Strange, But True.

[wtbengineer]

I saw this in the YouTube 'recommendations' and found it slightly amusing on a couple of levels.

First -but not insulting them, the sixties children's perceptions of a more mechanical world in the year 2000,
but their assumptions from such a robotic system and the unhappiness it may bring. Their opinions might've
seemed strange back then, but two decades on from the year they're commenting on, the imaginary world
of these children seems fairly harmless to what 2020/21 is actually about.


The second thing that made me smile were the children's accents. All well-schooled and not a regional tone
amongst them.
In my world at that time, they called them 'posh kids' back then!
(But were they wrong?)

That's very interesting.  What strikes me is that all these kids seem to be so well spoken and intelligent.  They are probably around my age if still living, and I don't remember other kids being that well spoken.  Maybe they were better schooled in Great Britain where I assume this was recorded.  I don't know, I feel like the kids I grew up with would have just been like, 'uh, maybe there'd be some flying cars and stuff".  I don't remember anyone talking about or even being aware of computers.  I remember reading about computers back in the '60s but they were just something that the scientists had access to back then.

[BIAD]

That's very interesting.  What strikes me is that all these kids seem to be so well spoken and intelligent.
They are probably around my age if still living, and I don't remember other kids being that well spoken.

Maybe they were better schooled in Great Britain where I assume this was recorded.  I don't know, I feel
like the kids I grew up with would have just been like, 'uh, maybe there'd be some flying cars and stuff".

I don't remember anyone talking about or even being aware of computers.  I remember reading about
computers back in the '60s but they were just something that the scientists had access to back then.

You're bang-on the money there, WTB, the recruiting of children for TV articles was more stringent back then and a narrative
of well-being and the hint of school education being a beneficial aspect to rearing a child far-more important than today's
perception. In today's parlance, this video is 'fake', but it was in a time when mainstream media had a monopoly on delivering
approved information.

We're so blinded today by the seemingly eternal notion that the written and broadcasted word always has merit over our own
personal thoughts, that a whole economy has been generated through the idea that if many can hear and see it, then it must
be true.

Deceit is alive and well, Just look at the many video-sharing websites as an example and see how opinions are effected -not for
being untrue or inappropriate for a healthy society, but just not the correct narrative certain parties desire.
.................................

As far as discussing computers back then, the majority of folk knew very little of these light-blinking machines because
computers were presented as something vague -but important. However, the real truth is that for many, purchasing such
an expensive item was beyond their means and somehow, we'd managed to get along without one!

[wtbengineer]

That's very interesting.  What strikes me is that all these kids seem to be so well spoken and intelligent.
They are probably around my age if still living, and I don't remember other kids being that well spoken.

Maybe they were better schooled in Great Britain where I assume this was recorded.  I don't know, I feel
like the kids I grew up with would have just been like, 'uh, maybe there'd be some flying cars and stuff".

I don't remember anyone talking about or even being aware of computers.  I remember reading about
computers back in the '60s but they were just something that the scientists had access to back then.

You're bang-on the money there, WTB, the recruiting of children for TV articles was more stringent back then and a narrative
of well-being and the hint of school education being a beneficial aspect to rearing a child far-more important than today's
perception. In today's parlance, this video is 'fake', but it was in a time when mainstream media had a monopoly on delivering
approved information.

We're so blinded today by the seemingly eternal notion that the written and broadcasted word always has merit over our own
personal thoughts, that a whole economy has been generated through the idea that if many can hear and see it, then it must
be true.

Deceit is alive and well, Just look at the many video-sharing websites as an example and see how opinions are effected -not for
being untrue or inappropriate for a healthy society, but just not the correct narrative certain parties desire.
.................................

As far as discussing computers back then, the majority of folk knew very little of these light-blinking machines because
computers were presented as something vague -but important. However, the real truth is that for many, purchasing such
an expensive item was beyond their means and somehow, we'd managed to get along without one!

Ah, yes, I think you are spot on with that assessment BIAD!  Fake news before it was a thing, huh?  I can't remember ever buying into the narrative myself.  If I did it had to be when I was really young.  I've never really watched the news, only skimmed headlines and tried to read between the lines.  I never gave in to what felt like attempted manipulation by the school system either.  Just felt wrong somehow.  I've always kind of been an outsider as a result...  Never had many close friends just acquaintances.  Don't mean to go off on a tangent, haha, just thinking out loud.

[FlyingClayDisk]

Interesting paradigm, @"wtbengineer" and @"BIAD" .

One of the things I find so interesting is "disinformation" and "propaganda" was much easier to spot all those years ago.  Today, not so much.  I guess this makes sense in some ways, as technology and psychology have evolved over all those years too.  Still though, in many cases now propaganda and disinformation is almost impossible to separate from...'normalcy'(?), from unbiased, non-agenda driven speak.  Part of the reason for this is the latter is so very rare today, almost everything you see, read and hear is tainted with some form of propaganda one way or the other.

To this end, it makes me wonder what the future holds.  As it stands right now, it takes a concerted amount of effort to establish the neutral facts of about every situation, and this effort is (as we see) more than the vast majority of people are willing to expend.  Consequently, people / society is just 'content' (I say "apathetic") to accept what the talking heads say on whatever social media outlet they monitor as the truth.  So, the "game" becomes one of who can get the most talking heads in front of people.  But, as a society, I think we're pretty close to what I term the 'saturation point', the point where people just can't 'absorb' any more (true or otherwise).  Kind of like a sponge can only absorb so much water.

If we fast-forward 10, 15 or even 20 years (a relatively short period of time, all things considered), what will society be like then?  I picture these beaten-down lifeforms we used to call humans slogging around, emotionless, with no hopes and dreams, no visions of a future and really no existence other than the precise moment of the 'now' with (maybe) the ability to predict a few seconds into the future...(i.e. 'If I don't move now, the bus which is headed right for me will hit me...so (sigh), I guess I should move so I don't leave behind a mess.')

Doesn't seem like a very cheerful existence if you ask me!  And, regardless of what side of the political 'fence' you reside on it doesn't really matter; this is the inevitability for all sides.

In a society as seemingly intelligent as our current society, I guess I'm rather surprised that people can't see this inevitability coming.  It's right in front of them / us (just like the 'bus' I noted above).

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I hear what you are saying and it got me to thinking as well.

I grew up with the Sears and Roebuck, and the Montgomery Wards catalog, and the radio.

My family was the first in the community to have a TV set, and it made our house the neighborhood community hang out. It wasn't on that much, the channels were few, and the broadcasting stopped after a certain hour, and all you got was a test pattern. It held little interest for us children, our golden time was outside, trying to find something that would eventually get us in trouble. In other words, we did our job as children.

The time that I was not doing chores, I was either in school, I loved school, or I was hunting the woods, with friends, or alone, looking for berries, or what was on the fruit trees. We had a ton of fruit trees, and nut trees, that could hold my interest for more than a spell. Had to watch out for snakes, and for any other thing of interest that may be about. I also read a lot, and when you live in a house with twelve people, the peace of the woods, filled the bill for a lot of your needs.

When I reached the age of covetousness, the only place that I could see things that I did not have, but we're available, were in those catalogs. My world vision was still very small. I had all I needed, and all I really wished for, was the sun to take longer to go down, and quicker to come up. I was a near teen, so the first things I wanted was clothes. I could forget about buying them, but my Mother was a master at looking at something, grabbing a paper bag, making a pattern and reproducing it. The only thing I really craved, really pined for, back then, was growing up. So I could get a job and move away from my boring country roots.

Most folk back then got pleasure from what they had around them, what they could make, or build, and what they could share. The majority of our dreams, were within touching distance, or it was placed in the category of silly, fantasy, or just plain crazy.

With TV came visions of all that you never knew you were lacking. From your homes, to your relationships, and your life, you were left with the feeling of never quite making it, never being able to have it all, and the feeling of being less than.

That is what the TV brought into our lives. It was an instrument that stole your joy and replaced it with visions of an unrealistic world, and with wants that never end, and never quite fulfill. That was the TV, the mother of disappointment. Then came the computer, and we have not seen all the destruction it has yet to bring us.

Just sharing my melancholy thoughts of the moment.

[Ninurta]

I hear what you are saying and it got me to thinking as well.

I grew up with the Sears and Roebuck, and the Montgomery Wards catalog, and the radio.

My family was the first in the community to have a TV set, and it made our house the neighborhood community hang out. It wasn't on that much, the channels were few, and the broadcasting stopped after a certain hour, and all you got was a test pattern. It held little interest for us children, our golden time was outside, trying to find something that would eventually get us in trouble. In other words, we did our job as children.

The time that I not doing chores, I was either in school, I loved school, or I was hunting the woods, with friends, or alone, looking for berries, or what was on the fruit trees. We had a ton of fruit trees, and nut trees, that could hold my interest for more than a spell. Had to watch out for snakes, and for any other thing of interest that may be about. I also read a lot, and when you live in a house with twelve people, the peace of the woods, filled the bill for a lot of your needs.

When I reached the age of covetousness, the only place that I could see things that I did not have, but we're available, were in those catalogs. My world vision was still very small. I had all I needed, and all I really wished for, was the sun to take longer to go down, and quicker to come up. I was a near teen, so the first things I wanted was clothes. I could forget about buying them, but my Mother was a master at looking at something, grabbing a paper bag, making a pattern and reproducing it. The only thing I really craved, really pined for, back then, was growing up. So I could get a job and move away from my boring country roots.

Most folk back then got pleasure from what they had around them, what they could make, or build, and what they could share. The majority of our dreams, were within touching distance, or it was placed in the category of silly, fantasy, or just plain crazy.

With TV came visions of all that you never knew you were lacking. From your homes, to your relationships, and your life, you were left with the feeling of never quite making it, never being able to have it all, and the feeling of being less than.

That is what the TV brought into our lives. It was an instrument that stole your joy and replaced it with visions of an unrealistic world, and with wants that never end, and never quite fulfill. That was the TV, the mother of disappointment. Then came the computer, and we have not seen all the destruction it has yet to bring us.

Just sharing my melancholy thoughts of the moment.

I recall those days too, the days of mail-order, where you would get a catalog, see something that struck your fancy and so then order it, and then expect to wait 4 to 6 weeks - or sometimes longer - for delivery. Folks these days would lose their ever lovin' minds if they had to wait that long to get their stuff, but I do think it created a stronger appreciation for what you got, the waiting to get it.

It also seems to have developed a patience that is sadly lacking in modern technocratic internet-based societies.

.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

I recall those days too, the days of mail-order, where you would get a catalog, see something that struck your fancy and so then order it, and then expect to wait 4 to 6 weeks - or sometimes longer - for delivery. Folks these days would lose their ever lovin' minds if they had to wait that long to get their stuff, but I do think it created a stronger appreciation for what you got, the waiting to get it.

.

Yes. It seemed that we appreciated what we had more back then. Even the little things had value and brought joy.

Something as tiny and finding an over ripe berry bush, long past season, and having our mother make us kids pancakes or a cobbler out of them. Of course the pride that went along with being the one responsible for providing the berries for the treat, made it all taste so much better.

Very little was taken for granted back then, even though we had so much less.

[FlyingClayDisk]

I hear what you are saying and it got me to thinking as well.

I grew up with the Sears and Roebuck, and the Montgomery Wards catalog, and the radio.

My family was the first in the community to have a TV set, and it made our house the neighborhood community hang out. It wasn't on that much, the channels were few, and the broadcasting stopped after a certain hour, and all you got was a test pattern. It held little interest for us children, our golden time was outside, trying to find something that would eventually get us in trouble. In other words, we did our job as children.

The time that I not doing chores, I was either in school, I loved school, or I was hunting the woods, with friends, or alone, looking for berries, or what was on the fruit trees. We had a ton of fruit trees, and nut trees, that could hold my interest for more than a spell. Had to watch out for snakes, and for any other thing of interest that may be about. I also read a lot, and when you live in a house with twelve people, the peace of the woods, filled the bill for a lot of your needs.

When I reached the age of covetousness, the only place that I could see things that I did not have, but we're available, were in those catalogs. My world vision was still very small. I had all I needed, and all I really wished for, was the sun to take longer to go down, and quicker to come up. I was a near teen, so the first things I wanted was clothes. I could forget about buying them, but my Mother was a master at looking at something, grabbing a paper bag, making a pattern and reproducing it. The only thing I really craved, really pined for, back then, was growing up. So I could get a job and move away from my boring country roots.

Most folk back then got pleasure from what they had around them, what they could make, or build, and what they could share. The majority of our dreams, were within touching distance, or it was placed in the category of silly, fantasy, or just plain crazy.

With TV came visions of all that you never knew you were lacking. From your homes, to your relationships, and your life, you were left with the feeling of never quite making it, never being able to have it all, and the feeling of being less than.

That is what the TV brought into our lives. It was an instrument that stole your joy and replaced it with visions of an unrealistic world, and with wants that never end, and never quite fulfill. That was the TV, the mother of disappointment. Then came the computer, and we have not seen all the destruction it has yet to bring us.

Just sharing my melancholy thoughts of the moment.

Very well said!  You write very well, and I agree. 

On the subject of TV; where/when I grew up, we did have a TV albeit black and white.  There was only one channel, and like yours, it was only on for part of the day.  The broadcast day began at 7am with the local weather gal, believe it or not her name was Ginger Snapp!  LOL!  I actually met her once, and that was her real, given, name...not a stage name.  (Her parents must have been drunk at the time!)

I don't even really remember TV all that much as a kid.  I rarely ever watched it.  There was one kind of low-budget cartoon I watched sometimes in the afternoons, Gigantor (and I think Speed Racer).  The rest of it was all just noise to me.  I was long gone, out in the desert, doing all the stuff kids can find to do in the high desert (which was a surprising amount of mischief when you got right down to it).  Our biggest exploration tool was our motorized horses, in the form of motorcycles, my buddies and I had cobbled together. 

One of my big recollections, after managing to get a bike that actually ran, was the time Mom told me I was never to go out riding in the desert because I might never return.  I wonder, to this day, how long she thought that instruction would hold with me.  Surely she knew it wouldn't last more than a few dozens of seconds after I walked out the door.  I always hoped she really just meant "be careful", because there was no way a kid could ever resist that vast expanse to go explore.  And explore it we did...every day, for years on end.  It never got old.

And, when I go back, which I will...it will still never be old.

[Ninurta]

Yes. It seemed that we appreciated what we had more back then. Even the little things had value and brought joy.

Something as tiny and finding an over ripe berry bush, long past season, and having our mother make us kids pancakes or a cobbler out of them. Of course the pride that went along with being the one responsible for providing the berries for the treat, made it all taste so much better.

Very little was taken for granted back then, even though we had so much less.

Yup. I recall many a time that I'd go out and bring in a gallon of blackberries, to which we would add some water and a little sugar and boil them down into a thin syrup, and then add in our own peculiar brand of hillbilly "dumplings" - just biscuit dough mixed loosely, and spoon-dropped into the blackberry syrup, and when they were done, the whole shebang was ready.

I recall finding 3 wild plum trees on one of my mountain wanderings a couple miles from home, and bringing a couple gallons back for canning. They were a lot better than the store-bought purple plums.

I recall finding a single lemon-balm plant out in a clearing in the woods, and working with it until I figured out what it was. It looked like a pale catnip plant, but smelled like lemons instead of catnip when you tore a leaf, and that was a perplexation that I HAD to solve.

There was a joy and a sense of accomplishment in discoveries like those that is no more in this age when everything is just a keyboard or mouse click away.

Regarding the computers discussed in the OP, back then we thought of computers as a huge bank of closet sized metal boxes with flashing lights and tape reels on the face of them. I went to the University of Akron, Ohio, one day in 1973 to tinker on a computer they had there. The computer itself filled the entire floor of an economics building on the other side of the campus, and the computer room was just a bunch of terminals - just a keyboard and a green letters on black background CRT display. There were about 10 or 15 terminals in that room. I recall it could play baseball via that terminal, and if you got mad and cussed at it, the terminal would shut down until you apologized, and I found that amazing - that a machine would do that. The computing power of that floor-filling assembly of computers, which was state of the art at the time, can now be contained in a cell phone many times over, or even a mere wristwatch in this day and age.

I'm not sure that all the "advances" we have made since then are really positive things.


.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Yes. It seemed that we appreciated what we had more back then. Even the little things had value and brought joy.

Something as tiny and finding an over ripe berry bush, long past season, and having our mother make us kids pancakes or a cobbler out of them. Of course the pride that went along with being the one responsible for providing the berries for the treat, made it all taste so much better.

Very little was taken for granted back then, even though we had so much less.

Yup. I recall many a time that I'd go out and bring in a gallon of blackberries, to which we would add some water and a little sugar and boil them down into a thin syrup, and then add in our own peculiar brand of hillbilly "dumplings" - just biscuit dough mixed loosely, and spoon-dropped into the blackberry syrup, and when they were done, the whole shebang was ready.

I recall finding 3 wild plum trees on one of my mountain wanderings a couple miles from home, and bringing a couple gallons back for canning. They were a lot better than the store-bought purple plums.

I recall finding a single lemon-balm plant out in a clearing in the woods, and working with it until I figured out what it was. It looked like a pale catnip plant, but smelled like lemons instead of catnip when you tore a leaf, and that was a perplexation that I HAD to solve.

There was a joy and a sense of accomplishment in discoveries like those that is no more in this age when everything is just a keyboard or mouse click away.

Regarding the computers discussed in the OP, back then we thought of computers as a huge bank of closet sized metal boxes with flashing lights and tape reels on the face of them. I went to the University of Akron, Ohio, one day in 1973 to tinker on a computer they had there. The computer itself filled the entire floor of an economics building on the other side of the campus, and the computer room was just a bunch of terminals - just a keyboard and a green letters on black background CRT display. There were about 10 or 15 terminals in that room. I recall it could play baseball via that terminal, and if you got mad and cussed at it, the terminal would shut down until you apologized, and I found that amazing - that a machine would do that. The computing power of that floor-filling assembly of computers, which was state of the art at the time, can now be contained in a cell phone many times over, or even a mere wristwatch in this day and age.

I'm not sure that all the "advances" we have made since then are really positive things.


.

I worked for the Navy in the computer services division. It took up a whole building.

This is when we had keypunch operators, verifiers, and had to hand wire the boards.

We have come a long way. But once personal computers came on the scene, I saw it coming, where we are now, and where we are headed.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination, to see the path of how we got here, and where that path leads.

[FlyingClayDisk]

I worked for the Navy in the computer services division. It took up a whole building.

This is when we had keypunch operators, verifiers, and had to hand wire the boards.

We have come a long way. But once personal computers came on the scene, I saw it coming, where we are now, and where we are headed.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination, to see the path of how we got here, and where that path leads.

My problem is...I can't see where that path leads.

I used to think I could, but now I can't.  I used to have a pretty good sense of what the future would hold, but now that vision is just nothing-ness, like some kind of a black hole. 

I don't know, maybe that's where it leads, but I hope not.  Not because I'm worried about me, I'm old, but there's a whole lot of younger people out there who don't seem to even be thinking about it at all let alone giving a hoot about it.  The handwriting is on the wall, but I guess they're not seein' it.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

My problem is...I can't see where that path leads.

I used to think I could, but now I can't.  I used to have a pretty good sense of what the future would hold, but now that vision is just nothing-ness, like some kind of a black hole. 

I don't know, maybe that's where it leads, but I hope not.  Not because I'm worried about me, I'm old, but there's a whole lot of younger people out there who don't seem to even be thinking about it at all let alone giving a hoot about it.  The handwriting is on the wall, but I guess they're not seein' it.

Like you said,

To this end, it makes me wonder what the future holds.  As it stands right now, it takes a concerted amount of effort to establish the neutral facts of about every situation, and this effort is (as we see) more than the vast majority of people are willing to expend.  Consequently, people / society is just 'content' (I say "apathetic") to accept what the talking heads say on whatever social media outlet they monitor as the truth.  So, the "game" becomes one of who can get the most talking heads in front of people.  But, as a society, I think we're pretty close to what I term the 'saturation point', the point where people just can't 'absorb' any more (true or otherwise).  Kind of like a sponge can only absorb so much water.

Too many young people today cannot think past the moment. As you said they accept what is told to them by the influencer du jour.

They are the product of a society that has taught them that hard work, time, patience, and to stride for excellence is antiquated. They believe that personal satisfaction takes precedence, and joy only comes from pleasing self, over the happiness of others. That quality may be sacrificed for speed, and immediate personal gratification is desired over excellence with aging and time.

We only know what we have been taught. You can't expect them to know, to miss, or to accurately measure something they have never seen.

You may not know the details of what is on the path, but you know enough to know that without changes, we run into a dead end.

[BIAD]

Ah, yes, I think you are spot on with that assessment BIAD!  Fake news before it was a thing, huh?
I can't remember ever buying into the narrative myself.  If I did it had to be when I was really young.
I've never really watched the news, only skimmed headlines and tried to read between the lines.
I never gave in to what felt like attempted manipulation by the school system either.  Just felt wrong somehow.
I've always kind of been an outsider as a result...  Never had many close friends just acquaintances.
Don't mean to go off on a tangent, haha, just thinking out loud.

It was the same for myself at school. After been told that I was more intelligent than the kids I had gone through
my early schooling with, I was placed in a class -by that those who were supposed to know better, in order to
utilise my alleged acumen. I was basically separated from what I had accepted as my friends.

I revolted and spent most of my later education-years elsewhere, I became a criminal and spent some time in a
place for young offenders. As far as the TV narratives, they didn't work on me simply because I didn't understand
them!

When one's priorities are to inadvertently oppose the establishment without realising one is actually opposing the
establishment, one's focus is on what can be acquired and not getting caught!

What was going on on the TV was very 'middle-class' and not truly general-reality.

[wtbengineer]

Ah, yes, I think you are spot on with that assessment BIAD!  Fake news before it was a thing, huh?
I can't remember ever buying into the narrative myself.  If I did it had to be when I was really young.
I've never really watched the news, only skimmed headlines and tried to read between the lines.
I never gave in to what felt like attempted manipulation by the school system either.  Just felt wrong somehow.
I've always kind of been an outsider as a result...  Never had many close friends just acquaintances.
Don't mean to go off on a tangent, haha, just thinking out loud.

It was the same for myself at school. After been told that I was more intelligent than the kids I had gone through
my early schooling with, I was placed in a class -by that those who were supposed to know better, in order to
utilise my alleged acumen. I was basically separated from what I had accepted as my friends.

I revolted and spent most of my later education-years elsewhere, I became a criminal and spent some time in a
place for young offenders. As far as the TV narratives, they didn't work on me simply because I didn't understand
them!

When one's priorities are to inadvertently oppose the establishment without realising one is actually opposing the
establishment, one's focus is on what can be acquired and not getting caught!

What was going on on the TV was very 'middle-class' and not truly general-reality.

I guess we had very different experiences in school overall though.  I started at 4 years old (I think mom wanted me out of the house) and I had no clue why I was even there.  I just floated along not understanding what I was supposed to be doing.  I was quiet and didn't cause any trouble, but I was withdrawn and inside my head.  I think I was kind of OCD or something, I remember walking down the halls and having to count my steps and how many steps I took inside a section of flooring.  And counting the lights and the cinder blocks in the walls...  

Anyway, they sent me to talk to the school counsellor, this was back in the early to mid '60s, and she gave me some kind of assessment.  She said that there was no reason that I should not be performing better, that I had a college aptitude.  From that point on things changed.  My third grade teacher, no fourth, took me aside and explained some things to me and from that point on I started getting A's and B's.  Until I got in middle and high school and started playing guitar and smoking... all that stuff..  Point is, I never really rebelled in school, just got lazy and didn't give a crap.  Kind of went back inside my own head and started learning stuff on my own.

[BIAD]

I guess we had very different experiences in school overall though...

Here in the North-East of England during the sixties, there was a real 'working-class' mentality that strongly urged many
to battle through schooling and then acquire a menial job that would basically recycle a level of living one had just been
reared in.

A few realised that further education was the path to a better lifestyle, but the kids that I'd grown-up with merely accepted
this was their destiny, a dead-end job for the men, maybe 'pin-money' part-time employment for a married woman whilst
raising a family. But of course, not all.
I must admit that in my little corner of the world, the community spirit was better than it is today.

It's ironic that it took a spell of incarceration to educate me in regards of self-discipline and the way that the game of life is really
played. For many of the young boys I saw in the detention-centre, they failed to grasp this and probably continued down the route
of crime.

So much as changed in regards of schooling and the steep drop of being without money due to unemployment has certainly improved
from the days when a JobSeekers office used to be called 'The Employment Exchange'!
................................................

I used to watch with awe at the family-contestants in the TV game show 'Ask The Family'... they were so 'mentally- healthy' and miles
away from my own lifestyle at the time!

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Here in the North-East of England during the sixties, there was a real 'working-class' mentality that strongly urged many
to battle through schooling and then acquire a menial job that would basically recycle a level of living one had just been
reared in.

A few realised that further education was the path to a better lifestyle, but the kids that I'd grown-up with merely accepted
this was their destiny, a dead-end job for the men, maybe 'pin-money' part-time employment for a married woman whilst
raising a family. But of course, not all.
I must admit that in my little corner of the world, the community spirit was better than it is today.

It's ironic that it took a spell of incarceration to educate me in regards of self-discipline and the way that the game of life is really
played. For many of the young boys I saw in the detention-centre, they failed to grasp this and probably continued down the route
of crime.

So much as changed in regards of schooling and the steep drop of being without money due to unemployment has certainly improved
from the days when a JobSeekers office used to be called 'The Employment Exchange'!
................................................

I used to watch with awe at the family-contestants in the TV game show 'Ask The Family'... they were so 'mentally- healthy' and miles
away from my own lifestyle at the time!

I was the first in my family to complete university. My grandfather was sent off to Pennsylvania to college, but he got a job working for the railroad, which meant he got to travel a lot. His job took him to Arizona, and out to the Pima/Gila reservation, where he met my grandmother.
The rest is history and then there was me.

Back when I was growing up, people believed working hard, and saving hard, was the ticket out of poverty. People used their skills, their blood sweat and tears to climb up. Few worked harder than my Mother and Father, and he was not happy with the results. So, he pushed education.

His constant mantra was, "They can take your money, thy can take your land, they can take all of your possessions, but they can't what you have upstairs" Always pointing to his head when he said it.

I was the oldest so he fostered my love for education. I would read one to two books a day. I spent hours in the library, reading reference books. Everyone in the library knew me by sight and by name. I became known as the information junkie. I knew a little about everything, and a lot about nothing.

It worked. That tiny little backwards village produced a lot of financially wealthy American citizens. They did very well for themselves. And they never strayed far from their roots. My Mother, I guess because she already had ten children, one more, was never too many. Our house was the playground, the park, and the community center.

One of the wealthiest of the groups when he came to Florida surprised my Mother with a dinner party, at an exclusive restaurant. He even flew down several members of the old gang that used to hang out at our house, to thank my Mother for all of her love, time and compassion that she spread throughout the community. He still comes to visit when he is in town.

Those children were raised in a completely different world, with a completely different foundation. We had different needs, different wants, different dreams. We had only one way out. We watched our parents work their fingers to the bone. We thought our out was education. We took it. But college degrees are now a dime a dozen. Education alone will not work.

So what is the answer for the next generation? This generation thinks the answer is standing still. They don't expect to be able to do better than Mom and Dad. So many do nothing. The question for them is, what do they do when Mom and Dada are no longer around.


Maybe we have reached the end of the road. Nothing lasts forever.