Post by TomLine on Jun 20, 2018 17:05:42 GMT -5
THE AMERICA I GREW UP IN
by Tom Lineaweaver
by Tom Lineaweaver
I recently posted a poster that said, "I miss the America I grew up in." So, I thought maybe I would write about what the America I grew up in was like.
1. We had fun, and it was clean fun. One year we did the Twist. The next year we did the Twist Again like we did the previous summer.
We had commedians like Bob Hope and Red Skelton that kept us laughing without being filthy, at least that I heard.
2. Parents. My parents weren't the best, but not the worst either. The big thing about the America I grew up in is that parents were there. Fathers took care of their responsibilities. If they made a girl pregnant, most of the time, they married the girl, and took care of the children they made.
Most mothers were home taking care of the home, while fathers went out and earned a meager living. Rarely did anyone get rich. But they were responsible, and paid their bills. And when someone had a hard time, electric and phone companies understood and worked with people. Rarely did they shut anyone off.
3. Radio and TV. AM radio was king. FM was basically an afterthought. We could even hear far away stations. Some of my favorites were WMAQ in Chicago; CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, Canada; WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina; to name a few. I also heard stations in Detroit, Cincinnatti, Ft. Wayne, etc. Of course, that was at night when the ionosphere changed, and our favorite local daytime only stations went off the air. Something about the sun kept radio signals at a minimum. But, at night that all changed. 50,000 watt giants could be heard everywhere their directional signals allowed them too.
We didn't have cable TV. We had an attenna, that we had to move often when we changed channels. Even in the snow, which we had quite a bit of in my part of America. In the earliest days, all we had was VHF. In my part of Pennsylvania, we had one local channel which was channel 8 in Lancaster. We could also pick up 3,6,10 out of Philadelphia rather decently.
The TV shows were clean and entertaining. I grew up watching Bonanza, when I could stay awake. And the other shows mom and dad watched were shows like The Rifleman, and Gunsmoke. Good thing there was no strong gun lobby. Which brings me too...
4. Freedom. We were free. Sure, there were laws that people were okay with. But, for the most part, we were free. And there were no Child Protective Services parents had to be fearful of. And children in my age bracket grew up just fine. Were parents strict? You bet. And I am thankful. Of course, I wasn't at the time. I was a child, what did I know. Now I am 59, and when I look at the mess we have today, I am thankful I had the parents, and the America, I had. I grew up in an America where people took their responsibilities seriously. They didn't run to the Government everytime they stumped their toe. They went to the doctor, and paid the doctor. But then, doctors didn't charge $100 for a 2 second visit.
Well, there is a brief tour of the America I grew up in. And yes, I miss it. Partly because I'm older, and when we are older we often miss our childhood. But, I also miss it because it doesn't exist anymore. Government has stolen it. And I want it back.