Open Essay - I Remember A Time - A Letter to the Next Generation

~ submitted by Ray M in response to open invitation found here


I Remember A Time - A Letter to the Next Generation

I remember a time when life was so much simpler.

It was a time before video games, cell phones and Facebook. The daytime hours during summer seemed to last forever and in the cool of the evening, the fireflies that we chased and caught in a glass jar to show Mom and Dad were as bright as the stars in the sky.

I remember the days when after breakfast, dad headed off for work, and mom pushed you out the door with orders not to come back until dinner so she could get her work on the house done. Yes, those were the days when the women did house work while the men worked in the factory and a time when each partner pulled their weight. Dad expected and was expected to provide the money and the safety against the external dangers of life, while mom was expected to care and nurture the family and keep the home life on course.

In those times your only fear was being late for dinner – that was the time for family. (You didn't have to worry about predators and kidnappers lurking in the shadows back then.) Daddy didn't leave because he and mom had a fight, or because he found a younger model, or because he had to “find himself”, he only left for work so that he could provide for the family. Differences were worked through, and love for each other prevailed. Divorce was an embarrassment and hard to come by.

Our neighborhood was your basic blue collar neighborhood. Everyone worked Monday through Friday and had weekends off. Our homes and yards had chain link fences instead of privacy fences. You saw your neighbors on a regular basis and always said hello to them. You talked to them and got to know them like family.

Life was much simpler back then because the freedom we enjoyed allowed adventure to be our order of the day. Imagination also played an important part. It was there, in our minds eye, were dreams were born. Those dreams helped you decide what you wanted to be later in life. Adventure included playing games like G I Joe, where you always won the battle of the hill and if you didn't win, you were sure to die a slow, painful, Oscar winning performance death. It was a time when, playing house didn't mean you had sex with the girl next door.

Our adventures included bug hunts, nature trails, camping out and fishing, taking in all of what God has provided for us. Living life by the TV was reserved for the evenings with the family.

It was with the adventures that you learned about life, and usually from the fellows you were with. The bonds you formed then lasted forever. You relied on them as they relied on you. Trust ran deep and was never betrayed for any reason (unless you were caught doing something wrong and you didn't dare lie to your parents, your buddies understood this cause they faced the same music at home)

Growing up you learned that when someone bullied you around you had to stand up for yourself. And you accomplished this man-style which meant you used your fists and personal strength instead of guns and knives. If someone was running their mouth saying things about you, you didn't go shooting up the school or try to commit suicide. You faced them and your fears head on and you let them know they had crossed the line. After the fight, you usually ended up good friends because you both knew where the other guy stood and had respect for each other.

Being from a blue collar family meant you did not always get what you wanted, it had to be earned. It was the only way you appreciated what you had.

Your parents loved you enough to teach you what morals were and to have them. A proper work ethic was instilled upon you.

As you were growing up, when it became time for you to start paying for your own dreams and adventures, you started out simple by collecting glass soda bottles and cashing them in. Later, you moved up working part time at the grocery store stacking and sorting those same bottles. (BTW the soda tasted better back then in those glass bottles) You shoveled snow from peoples driveways in the winter and cut grass in the summer.

We didn't have credit cards and go into debt to get what we wanted.

Being blue collar, we treasured what we had and didn't waste it. You didn't just throw something away because it broke, dad took the time and taught you how to fix it.

Our family vacations consisted of taking two weeks in August, driving in the family car to states we had never been to before. By the time I reached high school I had made it to all 48 states in the continental US. Mom & Dad saved Alaska and Hawaii for themselves.

On those trips we drove past fields of corn taller than six feet high and fields of wheat greener than you can ever imagine. We made stops along the way and learned how other people lived and worked. We visited places like the “Worlds Largest Ball of String” and snake farms. We learned how fudge and candy is made and were able to enjoy it fresh. I even learned how Jack Daniels whiskey is made.

In looking back at things, it appears to me that our nation was once one that consumed only what it produced. Now, it seems, we only consume and want to consume without working. Everything else seems to come from other countries. It seems also that many have become spoiled and now feel that they are entitled to whatever they want without having to work for it and the America I am living in now seems to have  turned away from the ethics of working in order to get what you want, Nowadays it seems that the idea is to get the other guy to work so that you can get what you want from him via the power of the government entitlement system. Indeed, it seems that people just think that getting the easy life is supposed to be ..... easy, and I feel really sad for my country when I realize that most of the kids sitting around playing Nintendo or listening to iPods have no idea of what mommy or daddy had to go thru in order to get the money to pay for those things.

Pride and honor, once noble words to live by, have decreased in value.

Morality has been given up for the mantra of “anything goes”.

We seem to have lost our sense of adventure and have lost our imagination. Heck, why imagine anything when you just turn on the TV and have it imagined for you. No need to think becasue you can get all of what passes for "thinking" from the TV.

We whine when we don't get what we want instead of what we need. We dream empty dreams of wants & have nots.

What scares me the most for our country is that we have lost our will, our drive.

We have become complacent to the way things are and have lost our nerve to speak up and put a stop to the people who are destroying our values and our morals. The very guidelines in which we used to teach our children have become diminished and blurred.

We need to learn again the value of what it takes to earn what we need and not what we want. The Bible says “Spare the rod and spoil the child” If we fail to forgo the spoils and entitlement we feel is owed to us, then I think that morally and spiritually we will surely die.

We need to start living again without all the bullshit fertilizers we get from Hollywood and TV. Did you know that TV shows and movies are nothing more than make-believe? That also includes those hot new reality shows everybody loves. It's all phony, unreal, nowhere near the truth. We have been hearing the lies and bullshit they (Hollywood) fed us for so long and I think America needs to get back to our rich soil and the roots that we once grew from.

Wake up America, you need to start to dream again of what YOU can do - and you need to find your sense of adventure and get it back.

As far as Government - Government cannot, nor should it, provide you what you need to live and thrive on, it can only provide a framework so that you can earn it through your own initiative and work, and anything else that the government “gives” has been taken from somebody else. Just think about this when the government is taking YOUR money in taxes to give to somebody else.

Take responsibility, as it is up to you to achieve what you desire out of life. Let no man tell you that they will give you the world. For it is only a scam to cheat you out of your property, and always remember that government has its own agenda and that is one that pads its own wallet and not YOURS. Although, it is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, the truth on the matter seem to be that it is a government of the politicians, by the politicians, for the politicians ( and their special interest group).

If you ask, me, there are far too many politicians who need to be removed from government because they have out served their purpose and are looking toward their own gain and their staying in office.

Wake up America and start to dream again. Get back your sense of adventure. Learn what true freedom really is.

I love You and I only want the best for you.

Signed,

A fellow American who still cares about you!