LIFE IN THE FIFTIES

Were you a kid in the Fifties or so?  Everybody makes fun of our

childhood!  Comedians joke.  Grand kids snicker.  Twenty-something's

shudder and say "Eeeew!"  But was our childhood really all that bad?

Judge for yourself

In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million...  Yet you knew

more people then, and knew them better...  And that was good.

The average annual salary was under $3,000...  Yet our parents could put

some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life...  And

that was good.

A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents...  But it was safe for a five year

old to skate to the store and buy one...  And that was good.

Prime-time meant I. Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and

Lassie...So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters...And that was good.

We didn't have air-conditioning...  So the windows stayed up and half a

dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike...  And that was

good.

Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs.  Logan or Mr.Adkins...

But not Ms Becky or Mr.Dan...  And that was good.

The only hazardous material you knew about...  Was a patch of sand burrs

around the light pole at the corner...  And that was good.

You loved to climb into a fresh bed...  Because sheets were dried on the

clothesline...  And that was good.

People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives...So

"child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles...  And that was

good.

Parents were respected and their rules were law....  Children did not

talk back....  and that was good.

TV was in black-and-white...  But all outdoors was in glorious

color....And that was certainly good.

Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor...  And the Dad next

door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs...  And that was very good.

Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard...  And chickens behind

the garage...  And that was definitely good.

And just when you were about to do something really bad...  Chances were

you'd run into your Dad's high school coach...Or the nosy old lady from

up the street...  Or your little sister's piano teacher...  Or somebody

from Church...  ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number...  And YOUR

first name...  And even THAT was good!

REMEMBER....

Send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy

Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics,

Brenda Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The

Shadow Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well

as the sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled

with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, playing hide and seek and kick-

the-can and Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local

theater before the Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the

pool...and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubble

gum cigars.