The Good Ole Days...?

Do you remember when you were young and your grandparents kept talking about the good ole days? Going on a shopping trip with my grandmother would entail at least five mentions of the G.O.D’s and how she missed them. ‘I never had to stand in a queue to pay for my groceries.’ Or ‘I always could fill a full tank of gas without having to rob a bank’. Oh yes, the good ole days… When my parents decided to add their own reminiscences to the refrain, it just got too much and the moment I could sense a good ole day’s story coming up, I would sidle out of the room and vanish.

My grandfather actually believed that drawing water from a well, walking ten kms to school and studying by a lantern at night were all wonderful examples of good living.

I remember promising myself that when I crossed forty, the term good ole days would never drop from my lips. But, then the years caught up with me and I found myself reminiscing about the same but actually wondering just the opposite- why does this generation have it all so easy?

I hate to have to say it, but today’s kids just don’t know how good they have got it.

Imagine, if I wanted to read a book, I had to go to the library and check through the card catalogue to see if it was on their list. I would then have to find out if the book was checked out. Today, I watch my daughter just download the e book off the internet if she cannot order it from some online store. She can read almost any newspaper in the world on her laptop. From the time when computers first came out and occupied a full room and very few people had access to them, the World Wide Web was one of mystery. Today they are getting smaller with millions of people surfing the internet and are so much more affordable.

And talking about the internet, she and her friends download movies…using Torrent or whatever…I am sure a lot of this stuff is illegal. But try telling that to today’s generation. Carpe Diem!

Today my husband wanted to buy postage stamps. I asked him, when he had last written a letter on paper, licked an envelope flap, and then walked to a post box and posted it. Today it is all email. I think today’s youngsters don’t even know what a pen is and soon, we will find them in museums.

When I was growing up, it was all about spare the rod and spoil the child and I remember getting whupped by a couple of teachers and my bottom paddled by my parents when I was exceptionally naughty. I somehow never read much into it, except that I deserved it and must either not commit that particular misdemeanor again or just not get caught doing it. Today, if a teacher should even raise his voice in class, he just may be hauled up by the School Board and Child Rights groups.

I remember when I wanted to listen to the latest music I would walk across to the record shop, pick up some of the albums, and walk into a booth with my friends. We used to pool our money together to buy one record, so that we could have the excuse to listen to all the latest releases. It took a lot of gumption to face the sneer on the sales clerk’s face when we used to put away six records and buy just one. But that was the only way we could hear the latest hits, since they took a long, long time coming out on the radio. Later on they made a rule, not more than 2 records allowed at a time in the booths, to dampen down the ardour of us poor music-lovin teenagers.

Today kids get the latest music with Napster and downloads…their ears eternally plugged to ipods. No one knows what a cassette is anymore, forget about records. The music systems in cars have better sound effects than the gramophone we had at home with huge speakers. Today, it is all micro and nano.

We made sure when someone left the house we gave them all the important messages for the day, since phones were few and far-in between. Today there is talk of implanting cell phones into people’s bodies, so that they don’t need to carry around those tiny little gadgets which weigh next to nothing and which profess to do almost everything except perhaps check the alcohol content in your blood….though I have heard, that is likely to be added soon as one of the features. I was grateful if my landline phone worked for half the month, forget about call forwarding, call waiting, text messaging, receiving mail, blue tooth and so many other attributes that kids take for granted today.

With the blessings of caller ID, I know now when not to pick up my phone. It could just be that pesky boyfriend you are trying to avoid or your boss trying to get you work on a day off.

The best part is the TV. We had none for quite a while and would watch, I love Lucy reruns at a neighbour’s place. When we did get our own, there were just 2 channels and both with pitiful programs. They started at 7 am and ended by 11pm. There was just one movie in the week, and we so looked forward to it, even though most of the time it was a bad print and not worth the 4 hours, interspersed as it was with so many advertisement breaks. There were no remotes then…pointless since there was nothing to change to. Children had no programs at all of their own. Today there are any number of channels dedicated solely to children.

Food is another area where today’s generation has it easy. If they do not want to cook, there is always take out or frozen meals…all beautifully packaged. Just pop it into the microwave. And that is another thing we didn’t have. Today’s meals are ready in a jiffy, and even if a lot of people know that microwave cooking isn’t very healthy, its convenience has won over the health aspect. 2 minute noodles, one minute soups, instant coffee and curry in a hurry. No effort…just heat.

I could go on ad nauseam about today’s generation being on Easy Street…but with technology advancing the way it is, it is just a matter of a few years before all this too will become obsolete and Gen X  will also be either talking about the good ole days or telling their young, they don’t know how good they have it.

.Every era had and has good and terrible things about it. I am sure knights on white horses seem romantic to us in the 21st century, but chastity belts and that tin can of armour sure must have been inconvenient. This age too, has its plus and minus points. Some of us with our attitude rarely see the negatives and convert them into pluses.