Did Y’all Mean Me?

I’m not apt to forget the disbelief I felt the first time I heard the 1950s referred to as “the good old days.” What? Land of Goshen, those weren’t the old days. Good, maybe, in lots of ways but no way could they be referred to as “old”. What nonsense!

Then, a sobering thought hit me–I was now one of the old generation–not “older”, but “old”. And, the 1950s, when I was but a young thing–a teenager, for the most part–well, those years were many decades past. Styles, Presidents, what sort of speech was acceptable, what sort of dress was acceptable, and lifestyles have changed so much in these 70 or so years, as to be unbelievable to the present young bunch of kids now in places of authority.

One thing that constantly amazes me is how people talk–I don’t mean foreign languages, I mean words that would have caused my mother to wash out our mouths with soap–those words are commonplace. I still don’t like them and I feel that many youngsters and their parents would benefit from a good oral sudsing. Yuk! Cursing or foul language had no place in our home.

And then, there is acceptable clothes–I’m not saying we should get all dressed up to go to for groceries, but once, we pretty much did. Oh, we didn’t have finery. We just didn’t wear pajamas or go without shoes. I think it didn’t have as much to do with dressing to show off as it did with self-respect.

There were bobby sox, penny loafers, saddle oxfords, hoop skirts, jeans with cuffs rolled up. Nobody wore jeans to school. I can remember going to  grade school with a dress on over my jeans, when it was terribly cold and my little brother and I had to walk to and from. Girls weren’t even allowed to wear jeans when I started to the university and, for that matter, boys had to wear some sort of slacks, not blue jeans. So, there was the dress mode.

Of course, prices were way, way cheaper, but then, salaries were way down too. My dad had a pick-up truck or two. We got to ride in the back sometimes because there wasn’t room for all of us in the cab. But, we had to sit flat on the floorboards–no standing up.

We went swimming with no life jacket, played softball with no helmets or padding, played games like Red Rover, which could result in bruises, and well, we were pretty tough nuts.

Lots of other things have changed since the Good Old Days, I mean the 1950s–some good, for sure, and some not so much. One thing that changed and it’s a sad thing–is that so many dear family and friends are no longer on this earth but are in the arms of God. But then, that’s the ultimate goal for most of us. A very, very nice thing is my family has grown to include some of the most precious people on earth to me. Another thing is that I believe we are more aware and sensitive of those people who have different beliefs and different upbringings.

So, yes, I guess the 1950s were the Good Old Days in many ways. The best part, though, was being with my family and not knowing much if anything about how wicked this old world was. In that way, ignorance was truly bliss.