In reflection, I indeed, am greatful. I had two wonderful parents who made home a great place to be. If we weren't the best dressed, we certainly were dressed well. If we didn't have gourmet food on the table every meal, we certainly had wholesome and tasty things when we sat down as a family at our table. If our home didn't have enough bedrooms for us to have one to ourselves, we had good beds with warm coverings. One bathroom with one sink and a pull chain toilet was pretty darn good. Everyone had their turn, and no one hogged the bathroom. Of course we didn't have a shower so I believe that may have helped. Who had showers back then? No one! Well we had them at the High School, so that was a novelty.
It really doesn't matter what you have, so long as you appreciate what you have! We didn't know anyone that had it any better. When we wanted something, we were willing to find a way to work for it ourselves. None of this "I want" business. If we would have thrown a fit in a store because our parent or parents wouldn't buy us something, we would have been soundly spanked and no one would have called a "social worker" or turned our parents in to Child Welfare. Maybe because there wasn't anything like it back then. Good manners and behaved children were a norm back then. Society and parents wouldn't have expected less.
Living conditions back then were simple and I am so thankful they were. Families did things together and enjoyed even the few things they had, rather than constantly believe they would be happier if they had more. Our lives today are full of stuff, and half of it, it seems is stored in the garage or in a storage place. For what purpose? If you can't see it, you can't use it. If you can't see or use it, of what worth is it? Wasted money.
I have written about how we walked everywhere. In reality we rode a lot of busses and street cars, and that was a real adventure for us. We had to walk to get to the bus stop or the car lines that ran down Pacific Blvd. The Street Cars ran very regularly, as did the buses, so we never had much of a wait for one. The Street Cars we could ride all the way to Los Angeles. With five of us, we had plenty of hands to carry the packages when we shopped. The bus we took to the Beach, or over to roller skate. On the Street Cars we could get transfers to other lines that went off the main line. It was pretty interesting. The kids who lived away from school didn't ride a School Bus, they bought Bus Passes and rode on the Bus that passed by their houses. I don't believe I saw a School Bus until after I grew up. I suppose in the country they may have had some, but there were none where we lived. I don't recall a garage in the East, but we always had one after we moved to California. That is not to mean everyone had a car, I don't believe some ever had a car.
I am greatful for so many things, but I believe as I look back over the years I am most greatful for modern medicine. It has good things about it, and bad things, but on the most part I believe
life has been greatly benefited by all the new things medicine has learned, and can do. It is so sad that in bringing such helpful things into being, we have some who use those wonders for all the wrong reasons. Drugs particularly. There are not enough hours in the day to experience all the wonders around us, why waste time trying to get "high" and miss so much? Doesn't make a lot of sence to me. The world has become too easily bored. I am not sure just what that means. I don't have time to be bored. I only wish I had the abilities I had when I was younger so I could take advantage of the many things that fascinate me today. So many places to go, so many things to see and enjoy. When I was younger you couldn't fly, if you wanted to go to far away places you had to ride a train or get on a boat and spend days getting where it was you wanted to go. Today you can be most anywhere in the world in a matter of hours. Guess the Old Testament Prophet knew what he saw centuries ago when he wrote down there wouldn't even be time to take off your shoes. Well there may be time, but who does it on a short hop from one city to another in 4 hours or less?
I wish I could share just a short time of what I had with my grand and great grand children. They might miss their gadgets, but I believe they would discover that the fun you make on your own is pretty darn good. I don't recall a time when we didn't have more friends around the neighborhood we could gather with and play simple, but fun games with. No props, no special equipment. Just a bunch of kids making things up as they went along. Never bored and never ready to go home when "mom called". I feel so lucky I had those chances. When someone came in the yard it was an invitation to have an active interaction with different people. We always had things going on as a family. Things were orderly. We had a well rounded life, and I believe everyone had a great school experience because our teachers were all professionals that thought every class was important enough to make the time interesting and beneficial. I don't recall any activity going on about more money or smaller classes. A teacher was dedicated to teaching and helping every student get the most out of their time. I certainly had some fabulous teachers when I went to school. I'm greatful for each and everyone.
I have so much to be greatful for, and I can hardly find the words to express my appreciation for all that I have had and learned over the years. The wonder of growing up when there wasn't a lot of money and there was a War on that made us suck it up and make due with what little we had. Meatless Fridays, no leather for shoes, no color for packaging, no gas for cars and no lights at night due to a black out. There were no single line phones and no computers. We used typewritters and they didn't self correct either. No way to duplicate what we wrote. We had to use "carbon paper" to make copies. When you got past 4 copies, you had a fuzzy page, but it had to do. No calculators that you just punched a few keys and had a answer. Adding machines with tapes that gave you a list of your charges then you had to push a button to find out how much it added up to. If you subtracted on the list it showed up in red. Marchant came up with a calculator that was pretty neat in it's day. If you wanted to multiply or divide you had to flip the carrage over one space to continue working out your problem. It was great for the day it was ment for, a real dinasaur compared to what is used today. No e-mail. You had to set down and write a letter, put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it and send it. Maybe it would get to the other address in 4 to 7 days. That was good. Back in the Pony Express days it might take a month or more to get to the other address. Yes, we have come a long way, and I am greatful for the changes, but feel in the advancement of time, we have lost a lot of things that were of equal or maybe even greater value.
Sorry you missed it. Only hope you appreciate what you have and learn not to be bored when there is so very much out and around that need to be enjoyed. I am greatful, and hope when you get old, you will find you too are greatful for what you have experienced and enjoyed.
Written this 27th day of February 2010
by: Eileen Rosenberg
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