the good old days

The Good Old Days

Fandango8 Comments

Marilyn Armstrong posed an interesting question on her blog today. She asked,

Do you think of your past as “The Good Old Days”?

I think a little context might help set the table before I begin to a answer this question. I had the good fortune to be born to a white, middle-class, suburban family. They weren’t wealthy; both my mother and father had to work to make ends meet, but we had all the necessities we needed and I never felt deprived as a child. Had the circumstances of my birth been different, my perspective of my past would likely be different, too.

As an old timer, I have to admit that, yes, I do think back on my past as The Good Old Days. I was young, physically fit, full of vim and vigor, as well as piss and vinegar. I was invincible. And yes, life was simpler, less complex, slower. There were no personal computers back then. I was almost 40 when I got my first PC. No internet. No cellphones. No cable TV. No digital cameras. No 24-hour news channels, no music or video streaming.

When you wanted to talk with someone, you had to call them on the telephone (landline) or visit them face-to-face or write them a letter, which could take a few days to a week to be delivered. No dating apps, no email, no texting, no Facetime. No Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat.

The world was more local. Life was manageable, time seemed infinite. There were boundaries. The truth felt true and lies felt like lies. No audio or video deepfakes. No alternative facts.

I’m not saying life was perfect back then. There was Vietnam. There was significant racial unrest and riots. There were assassinations — JFK, RFK, MLK, Jr. There was the Cold War. The disastrous War on Drugs. So there were serious issues we had do deal with, but the world hadn’t yet gone insane.

I may be looking at my past through rose-colored glasses, but when I try to imagine being a teenager or a young adult in today’s interconnected, 24×7, fast-paced, partisan, conspiracy theories-filled, crazy world, I don’t think I’d be a happy camper. I’m glad I was around during The Good Old Days.

Sunday Poser — The Good Old Days

Fandango4 Comments

For today’s Sunday Poser, Sadje wants to know…

Do you think of your past as the “Good old days”?

From a short-term perspective, I think of the days before January 14, 2023, the day I fell off a ladder and broke my left hip and my right humerus at the shoulder, as the “good old days.” I was able-bodied, could walk without a cane, and had full movement of my right arm and shoulder, without pain and fatigue.

I could go on long walks with my wife and our dog. I could ride my e-bike, sit in a car for more than an hour without my leg aching, and be able to get down on my hands and knees to play with my grandkids. So yes, relative to 2023, 2022 was the good old days.

But that’s not the question Sadje is really asking, is it? I think she’s asking about our more distant past. Like when we were growing up or as younger adults. I would say that those were simpler times. Our world was much smaller back then. There were no 24×7 cable news networks bombarding you with constant and almost instant bad news. There was no internet, no Google, no social media spreading misinformation and/or conspiracy theories. People wrote letters and called friends on the phone to share what was going in their lives.

I won’t go so far as to say it was all peace, love, and kumbaya back in the day. But it seemed to me that, perhaps with the exception of race relations in the U.S., we were less divided, less intractable, than we are today.

I don’t know. Maybe I am looking at the past through rose-colored glasses. Or maybe I’m looking at the present and future through shit-stained lenses. But I believe I’m standing at the precipice of the fall of the democratic republic of the United States and of our home planet’s ability to support and sustain human life.

So yes, from that perspective, the past is, indeed, the “Good Old Days.”