Do you remember the real America?
DO YOU REMEMBER ...
When riots were unthinkable.
When you left your front doors open.
When socialism was a dirty word.
When ghettos were neighborhoods.
When the flag was a sacred symbol.
When criminals actually went to jail. When you weren't afraid to go out at night. When taxes were only a necessary nuisance. When a boy was a boy and dressed like one. When the poor were too proud to take charity. When the clergy actually talked about religion. When clerks and repairmen actually tried to please you. When college kids swallowed goldfish, not acid. When songs had tune, and words made sense. When young fellows tried to join the Army or Navy. When people knew what the fourth of July stood for.
When you never dreamed our country could ever lose. When a Sunday drive was a pleasant trip,not an ordeal. When you bragged about your hometown and home state. When everybody didn't feel entitled to a college education. When people expected less and valued what they had more. When politicians proclaimed their patriotism, and meant it. When everybody knew the difference between right and wrong. When things weren't perfect - but you never expected them to be. When you weren't made to feel guilty for enjoying dialect comedy. When our Government stood up for Americans, anywhere in the world. When you knew that the law would be enforced and your safety protected.
When you considered yourself lucky to have a good job, and proud of it.
When the law meant justice, and you felt a shiver of awe at the sight of a policeman.
When you weren't embarrassed to say that this is the best country in the world.
When America was a land filled with brave, proud, confident, hardworking people!
Do you remember the real America?
While in School I could pray My Government took prayer away. Look from within, there the answer lay Spank a Child, the parent has to pay. I said God, in a school and was ask to leave Now we ask, why do the Children grieve. Lost in a maze of the roads fast lane We lost the freedom, who's too blame? Rarely seen a Bible in open spaces My God, what have we done Today we find loaded many a gun. Where is love, what happened my friend The new movement, has come in. Ear rings colored hair, times has changed Make believe movies killings are arranged. Prayer, I wonder why it was it taken away Madelyn O'hare, alone said we can't pray. One person stood her ground Laws have changed, today bodies are found. My Country land of the free, and brave Fought for and died, I see many a grave. God change this Nation called the USA To live or die, we all need to pray. Old Glory may you flap in the breeze Take America back my friend Fall to your knees.
Whoa! What in the world is happening with our kids today? Let's see.. I think it started when Madalyn Murray O'Hare complained that she didn't want any prayer in our schools, and we said O.K. Then someone said, "You had better not read the Bible in school -- the Bible that says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself." And we said, O.K. Remember Dr. Benjamin Spock, who said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem? And we said, O.K. Then someone said that teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And our administrators said, "Whoa, no one in this school better touch a student when they misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely don't want to be sued." And we said, O.K. Then someone said, "Let's let our daughters have abortions if they want, and we won't even have to tell their parents." And we said, O.K. Then someone else said, "Let's give our sons and daughters all the condoms they want, so they can have all the "fun" they desire, and we won't have to tell their parents." And we said, O.K. And then some of our top officials said that it doesn't matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And we said, "As long as I have a job and the economy is good, it doesn't matter to me what anyone does in private, it's nobody's business." In short, it's O.K. So now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "we reap what we sow". Whoa! What a concept!
Only in America can a homeless combat veteran live in a cardboard box and a draft dodger live in the white house. Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance... Only in America...are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink... Only in America...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions. Only in America...do people order double cheese burgers, a large fries, and a diet coke... Only in America...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters... Only in America...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and leave useless junk in the garage... Only in America...do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place... Only in America...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight... Only in America...do we use the word "politics" to describe the process so well: "poli" in Latin meaning "many" and "tics" meaning "bloodsucking creatures"... Only in America do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering!
How many do you remember ?
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P. F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with levers
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulbs
20. Beanie and Cecil
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
Before 1945
WE ARE SURVIVORS!! Consider the changes we have witnessed:
We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL
We were born before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and before man walked on the moon We ere married first, and then lived together. How quaint can you be?
In our time closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins.
We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent, and Outer Space was the back of the movie theater. We were before house-husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages. We were before day-care centers, group therapy and nursing homs. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt and guys wearing earrings. For us, time sharing meant togetherness---not computers or condominiums, a chip meant a piece of wood, hardwre meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.
In 1904 "made in Japan" meant junk and the term "making out" referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, "MacDonalds" and instant coffee were unheard of. We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 cent stores where you bought things for five and ten cents, ice cream cones sold for a nickel or a dime. For one nickel you could ride a street car, make a phone call, buy a Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You coud buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one; a pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon!
In our day Grass was mowed, Coke was a cold drink and Pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a Grandma's lullaby and Aids were helpers in the Principal's office We were certainly not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change; we made do with what we had. And we were the last generation that was so dumb as to think you needed a husband to have a baby!
No wonder we are so confused and there is such a generation gap today!
BUT WE SURVIVED!!!!!!
Black and White TV You could hardly see for all the snow, Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go Pull a chair up to the TV set, "Good night David, Good night Chet" Dependin' on the channel you tuned You got Rob and Laura - or Ward and June It felt so good, felt so right Life looked better in black and white I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train Superman, Lois Lane Father Knows Best, Patty Duke Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too Donna Reed on Thursday night Life looked better in black and white I wanna go back to black and white Everything always turned out right Simple people, simple lives Good guys always won the fights Now nothin's the way it seems In living color or on the screen I wanna go back to black and white. In God they trusted, in bed they slept A promise made was a promise kept They never cussed or broke their vows They'd never make the network now But if I could I'd rather be in a TV town in '63 It felt so good, felt so right Life looked better in black and white. I'd trade all the channels on the satellite If I could just turn back the clock tonight To when everybody knew wrong from right life was better in black and white.
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.
These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes.
These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.
It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom.