Many long for the good old days, the days when life was simpler.
Anyone over the age of sixty remembers life in the 1950s, simple but good. Everyone one was poor by today’s standards, we had time to visit our neighbors and looked out for each other. We didn’t lock our doors , because you could trust almost everyone and we didn’t have anything of value to steal.
The only property we had that was worth anything were our guns which were stacked neatly in the kitchen corner. They weren’t loaded, but the ammunition was in the kitchen cabinet,handy if we needed it. Even a thief had enough dignity about him, that if he did come into our house, he wouldn’t steal our guns, they were needed for protection and hunting, in many cases our livelihood depended on them.
The youngsters were disciplined and lectured daily about not touching one of the guns, I wouldn’t even want to think about what would have happened to me if I touched one. I grew up in the days of playing cowboys and indians, my mom would have a fit if I even pointed a cap gun at the dog, I only did it once. She always told me not to point a gun at something unless I wanted to kill it.
There were only a couple sheriff’s deputies in the whole county and they were probably twenty miles away, the couple times we called them because someone was stealing gas we used for the farm tractors, they didn’t come, too busy breaking up a bar fight.
It’s no different today, even if you live across the street from a police station, whatever crime an intruder commits is going to be accomplished before you can get a police officer there. The only thing the police can do is file a report and hope to catch the perpetrator later, all the while hoping no harm has come to the victim.
The American Indian lived in the past as did the Australian Aborigine along with many other native cultures. They lived in the past and present with no thought for the future. They told stories about their history to their children so they would remember. Thier connection to the earth and the creator have become the admiration of many in today’s world.
Since they never thought about their future, they had no future. they are still living today like they did several thousand years ago. They developed no technology and as a result they were overrun by people that developed all the latest and newest technology,weapons included.You snooze, you lose.
We live in the future with no thought to our past or present. We don’t tell our children about our family culture and our history, the last thing a baby boomer wants to do is sound like one of their parents, by repeating what their parents told them. The baby boomer generation has accomplished a lot, this is one area they fell down on and never realized the consequences.
We have developed the most advanced civilization the world has ever known, at least for the last ten thousand years. Looking back twenty years, even that minute time in history seems archaic and primitive.
Fifty years ago,none of us could even imagine what life would be like in the twenty-first century. We scoffed at the idea of going to the moon, computers were the size of a Cadillac, and we never ever ate in a restaurant.
Times have changed , even though we long for the good old days or think it would be cool living like the indians or aborigines, I really don’t know anyone who would want to live full time in a teepee or sleep in a humpie in the outback of Australia. For most of us a few days camping and we are once again ready for our air conditioned homes , our computer and the flat screen TV.
In the last forty years we have created a society unparalleled in achievement , our technology is the admiration of the world.
We have forgotten to tell our young about our past , not only our family and cultural past , but our past as a nation. Lets learn from the errors of our ancestors, let’s combine the spiritual awareness of our ancestors with the technology of the present. We can have the best of both worlds.
We need to keep the traditions alive, or we won’t have a future .
Gary has been a writer/ photographer for over 20 years, specializing in nature,landscapes and studying native cultures.Besides visiting most of the United States, he has traveled to such places as Egypt,the Canary Islands,much of the Caribbean. He has studied the Mayan Cultures in Central America, and the Australian Aboriginal way of life.Photography has given him the opportunity to observe life in many different parts of the world!
He has published several books about the various cultures he has observed.
For more information and a link to his hard cover and Ebooks,and contact information: please check his website.www.commonsensejourneys.com
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