"Jeffrey D Angus" wrote in message
...
Hagstar wrote:
I don't remember much of anything good about the old days. They're gone-
that's good. Mostly I remember JFK's death, duck and cover
drills, Cuban Missiles, Vietnam body counts, Selma, Watts, Newark,
then RFK and Martin Luther King,

Lest we forget, "The gun control act of 1968" and wage and price
controls. Charles Manson and the Manson Family. The Symbionese
Liberation Army. The John Birch Society. The Great Society. Students
for a Democratic Society. And with Watergate, the media's ascension
to serial killer status in that from that time forward, they've made
it their goal to destroy anyone in office.

Oh, and personally, graduating from high school just in time for the
first collapse of the aerospace industry. "Help wanted: Service
station attendant. NO engineers!"

Oh yeah, trying to make sense of it all trying to grow up living under
the fear of a nuclear holocaust or ending up as a box gift wrapped by
the Army.

The only nice thing about that time was not knowing about AIDS,
crack cocaine, crystal meth, disco or reality TV.


Jeff,

There is good and bad in every time and in every endeavor.

Things I remember from the 60's:

Television worth watching, where the most violence you saw was on Road
Runner cartoons.

Tuning across the (AM) dial at night to hear all the interesting things..
programs (mostly all different) from thousands of miles away, it was almost
like being there.

Going to school to learn things, from teachers that went there to teach. And
the most dangerous thing in school was the playground bully.. and he only
used fists.

Riding bicycles without having to get geared up to look like some sort of
unearthly monster.

Being able to do things like mow lawns or do field work to earn money (try
that now if you're under 16!)

Secret prisons were something that the bad guys had.

You could drive for a week (or more) on $5 worth of gas. (now you can just
about get home from the gas station)

I could walk into a radio shop and watch the tech work on things for hours,
and not only did he not get upset, he tought me as he went. (now there are
virtually no repair shops left, and most of the ones that are, don't repair,
they exchange).

A hamburger was 19 cents. If you wanted fries and a Coke, it was 45 cents.
If you felt like going to eat at a real cafe, sit in a booth and have
someone serve you, the price went up to a dollar.

You could take a Greyhound to ANYWHERE for under $20! (now they have
cancelled most routes completely, and stop in far fewer towns on the ones
they still have)

Sometimes, kids would get in a fight during a Little League game. The
parents broke it up, instead of participating.

You weren't worried about whether your neighbor was a serial killer,
abductor, or politician.

You could go out all day, and never lock your door.

You knew your neighbor, and even shared your time, your lawn mower or your
BBQ with them.

Kids played outside, instead of sitting endless hours in front of the TV or
computer.

So, yeah. There was Richard Speck, Sirhan Sirhan, Jack Ruby, Herbert
Hoover's dossier's, the Cuban missile crisis, the Watts riots... but
overall, things were not so bad. The Russians did a lot of sabre rattling,
but I don't recall any bombs.