The more things change the more they stay the same, right?
Well...not really.
I, for one, no longer recognize this planet as the one I grew up on.
Things have changed so quickly and so radically that the place has become somewhat alien.
Let’s go over a few things that have changed since I was young, shall we?:
The Sun was a warm yellow...not a hot white blowtorch...
...coastal waters were blue...not green...
....lightning was not blinding white light....
...rain was pure...not toxic...
...people did not send pictures to each other of their gonads and breasts...
...you didn’t have to get a naked x-ray picture taken or your testicles grabbed...in order to board a plane
...flying was a rare and prized experience...not an imitation of a rush hour metro bus...
...the FBI operated independently, not with local police departments acting as its gofers under a “special agent in charge”
...you could buy sales items without surrendering your personal information to a ‘preferred customer card’...
...Presidents were not related....
...Gay marriage did not exist and anyone proposing it was laughed at...
...sex education happened in High School...not elementary school...
...massage parlors were not fronts for Chinese prostitution...
...college was affordable...
...doctors were middle class professionals...not millionaires...
...SWAT teams were not deployed to your home unless you had taken hostages and had them at gunpoint...
...there weren’t any cameras on the street...
...kids were not fat...
...kids did not know about sex...
...pornography was hard to get...
...children were not confiscated from their parents unless they had been severely injured...
...kids were allowed to run, play, fall, wrestle and play dodge ball at school...
...children did not get breast cancer or alzheimers...
...eye prescriptions were required every four years...not every year...
...gum did not contain aspartame...
...there were only two genders...
...there were no hate crime laws...
...measles was a disease nobody feared and many got...
...women were feminine...not crazy, rage-filled basket cases...
...people spent only a little time playing video games...not hours
Cops were accountable, wore uniforms and behaved officially...not bermuda shorts and t-shirts, did not have tattoos, piercings or beards, hardly ever shot and killed people by mistake and did not resemble steroid using muscle freaks who have no control of themselves or their actions.
Gangs were a local irritating phenomenon...not massive out of control murder squads...
...working for the CIA was rare...not like working for Walmart or McDonald’s...
...there were only one to three required vaccines, most of them taken in elementary school..
...there were no flu vaccines...
...children were healthy, smart and strong...
...old people had wise, modest tempers and were respected by the younger generation...
...adults acted like adults....
...movies showed in theaters for most of the year...instead of disappearing after the first month...
...visits to the doctor, the hospital or buying medicine was affordable...
...most people did not have have health insurance and did just fine...
...China, Russia, Cuba and Vietnam were our known enemies...
...there was no illegal alien problem...nor were they allowed to work, vote, drive or take their children to public schools...
...torture was illegal...and anyone supporting it was considered insane...
...wars were declared against nations...not things
...reporters actually reported...instead of re-wording government releases...
...newspapers were independent...not branches of corporate combines...
...people were arrested for committing felony crimes...
...Americans were allowed to file for bankruptcy...
...only a few people ever took psychiatric drugs...and they didn’t go crazy after taking them...
...marijuana was a misdemeanor...
...people watched a screen for only a few hours a day...instead of the whole day...
...smoking was allowed...
...most things were made in America...
...most businesses were mom and pop operations...
...shopping centers did not sell food...
...only a few people used credit cards to buy things...
...food stamps were made out of paper...
...books were made out of paper...
...people read newspapers...
...homosexuality and bisexuality were rare and private affairs...instead of national crusades...
....'gay day’ and ‘gay parades’ did not exist...
...signs and recordings at public offices were in English...
...illegal immigrants were deported...and were rarely seen...
...high school students could get jobs...
...college students were hard working and serious...not yahoos and losers...
...the government did not offer loans for college, and they weren’t needed...
...you could actually work yourself through college...
...college graduates could get jobs in the major they graduated in...
...getting into debt was considered a bad thing...
...one didn’t have to have a good credit score to get an apartment or a job...
...people became impatient in long lines...
...people had short and long term memory...
...crops were natural...not genetically modifies lab experiments...
...farmers were independent...not corporate employees...and saved their own seed for next planting season...instead of having to buy them from Monsanto...
...people had enough money for shopping, holidays and vacations...
...the entire nation was considered a ‘free speech zone’...
...one had the right to protest anytime and anywhere as long as you did not interrupt traffic...
...people couldn't say ‘penis’ or ’vagina’ on TV
...songs did not contain cuss words...
...chemtrails did not exist...
...drinking water was not contaminated...
...airline pilots actually had to take off, fly and land the plane...
...everyone knew how to read and write in cursive...
...autistic and special ed kids were rare...
...electric bills did not take up a large part of your income...
...everybody had full time jobs...
...cars had more acceleration....
...gasoline did not smell like turpentine....
...kids spent a lot of time outside....
...old people were wise...instead of brainless...
...skateboarders were not violet gangs who bashed people over the head with their skates...
...cussing in public and in front of women was considered bad form...
...women were not called ‘dudes’...
...ozone was not considered a pollutant...
...nitrogen was not considered a pollutant...
...cars were never tested for pollution....
...people did their own yard work...
...few people had allergies...
...cancer rates were low...
...people didn’t repeat lines from the media word for word...
...there were no celebrity gossip TV shows...
...microwave energy was considered hazardous...
...looking at a screen for two long and too close was considered hazardous...
...few people wore glasses...
...few people were fat...
...people didn’t need pharmaceuticals to get an erection...
...men had normal sperm counts...
...young couples were fertile....
...children were considered a blessing...instead of a liability...
...there might have been politically correct ways of behaving, but we never got lectures on it...
...bullying was not a problem....
...children did not commit suicide...
...being Christian was an asset...not a psychiatric condition...
...people got raises and bonuses every year...
...good, loyal, hard working employees received raises, bonuses, paid vacations and retirement...
...old people were considered wise sources of advice...instead of disposable liabilities...
...siblings let their elderly parents move in with them...
...adult children never moved back in with their parents...
...euthanasia was illegal and unthinkable...
...a person’s word meant something...
....parents were allowed to spank their children...
...people’s houses were not inspected for ‘livability’....
...people were not spied upon by home repair and maintenance people...
...there weren’t long lines at thrift stores...
...people prized privacy...
...we called our country ‘America’...not ‘The Homeland...’
...there were only two genders and two types bathrooms
...children were not counseled at school on changing their gender...
...children could not divorce their parents...
...cancer clusters were reported and investigated...
...trapped miners were rescued...
...utilities were owned by the public...not corporations...
...people could write and spell correctly...
...airliners did not just disappear off the face of the earth...
...sky scrapers did not collapse due to fire...
...government did not smuggled in and support illegal immigrants...
....parts of America weren't overrun with illegal immigrants...
...political campaigns were not funded by the China and the Saudi Arabia...
...corporations did not replace American workers with imported H1b visa foreigners...
...America had industry...
...government did not bailout mismanaged banks...
...retirement was a lock box...not an investment casino game...
...mothers did not kill their children...
...we didn’t take orders from International world authorities...
...our allies liked us, trusted us and lined up behind us...instead of hating us...
...the US President was more popular than the President of Russia...
...China didn’t own American companies...
...the weather was normal and predictable...
...our richest people did not want to become ‘gods’...
...forest fires were small affairs brought quickly under control...
...forests were regularly cleared and maintained...
...nobody knew what the words ‘Gaia,’ ‘Green’ or ‘Sustainable’ meant...
...there was no human DNA in our hot dogs...
...government regulated corporations instead of the other way around...
...corporate employees did not occupy seats of government...
...young girls didn’t throw away their virginity like used toilet paper....
...gun ownership was not a big deal...
...our infrastructure was reliable and working...
...we could prove who our Presidents were and where they were born...
...food was never so sweet or so salty one could not actually feel taste the food...
...cancer and diabetes was not out of control...
...you got a job based on your talent and experience...not who you knew...
...the authorities needed warrants to search a person’s private property and papers...
...the Constitution was considered the maximum law of the land...instead of an obsolete piece of paper...
...one legally swore oaths on the Bible before a court...
...one legally swore an oath to the Constitution before being employed by government...
...Communism was not cool or popular...
...we didn’t have trade treaties with brutal and undemocratic Communist governments...
...our armed forces consisted of men and upheld by duty...not co-ed battalions plagued by love triangles...
...the VA was one of the most well run government operations and took care of all veterans...instead of treating them like trash...
...people took responsibility for their mistakes...
...a quarter of the adult population did not have herpes...
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