Art explained our "early years" more accurately than I could.
I was raised in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and spent some summers in
central PA. Judge for yourself if we used to be more “free”.
"Back then," pistols, rifles, and shotguns were tools - sold at hardware
stores, Western Auto, Sears, Montgomery Wards, etc. You walked in,
plunked down your money and left with whatever you bought.
If the store didn’t have what you wanted, they’d order it or you could order
it yourself through the mail. Shop owners wouldn’t sell me cigarettes
because they knew my Dad didn’t smoke - but I could buy all the
ammunition I could pay for!!
Hunting licenses were hunting licenses - period. There may have been an
additional stamp for ducks but I never bothered with it.
Fishing licenses were a travesty foisted upon us by the State! They cost
fifty cents or a dollar so we seldom bothered unless the game warden
caught us. He’d tell us sternly to get one by tomorrow or else! We never
needed to be told twice!
Guns and ammo were commonplace. One lunch time at school I ran across
the street and bought a box of .22LRs at the Western Auto. Back in school I
had no place to put it so it was on my desktop. My teacher saw the box,
picked it up and idly asked something about whether they were
hollowpoints. They weren't. She put the box back on my desk and
continued the lesson. No problem "back then".
A shootin’ place was anyplace with a good backstop and no livestock or
crops. We used to shoot "bobbers" (metal floats from fishnets) in Lake Erie.
Sixty-some mile backstop (grin), targets that bobbed in the waves, plunked
nice and loud when you hit 'em, and didn't leave broken glass to cut your
feet later when you went swimming. We must have shot thousands of
them.
Kids walking down the road with guns was typical and farmers would stop
their truck in the middle of the road and ask if you wanted a lift.
On the highway, semi-drivers were the "white knights of the road". They
ALWAYS stopped if a lady had car trouble and almost always for anyone
else.
We left our house unlocked even when we went on vacation - just in case
somebody needed to use the phone.
If a neighbor was "bad sick" or "hurt bad", friends and neighbors brought
food, fed livestock and even harvested crops. It was the right thing to do.
You could be hurt next week. Nobody ever imagined involving the
government.
The government was something small and far away. In 1948, I believe less
than half the families in America earned enough to pay income tax.
Inflation creep has moved us all up the tables and the IRS has become a
huge bureaucracy.
Gun control simply meant "be careful" and “hit your mark”.
Drive-in movies were the rage and, when we were too young to drive, we
walked in the "exit" and sat on benches in front of the refreshment stand
where a speaker was provided. Watched "hundreds" of Elvis Presley movies
and swooned over Natalie Wood (sigh!).
In big towns there were big schools and enough students in each class for
social cliques to develop. In my high school, the children of millionaires (two
kids) had to associate with ALL forty-some kids in the class.
If one of the "good" students wanted to help (actually "tutor") one of the
poorer students, they'd sit in the hall during study hall so they could talk
without bothering other students. The teacher kept track of us and there
was never a problem.
Fights happened, as Art described. And when it was over - it was over.
Opponents shaking hands afterwards was fairly commonplace.
You didn't sass teachers - at least not twice (grin!). You didn't grab or
harass the girls or the boys would whup on you. Talking trash about a
person's family meant, "We're gonna fight now."
It was a different time - pre-birth control. If a girl's skirt crept above her
knee when she sat, she probably did "it". One of the most frequent replies
to a marriage proposal was the boy asking, "You're WHAT?"
Honor and respect, even for strangers, was much more prevalent. Teachers
and parents knew, directed, corrected, and (when necessary) spanked kids.
Done deal. Taken for granted. That was acceptable because the teachers
enforced the same values our families did, not something from Europe, Asia,
the accursed teachers’ union, or some crackpot psychologist!
Values were typically similar throughout a community. Violators were
shunned. Severe violators usually moved away.
The family unit was a “unit”! The man worked outside the home and the
woman kept the house (and/or helped in the field). Schoolkids had chores.
Some women had jobs, but (in a married family) it usually meant the man
was not working - a dishonorable sign of laziness or the understandable
result of injury or illness. Ladies did not feel “owned” because they pretty
much ran the family. Dad was the final authority and backed Mom all the
way (if he was smart
)
Many aspects now considered to be chauvinism or prejudice were just
accepted and dealt with. Folks knew the system and, for the most part,
followed it.
I guess I have to add that we had no Hispanics in my area. There were
some blacks, whom we all called “Negroes” - just as they called themselves.
They did not have equality with whites - that was wrong. But you didn’t
mess with people because of their skin color. If some whites started
name-calling, other whites put a quick stop to that nonsense. There were
no hyphenated Americans. We were all members of the same community
even though we did not socialize much together (except at school, church,
fairs, etc.).
There was more space. You could breathe in it. There were fewer people
and little fear of each other or the government because we had self-imposed
limits to our behavior.
If you wanted to build a house on your property, the only limit was money.
If someone had told my Dad that he needed a permit to build something or
to dig a water well, he would have laughed it off as an obvious and hilarious
joke.
Game wardens were very rare. The few police we had would come if you
had a problem and called them. Typically, you just chased the offender off
your property and told his Dad later what happened. That REALLY got kids
in trouble because it shamed the entire family.
Now things have changed. The "pill" revolutionized relationships and
television has fragmented families. The government has stepped in to
“improve” our lives. Between the government and the increased roles of
women the false impression is created that there is no need for fathers in
families - except to pay child support. What a disaster!
Some government involvement has been good. Doctors and medics
returning from Korea said they got better medical care on the battlefield
than on American highways so they revolutionized civilian medicine,
established the concept of a dispersed ambulance system (EMS), defined
“the golden hour” and greatly improved trauma care and training.
Emergency medicine has become recognized as a separate medical field
with its own distinct operational needs.
But the downside to government involvement is obvious to all of us today.
Our intrusive federal government is smothering us.
To those of us who remember times which were simpler and more free,
modern technology can be an ugly two-edged sword.
We have the internet but don’t know our neighbors.
We have TV but don’t know our own families.
We have safer lives but we are ruled by despots.
We have a nation of educated people who don’t say what they mean, and
don’t mean what they say because interpersonal relations and
communications have been elevated to a deceptive, manipulative, black art
form.
We have a nation of people with fewer values and more government
directives.
We had fewer people. We weren’t so crowded. We pretty much got along
with people because we believed it was the right thing to do. We had much
less technology but much more freedom. Methods were important; but
half-hearted attempts were unacceptable. Results (rather than socially
acceptable “attempts”) were what counted.
Self-discipline and values were stressed. Sure, some people cheated, but
their reputations were ruined so cheating was minimized. Now it’s taught in
business school.
The small and distant federal government simply was not a factor in our
everyday lives. Local government officials had to get along with us because
they lived among us! We’d go to their homes in the evening and give them
the bloody devil if they performed badly! Now, our government officials
only know each other and their biggest donors.
We have made a lot of trade-offs that sometimes look pretty ugly to me.
Of course, MY father told me how free HE had been as a youngster and he
chafed at the increasing rules and regulations of the 1940s and 1950s. I
accepted the status quo just as most youngsters did and still do. But as
you get older you have a longer time period over which to make
comparisons. It becomes easier to see how the government has
salami-sliced away our freedoms. Therefore, it is usually the old men like
me who complain about increasing government intrusion into our lives while
the youngsters ignore it as “old man talk”. (Smile) Wait until you’re our
age, kids.
Were we more free then than now? I think that’s the wrong question.
Restrictions back then were self-imposed. Usually it worked well,
sometimes not so well. Now, however, restrictions are imposed upon us. Is
that working?
- How many of your family members are as close as we used to be?
- How many of your friends would take your family into their homes for
several months if your home burned down?
- How many of your neighbors would help you rebuild your destroyed
home?
- How many families take care of their elderly relatives in their homes?
- How many members of your family are close to you and share your
values?
- How many members of your community have the same values as
teachers teach our kids in school?
- How much of your labor and savings does the government extort from
you and spend on things you despise?
Many of you younger folks already see how governments oppress us. More
of your generation will awaken as you all age. It’s just a fact of life.
The 20th century was a humdinger! Good luck, kids, with your 21st
century. Don’t let television, the internet, and computer games separate
you from your children. And please, please teach your kids about freedom
better than we taught you.
I apologize for the length of this ramble.
[This message has been edited by Dennis (edited December 21, 1999).]
, Art