Were the "good old days" really that good?

I heard a conversation the other day about the good old days and how much better things were back then -- whenever "then" was. People who say that usually have selective memories -- if they can remember those days at all (We are almost 60 you realize).

Sure, many things were better when we grew up in the 50s and 60s. There was less crime and locking the door to your house or car wasn't a big deal. If you forgot, no problem. You could leave your bike on the lawn all night and it would be there in the morning.

But the good old days also were days without air conditioning in our house or in our car. You didn't have a dishwasher and the clothes washer seemed to always break down. The dryer was a wooden rack that was set up in front of the fireplace in the winter and on the patio in the summer.

The television only had three stations and they didn't always work. Our TV had lots of problems and my Dad would send me down to the U-Save Liquor Store on my bike to test the tubes on a machine they had and buy replacements. The tube tester always said the tubes were bad, but the replacement tubes didn't make the TV work any better.

Our car would always break down, and it seemed we always had "vapor lock" when we went on trips to the mountains. Vapor lock supposedly caused a car to stop running because the fuel lines got hot and overheated. If you took a trip, it was common to see cars on the side of the road with their hoods raised waiting for vapor lock or some other malady to pass.


We didn't have cell phones or computers and I suppose you could say that was fortunate. But there's a lot we accomplish today with little effort because of technology and various inventions that make our lives easier, if not more complicated.

Most of us like to reminisce about times when things were easier, and I suppose that today's generation will look back on 2009 and says those were the good old days. Their grandkids will say, "But wasn't that a time of recession with people out of work and everyone losing their houses?"

"Yes, young man," you'll reply. "But the good old days gave us strength of character and taught us that we didn't need all the extra stuff you kids have today. Those were the good old days."