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Times were different then
| Open Poetry #49 |
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Times were different then |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida 
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Today's thoughts: Times were different but I often felt we as youngsters did not really know and appreciate all they did to care for us and only remember or thought we were not loved nor understood. Then we were not very good at showing how much we cared. My Father and his Father before him walked to work when they did not have transportation. They worked six days a week and often ten hours a day but came home smiling. They did not openly show their love as their growing years were even harder. Love was expressed by how they lived and not by how many hugs and kisses you got, nor by gifts of things they could not afford. Most were working by the age of nine and many did chores at home and on farms before that age. My Father at age nine was delivering buckets of beer or ale from his Father's establishment to customers, my husband at that age delivered ice to homes that had iceboxes for refrigeration. And some boys as did my brother worked on farms at picking time. Farmers would drive through the neighborhood and pick up boys to bring to the farm for a days work. Many boys a bit older were out every morning and afternoon delivering the days newspapers. High school or younger rode bikes and delivered messages as every one did not have telephones back then. Later even our eldest son had a paper route that got him out every day after school delivering papers in snow and rain and sunshine. He also worked on the local golf course caddying and doing for the golfers while still in grade school. Yes. times have changed and I often wonder if the changes have really been good. Jo Perry Jo |
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Lori Grosser Rhoden Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202Fair to middlin' of nowhere |
they say this generation doesn't know how to work. They don't have a work ethic. I think a big part of the problem is that they have not had to work through difficult situations and so they can't handle the frustration and give up. They lack a "can do" attitude for the most part. Not all kids, of course. But there seems to be a trend... ~L |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Oh for sure my dad was like your dad, Jo, and you can betcha I had a paper route too for the last five years of school. ~*~ When they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~ [This message has been edited by JerryPat2 (10-26-2015 11:43 AM).] |
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secondhanddreampoet Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394a 'Universalist' ! |
v. well said !! The fundamental 'philosophical equations' at the heart of the 'Runaway American Dream' are all unfortunate and seriously flawed: Time = Money Big = Better Change = Progress ... Sometimes it is just 'change' and definitively not 'progress' ... and yes, the 'work ethic' has progressively evaporated generation by generation. most of the 'changes' have not been for the better ... the corporate 'mediocracy' that this nation has devolved into (of, by, and for the ever-fewer, ever-richer denizens of the 'entrenched privilege' class, megalithic corporate octopi, and 'special interest' lobbies) is not the truly participatory 'democracy' of Jeffersonian purity that my ancestor John Adams and the rest of the 'founding fathers' (men of the American 'enlightenment') had envisioned! |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Thank you all for the replies I appreciate them all.I decided to put in my memories as I have not written any poems lately. Jo |
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Ticklefingers Senior Member Posts 710 Louisiana |
The work that is done today is only slightly different than years before. There are still houses to build, office plazas and shopping centers and malls. Myriad projects that require labor and intense engineering are always necessary. Many cars are recalled now, a reality which was virtually unheard of when I bought my first set of wheels. Not so much because of labor error or "Murphy's Law", but perhaps because they are so 'over-engineered' with so many parts and components they were simply 'doomed' to fail. Ok, I'm off topic a bit.  I think I've typed enough here. I better stop before 1 mistake a make. s'88 friends She told me "play one for your supper Danny and maybe you'll get breakfast". |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Thank you Dan.I was really referring to the type of life it was in the depression years and up to the end of world war two.Then it was a bit better.WPA work was about a dollar a day but a dollar went a long way then. Then coal miners struck and were beaten and killed. They paved the way but it took many years and many deaths for that to happen. Yes indeed life is s different now. Today a young boy or girl can not even work in the family restaurant without the Law coming down on them. That is how they used to learn the business and run it later. Thank you for your input.JO |
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Ticklefingers Senior Member Posts 710 Louisiana |
My mother was a teenager when the markets collapsed and during the subsequent 'depression' years. Chicagoan's were hit hard like many others. 'Bath-tub gin' was one way to make a buck before the repeal of prohibition. Grandma and my mom both had many stories of those days. In fact, the man who would have been my uncle was shot to death in front of the Annetta hotel in Cicero. Watered gin was frowned upon. 88's Miss Jo She told me "play one for your supper Danny and maybe you'll get breakfast". |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
Yes I wish my mother had told us stories.I only know so much from those days.She was a flapper and she and her brother entered dance contests.Her brother was six feet four inches and she was five feet nine.I wish I had some photos of her in that time. She and her brother and three sisters were orphaned early in life. Her mom died of the l9l8 flu and her dad a year later. Her grandmother had to take them all in. many untold stories thee. Best to ya, jo |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas |
yep, and again, yep - heart palpitations for those days - - - again. Good memories, Jo. j. |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
James Wesley thank you for liking. JO |
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