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the good old days
Sep. 3rd, 2010 10:08 amI had a really interesting conversation with my Mother yesterday. I joked that it seemed like she is the only person of her generation that isn't a devotee to Fox News and Glenn Beck; if I based things on what my peers seem to indicate about their parents. My Mom raised me on a healthy dose of liberation theology and recognizing the vulnerable people in the world.
She told me about some irritating thing she saw on Facebook of people she went to school with who were waxing nostalgic about how the greatest period was the 50s and 60s and how wonderful and safe and perfect life was. It was all from the view point of white middle class suburban privilege. (and definitely male) She said that it wasn't such a great time if you were any of the following; non-white, poor, female, homosexual, certain religions or a child or wife of someone who was abusive/alcoholic.
My Mom grew up north of Seattle in Edmonds which is pretty developed now but when she was a kid it was pretty rural. She lived on a farm and she recalls people who lived down the road from her who lived in homes with dirt floors and out-houses. This was in the late fifties/early sixties. She told me how her Mother told her not to tell kids at school about a neighbor kid living in a house with a dirt floor. Not out of shame of living next to that but as my Grandma said, "She doesn't need to be bothered about that." My Grandma wasn't always a terribly sensitive person but she knew that kids could be pretty darn cruel about someone's economic situation.
My Mom told me a story years ago about how a kid in her kindergarten class died in a fire because he had hidden somewhere out of fear. (she said that he was from a family of ten kids and they lived in what amounted to a shack) and she said that now there is a lot more information even at the preschool level to tell kids what to do in emergencies. She recalls kids who were obviously being beaten by their parents and how women often couldn't leave abusive situations because a wife essentially owned nothing but the clothes on her back.
A friend of the family who is a gay man worked as a teacher for years in my hometown and he really couldn't have any open relationship back in the good old days. Apparently he would go out of town in the Summer and date then. Imagine having to hide that. Hiding love. That is such a messed up situation.
I have also mentioned before the zoning restrictions in Seattle that limited where non-white people could live and the danger in being certain places after sunset. In many places there were restrictions about where you could live if you were Jewish. Senator Al Franken remembers that growing up in Minnesota. His Mother worked in real estate and was Jewish and would put up with that nonsense when selling homes. People making nasty remarks about how Jewish women weren't good house-keepers and she couldn't say anything.
It is amazing how people can have such different views of what something was like once upon a time. Maybe some are just filled with irritation about their declining privilege.
My Mother says there were many wonderful things about life when she was growing up but everyone experiences something wonderful when they are growing up.
She told me about some irritating thing she saw on Facebook of people she went to school with who were waxing nostalgic about how the greatest period was the 50s and 60s and how wonderful and safe and perfect life was. It was all from the view point of white middle class suburban privilege. (and definitely male) She said that it wasn't such a great time if you were any of the following; non-white, poor, female, homosexual, certain religions or a child or wife of someone who was abusive/alcoholic.
My Mom grew up north of Seattle in Edmonds which is pretty developed now but when she was a kid it was pretty rural. She lived on a farm and she recalls people who lived down the road from her who lived in homes with dirt floors and out-houses. This was in the late fifties/early sixties. She told me how her Mother told her not to tell kids at school about a neighbor kid living in a house with a dirt floor. Not out of shame of living next to that but as my Grandma said, "She doesn't need to be bothered about that." My Grandma wasn't always a terribly sensitive person but she knew that kids could be pretty darn cruel about someone's economic situation.
My Mom told me a story years ago about how a kid in her kindergarten class died in a fire because he had hidden somewhere out of fear. (she said that he was from a family of ten kids and they lived in what amounted to a shack) and she said that now there is a lot more information even at the preschool level to tell kids what to do in emergencies. She recalls kids who were obviously being beaten by their parents and how women often couldn't leave abusive situations because a wife essentially owned nothing but the clothes on her back.
A friend of the family who is a gay man worked as a teacher for years in my hometown and he really couldn't have any open relationship back in the good old days. Apparently he would go out of town in the Summer and date then. Imagine having to hide that. Hiding love. That is such a messed up situation.
I have also mentioned before the zoning restrictions in Seattle that limited where non-white people could live and the danger in being certain places after sunset. In many places there were restrictions about where you could live if you were Jewish. Senator Al Franken remembers that growing up in Minnesota. His Mother worked in real estate and was Jewish and would put up with that nonsense when selling homes. People making nasty remarks about how Jewish women weren't good house-keepers and she couldn't say anything.
It is amazing how people can have such different views of what something was like once upon a time. Maybe some are just filled with irritation about their declining privilege.
My Mother says there were many wonderful things about life when she was growing up but everyone experiences something wonderful when they are growing up.
