Posted on 02/21/2005 4:18:58 PM PST by joyce11111
The Erosion of American Lives
Nancy Levant
For all of us who are 50-years-old, or older, the world we lived in as children is completely gone. Nothing that exists resembles our lives, as youths, anymore. The greatest memories of my childhood revolved around my ability to wander. I walked, as a child, for miles and miles and miles, every day. I walked to woods, to creeks and streams, to fields, to rivers, to my nieces' and nephews' house in the next town over, to my sister’s house who also lived in a different town, to friends’ houses, to a stable, to find my father when he was on the golf course, to the swimming pool and holes, and to school.
I was never afraid. I was never molested or threatened in any way. I was never afraid of the dark, and my parents were happy that their girl was strong, tanned, healthy, and suited to the outside world. I spent the bulk of my childhood being harmoniously a part of the great outdoors. The trees, bugs, and me – in perfect harmony.
As I grew a bit, people began to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Every time asked, I said, “ I want to be a mother.” No one laughed. No one said I was too stupid to go to college. No one thought I was lacking in ambition, for in those times, being a mother had great value in the hearts of both men and women, but also in the community and nation, at large. Motherhood was known to be a job, a difficult one, and a full-time one. It was also held in high regard.
And when I was young, people had many, many more practical knowledge skills. All fathers and brothers could fix cars, lawn mowers, tractors, boat engines, toasters, leaking faucets and spigots. They could fix broken septic systems and toilets and electrical problems. They could fix furnaces of every kind, and they could build just about anything from houses and barns to tree houses to furniture to patios. They could install windows and doors. They could fix tires, bicycles, motorbikes, and scooters. They could plant crops, design and plant vegetable gardens. They could hunt and fish and provide food, and they did. Most felt responsible for their families and provided for them.
Women knew how to cook. They knew how to set tables. They knew how to can. They knew how to make clothes, to crochet, knit, quilt, make curtains, lace, rugs, and how to re-cover furniture. They knew what was wrong with their children without having to run to pediatricians for rashes and runny noses. They knew how to treat injuries and contusions without having to run to emergency rooms or clinics. They knew how and what kind of medicines to give to children, and they kept medicines on hand. They could diagnose and treat all ordinary childhood illnesses.
Women knew how to save for rainy days, and they did. They knew how to keep pantries, and what was needed for storage. They knew not to waste money – ever, and they didn’t. And most women didn’t find or lift their self-esteem with tanning booths, bleached teeth, make-up, day spas, workout routines, designer clothing, chronic diets, and all the other television-implanted behaviors that damage females.
And school children never saw armed guards and metal detectors in their school buildings. They never wore RFID tags or were spied upon while doing arithmetic. And school personnel did not decide upon a child’s sanity and document their findings in government files. Teachers taught what children needed to learn instead of conservation and ethics re-education from the United Nations.
When times were tough, families buckled down and stopped spending money. They did not accumulate debt because they knew better. They knew that debt meant vulnerability. When times were good, they saved and were thrilled to death to be able to save because saving money meant that you had some money. Having money meant that you were doing well and had savings.
Many people lived in cities and towns because there was very little crime. It was safe to live in the cities. Most people didn’t take drugs or even drink very much, because drinking alcohol was for special occasions, as a rule. And many, many people simply didn’t drink alcohol at all, and they were not looked upon as socially bankrupt.
Crop farmers, dairymen, cattlemen, pig farmers, goat and poultry farmers and seed farming were all held in the highest regard by most people, because most were at least related to a farming family and knew how important farms were to the country.
Building and expansion was performed on an as-needed basis. Urban and suburban expansion was taken to the people as plans so that they had a voice and a say in urban development.
And the parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and the wilderness and water areas were loved and cared for by the American people. Don’t you ever believe otherwise.
Today’s world feels much like an alien landscape to many of us living today. So many people, who are younger, don’t understand how much has been lost – how much individual liberty and freedom has been lost. For instance, human safety, security, and self-confidence have been enormously eroded. This is particularly true for women.
The freedom of self-definition has all but gone by the wayside. Today media tells us how to look, how to eat, what to wear, where to shop, what to buy, what we need, what we want, on and on and on. It’s endless, endless mind control. Please consider this: 50 years ago, no one, minus parents, told anyone, any of the above.
People today are virtually skill-less. The best way to demonstrate the dangerous vulnerability of people with no life skills is to imagine a nuclear event or any other event that would take out all power for one month. No car, no running water or stored water, no heat, probably no cash, probably 1 to 3 days of non-perishable foods on hand, no stored medicines or first aid supplies, no extra diapers, wipers, or formula, no potassium iodide, on and on. Add to this, no ability to find or chop wood, for you have no trees in your new neighborhoods and you do not own an axe or a hatchet, and besides, the forested lands are off-limits to people.
You have no stove or fireplace. You know not how to fix even one appliance in your home. You have no heat source, no cooking source, and almost all of your food is processed boxed food, frozen, or microwave food. And you have no water at all and no cash on hand.
The point I hope to make is that American people have lost and are continuing to lose, at a genuinely frightening pace, their basic rights under the Constitution, their liberties as American people, and their personal, individual freedoms.
They’ve lost confidence, definition, life skills, grit, determination, bravery, ability, and gumption. It a hard thing to see, or even comprehend, if you are in your 20’s, 30’s, or even 40’s. But listen to me: you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. If even half as much is gone from you when you are in your 50s, as has eroded in my lifetime, then America is going to be gone.
Copyright 2005 The Sierra Times
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http://www.sierratimes.com/05/02/17/24_210_137_23_33328.htm
Bravo Nancy Levant! Bravo!!!
Listen up people...especially you kids. I wish you could experience the times Nancy speaks of in her article. I KNOW you would be happy as can be.
Let's have faith Nancy...miracles DO happen.
No generation griping. Growing up was like Nancy Levant said.
All true.
I'd be willing to take my chances.
I am ragging on him "Chiefspew" and calling him Sparky because his username identifies him as a Masterchief Radioman, U.S. Navy. He would be an E-9 (and apparently used to browbeating instead of leading people), and he should understand the necessity for civility. Regrettably there are those who forget the important lessons of humility that they learned as Seamen, or as chief initiates.
:)
I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head.
Bump to read tomorrow.
Of all these things the author so persuasively writes, a single word describes what has truly been lost and nowhere does she use it - trust!
Trite? Yes, but did it ever occur to you that all these generational lamentations might be true? If so, imagine the cumulative loss.
For reasons known only to the wordsmiths, catastrophe has no "Y."
Essentially a cistern is a gravity filter, one should never disturb the sediment.
That is a clever phrase, but for me, undecipherable.
Silly, you're supposed to wear the onion around your neck and the potato on your belt.
Cranky old people aren't born that way.
I loved the 60s; I was in Seaside during the Monterey Festival, I still laugh at the excess and imagine some poor soul in tie-dyed T-shirt and Birkenstocks numbly mucking out the long-abandoned stalls.
One need be cautious in proclaiming something idiotic beyond comment while actively commenting on that very same thing.
On perfect days, with sky so blue we slip back within the green glades of early dew and yellow butter-smooth flowers, fields wide and earth deep and wonder what the future holds as life so poignantly and patiently unfolds.
Everything I ever needed to know I learned as a Semen.
The loss of childhood - because predators are not removed from our midst - is truly a tragedy. We do not even know all the consequences yet.
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