Kinder, gentler nation

[CasinoMing 1967]

Turning the "big" 5-0 this year, my thoughts wandered back my childhood, through the teen years and into early adulthood. I thought of the jobs I've had, people I've met, first girlfriend, first kiss, new friends, old friends, forgotten friends, friends and family who have passed away, etc.

 

Bush 41 coined the quote, "I want a kinder, gentler nation" in one of his speeches (I believe at the Republican Convention in 1988 ).

 

My topic for discussion... is today's society better off than the previous generation? Sure, we have much more technology, technology that is evolving much quicker than ever. We have more medicines. Most of us have the three basics - food/water, clothes, shelter.

 

I grew up in a household with four brothers and sisters, a mom and dad, one black and white TV with peg legs that caught three channels on a clear night, one rotary telephone that was stuck to the kitchen wall, one bathroom in a three bedroom home with a gigantic backyard with three willow trees and no air conditioning. Yet we all survived. More importantly, we seemed to be happy.

 

I remember those summer days where you would spend the day on your bicycle, exploring the "whole planet", without fear of your photo ending up on a milk carton. No cell phones, no hat or sunscreen, no parents.. just be home for supper, and you better be on time!

 

I remember the great sandwiches in my "Six Million Dollar Man" lunch box in grade 5 (ok most of the time it was PB and J, but it was great). We'd swap fruits for Smarties with everyone. We had milk in tiny cartons provided by the school (now and then we got treated to chocolate milk!). I remember the nightly family suppers - promptly at 6. All of us sat together.. no TV, no outside intrusions. And we talked.. and talked.. we had interest in what everyone else did that day. We asked to be excused from the table to get seconds. We all helped Mom with the dishes (and not only on Mother's Day). Dad would talk about who he met that day.. and it was always "Mr Duncan" or Mrs LeBlanc" (adults didn't have first names back then.. lol). And Dad always brought Mom flowers on Friday, along with his pay cheque so she can pay the bills and keep the household runnng.

 

Most of the petrol stations were full service.. young men at the Texaco station in clean overalls filling the tank of Dad's 1965 Chevy Biscayne, checking the oil and cleaning the windows.. all done while the tank was being filled. Dad always paid cash.. no MasterCharge or Chargex for the family back then.

 

We didn't have much (by today's standards) but we seemed to be happy and content. Sure, we wished for a newer bike or our own bedroom. But we always had full tummies and clothes on our backs. We had our squabbles, but they were soon resolved as Mom and Dad always had the last word.. there was no chldren's aid society intervention.

 

I do a lot of volunteer work here in Ottawa.. helping out at the Mission or at the Shepherds of Good Hope, or sorting food at one of the local food banks. I see many in our society who are not at their best, having a tough go. It's not a third-world country.. this is Nepean and Kanata!! My 18 year-old daughter joins me on occasion to lend a hand. She's the one that pointed out that a lot of people don't seem happy. Indeed, I see a lot of stress in too many people.. stuck in traffic, stuck in the grocery check-out line, standing on the bus. Very few say "hello". Very few smile. Very little courtesy. Very few say "please" or "thank you".

 

I see a lot of fancy cars. As a young pup, a fancy car was any car that had power windows. Most cars today cost more than the family home I grew up in (Dad paid $9,500 for a three bedroom bungalow in 1964 - a HUGE sum back then when you consider Dad brought home $75 a week). I drive a 13-year old Honda Accord (ok it has power windows, but one doesn't work, lol). I see a lot of big homes with two furnaces, all with air conditioning and alarm systems. I see a lot of fast food outlets and big-box stores. I see "bigger and better" things.. but are things really better?

 

The statistics say as a whole, we're living longer and to an extent, we're a little healthier. But... are we "happier"???

 

We didn't have much growing up, but I seem to remember that we were happy... or at least we didn't worry about as much stuff as today's generation.

 

So what do you think? Do we have a "kinder, gentler" society?

 

CM

[NotchJohnson 214123]

That's true, We did not have much either and my dad worked 80-90 hrs a week, I hardly ever seen him growing up. We got along well with all the neighbors even though we lived out in the country and they were 1/2 a km away. We were brought up to say "please" and " thank you" or we would be told.

I find we are in a fast pace society, we are always in a hurry. Growing up when my dad said we were going to go and visit at my uncle's cottage we got up early in the morning to travel 3 hours away and came back late at night. Those were the good old days.

 

I wonder what our kids will say when they get to my age.... will it be "I remember when we would text each other in the older days and never had to speak to one another"?

[oldblueeyez 15475]

I don't think anybody who's addicted to their smartphone 24/7 is happy. If they don't get an IM, a tweet, a like, or whatever every 30 seconds, they're wondering, "what's wrong with me?!". Some people are addicted to selfies and, jesus christ, how many damn pics of yourself can you take each day?! Yet they post them hoping the "likes" and "shares" and "retweets" roll in.

 

At least with computers you step away from them for periods of time, but smartphones are with you 24/7. I've been eating/drinking with people who get a fucking message and say, "I have to reply to this!" "UMMM, NO YOU DON'T! Sorry to say it, but you're not that fucking important." The next time somebody does this to me, if I'm drunk enough, I'm grabbing their phone from their hand and stomping it into digital mulch.

 

The sad truth is that if your phone went dead, if your social media posts stopped, it would make no real difference to anybody's life. Actually, it's not a sad truth at all; it's a happy truth! The world will keep turning without you. The net will keep blinking without you. That's a hard thing for the selfie narcissists to grasp.

 

I have a feeling that the people who are living life are much happier than the people who are posting life.

 

I shan't be posting pics of the lobster I'm about to boil.