The Days of Yesterday VS. Tomorrow
Posted: Sunday, November 13, 2011
by David Tanguay
As a baby boomer, we were the first generation introduced to television. I remember when my father bought our first TV in the 50s it had a small screen imbedded in a large console. Of course, there wasn’t color in those days the images were all black and white. We could only get about two stations and they weren’t always that clear.
Our means of transportation such as the automobile has also come into extreme changes with the times. In days of yesterday, we could buy a good used car for $50 dollars and get quite a few miles out of it. Gas was only 29 cents a gallon and the filling stations would pump gas for you. I remember pulling into a filling station and asking for a dollar’s worth of gas.
Many people would smoke cigarettes in those days a pack of cigarettes would cost 30 cents a pack. One could smoke cigarettes almost anywhere, even in hospitals.
Many of us look back at yesterday as the good old days however, to most of us as baby boomers the 60s brought us some very turbulent times in our country and throughout the world. Our generation was one seeking change in our political structure.
Commonly known as flower children, hippies and so on, peace and love was our slogan in those days. We were a generation with idealistic views we were alienated from our parents in those days, a cliché commonly known as the generation gap.
Although the times have changed tremendously in the past one hundred years I believe we are on the verge of a new day which will bring us all as the human race into a new and exciting day ahead.
“Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined.” Henry David Thoreau
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)It's good to read your recount of life when you were young, and your optimism for the future!
Just in this past week I overheard some guys my age talking about how life was hard when they were young, and I felt compelled to interject, "yeah, when I was young, we had to get up off the couch to change the channel on the TV!" I was hoping to lend some perspective, and I think it worked.
I share your optimism for the future. It may be a bumpy ride, but our arrival is pretty much guaranteed.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thank you for commenting Bruce, yes I do look forward to a new day in the future.Please log in to respond to this comment.
My children couldn't believe it when I told them how excited I was when we got our first color TV. Or how we had to ball up aluminum foil for the antennae to work, (What's an antennae, they said).
Wonderful article, David.Please log in to respond to this comment.Yes Ken times have changed haven't they?Please log in to respond to this comment.
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