although i'm still a journeyman geezer,
and not a master yet, i see where some
folks do lament the past. makes me feel
like all the sacrifices my parents made,
and those before them are going to pot.
my folks had a hard life in the depression,
but it was a good life. they didn't have
anything in the way of possessions, but
they had their friends and family and made
a go of it. we live longer now because of
sacrifices and innovations of those before us.
when my father was a boy, someone sixty
years old was ancient. a lot of folks then
died young from diseases we treat with
over the counter medicines now. a lot of
newborn babies didn't make it, and a
lot of times the mother didn't either. i've been
told of kids in those times dying from stepping
on old rusty nails, or getting cut on an old
piece of barn tin, or from a cold. an old feller
told my friend a while back that these were
the good old days now. he said back in his day
folks worked a couple of hours before school,
you had to walk everywhere you went, and
everybody stank all the time. he said this was the
good old days because you could just turn
a spigot and have water to drink or wash
without having to haul buckets up out of the well,
or do like my folks did and haul buckets from the
creek and let them sit a while so the sand would
settle to the bottom before you dipped up a drink.
i'm grateful for everything i have now, and
hopefully the next team up to bat will be
just as thankful if not more so, instead
of an entitlement attitude.
