Golden Era" the better I feel. Things maybe a little more work but create much less tension. Eveyones " Golden Era " will vary. Mine is the early to mid 20th century and I'm happy with that.

 

[Stearmen]

Today Ain't That Bad

Nostalgia was actually a Psychiatric disorder until the 1930s! People literally thought you were nuts longing for the good old days. Ironically, it was Henry Ford that brought the modern longing for a simpler time, the man who gave us the hectic life we live today. The 30s were not a stress free time, wondering if you would have a job tomorrow, wondering if your farm was going to be taken over by the Great Dust bowl, thousands upon thousands going to California to start over, Adolph Hitler, and the beginning of the worst war in human history! Look we are all communicating through the computer, able to share some of our passions, something that was imposable just 20 years ago, sci fi! Less people are dieing in wars, more people are eating, pandemics aren't as prevalent. It ain't that bad, just different!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I loved the farm life and miss a lot about it. I sure wouldn't wanna be farming anymore, though. It's much more fun to just go drive truck and tractors now and then and not have it be an essential to your income.

All I can say is that I grew up on a farm and I often get asked why I didn't stay there for that "simple" "rewarding" life.

I've found that people who tend to ask this have very romantic views of what farming is like. All I can say is that my life now is much more simple. I think it is natural to romanticize the past or a different life style.

That's how it was for me, too. School clothes could be worn a couple times before being washed unless they were soiled or smelled bad. Chore clothes were another story lol

Except for the fact that because of modern appliances, we're expected to wear clean clothes *everyday.* Before electric washers (at least where I come from) you were expected to re-wear your clothes unless they were physically dirty or really smelled. Even when I was young, I wore clothes to school multiple times before washing them.

 

[rue]

What always amazes me more than anything is that we are on a site that is about the Golden Era, but there's always this fight against those of us that would be happier back then. Aside from this computer, my life is exactly as it would be in that time period. I don't really need anything that was invented in the last 40 or so years and for the most part I don't use it [huh]

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Baffles me, too. I don't tell the modern-day-ers that what they're doing's wrong. I'm happier to discuss my issues with today with folks who understand; that's a big part of my membership here.

I can be fairly certain that I would, in fact, be happier then, than now. I know what I am, I know what I like, and a society years back would be more tailored to a fella like myself.

What always amazes me more than anything is that we are on a site that is about the Golden Era, but there's always this fight against those of us that would be happier back then.