GOOD OLD MORALITY

IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS, SPECIAL EVENTS WERE FEW. RURAL RESIDENTS PURSUING THE AGRICULTURAL LIFE TIED TO THE LAND AND NATURE, CELEBRATED AT A COUNTY FAIR, A CAMP MEETING, A CIRCUS, A FAMILY REUNION AND CHRISTMAS. "THE MORE SPECIAL EVENTS YOU HAD THE LESS YOU ENJOYED THEM," WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE. WISE OLD GEEZERS AND GRANNIES ALSO SAID THAT ,"IF THE ONLY PLEASURE IN LIFE HAD BEEN IN MAKING MONEY, WE WOULDN'T HAVE HAD MUCH PLEASURE." PHILOSOPHY OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS HELD THAT "WANTING WHAT YOU DON'T NEED, MAKES PEOPLE UNHAPPY." FURTHERMORE, IT WAS ADMITTED THAT THE GRADUAL PASSING OF RURAL LIVING WAS ASSISTED BY THE TELEPHONE. HOMESTEADERS SAID THAT THE TELEPHONE MARKED THE END OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS BECAUSE HOME VISITATIONS STOPPED WHEN IT WAS EASIER TO MAKE PHONE CALLS. OLD TIMERS KNEW MODERNIZATION OF AMERICA MEANT THAT GOVERNMENT WAS TAKING AWAY ALL THEIR FREEDOM. TYPICALLY THEY ASKED, "JUST LET US ALONE."

CAN WE CONCEIVE OF LIFESTYLES HUNDRED OF YEARS AGO THAT R.J. MC GINNIS WROTE ABOUT IN 1960? HE SAID: "THEY GO TO DANCES TOGETHER AND THEY EAT HOT DOGS AND DRINK COKES AT FOOTBALL GAMES AND, ON SOME MOONLIGHT NIGHT IN AUTUMN WHILE PARKED FOR A SPELL IN THE LANE, HE POPS THE ETERNAL QUESTION. THEY BOTH KNOW WHAT THE SCORE IS - HARD WORK, AND BABIES RAISED BY THE BOOK, AND SELF-DENIAL UNTIL A START IS MADE, AND HAVING EACH OTHER AND LAUGHING A GREAT DEAL AND HAVING FUN AND A FULL LIFE BECAUSE THEY BOTH WOULD RATHER HAVE A FARMHOUSE ON A HILL LOOKING OUT OVER THEIR OWN FIELDS THAN A PENTHOUSE ON FIFTH AVE. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE FARMING THE NATION'S GREATEST INDUSTRY. THEY BREED THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO STAFF THE PROFESSIONS AND TRADES, PAY THE TAXES, AND FIGHT THE WARS. GOD BLESS 'EM."

PRIOR TO 1960, THE GOOD OLD DAYS HAD GRADUALLY DISAPPEARED AND WITH IT THE MORALS AND MORES OF A GENTLER TIME. HOW DO I KNOW? A NEWS REPORTER SAID THAT THE 2007 HEAT WAVE IN CALIFORNIA CAUSED SUFFERING TO THE ELDERLY BECAUSE THEY WERE WITHOUT AIR CONDITIONERS. THINK ABOUT IT.