Sunday, September 20, 2009

Are We Better Off...Really ? ?


Stop for a minute and ask yourself...are we really in a better time and a better place...?

Are our kids and our families any safer? Are we in that zone of comfort, unafraid to sit outside on our porch or in our yard? Do we feel secure enough to let our children walk to school and back home again?

Please watch this video...of going back! Back to a better time...a better place!



I don't know about you, but this video brings back a lot of memories for me! Makes me a little melancholy for those times again...or at least a small taste of them!

A good way to temporarily put ourselves there, my friends, is to sit on the patio for a bit and share some quality time with one another, while sharing a cup of coffee!

C'mon, my friends...let's go!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Come with me a bit earlier. Trains 200 cars long, lonesome whistles through the night. Train at the water tower, me at the crossing barefoot and bibbies. Men uniformed reaching out the windows to shake my hand, couldn't reach them. Tossed me their campaign hat, told me to keep it and I did. Tears, but I didn't know.
Jack Armstrong The All American Boy, Henry Aldridge, Superman, Tom Mix, Captain Midnight, Johnny Mack Brown, The Grand Old Oprey. Filling the coal oil lamps, helping mother wash the globes, empty kindling box, fill the water buckets from the well, warm the sheet at the pot belly stove, switch batteries in the Model A, hook it to the radio, the Saint Louis Cardinals were playing the Saint Louis Browns in the World Series.
Dirt streets, dirt playground, mubble dy peg, pocket knives and doogies, ten cents for a movie, Gene and Roy. Reading, writing and arithmetic and all was right in the world, except for the boys, they were men, South Pacific and such.
Doc Burgess, just an old GP, remembering.

Anonymous said...

oops I didnt know it was gonna do that

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

It´s not that bad over here, most of those things still happens :-) Kids still walk to school, unless they live far out in the country side, still takes their bikes to the closests store to buy something for mum.
But it´s getting worse over here too unfortunally.
Have a great day now!

TEAM HALL said...

Thanks for this Jim!!!
"the only thing you could catch was cooties." That's priceless!

We won't be sitting on the patio here this morning...it's one degree above freezing as I type! Yikes!!!!
Have a lovely day, my friend!!

Anonymous said...

Ah yes catching cooties & Mr Potato Head.

Shooting 22's in the back yard. Rubber guns for the rest of the time.

Playing card & a close pin in the rear tire. Dirt roads. Building tree houses in the woods. Trapping pheasents with stove pipes.

Time to come home when the porch light came on.

A different time....was great growing up then.

Great post Jim...pour me another cup.

See Ya

JoJo said...

GreatPost my Special One, As you listen you can't help but to slip back to the place I grew up. It was
a tough place but the games I remember. You learned to fight but you used your hands. You walked to school and back. And yes you fought your sibling but they watched over us in the streets.
My daughters still walk or drive their kids to school and they are in High School. It isn't out of lazyness its to protect. Some walk to school. My one granddaughter hates mom walking with her so she waits down the street now not to embaress. A few take the school bus their mom waits there.
Sad
So do lets sit on the patio this morning and reflect on the better times. I will have a refill please.

HermitJim said...

Hey Doc...
Sounds like a lot of good memories to me! It was a time where, at least for time, where you pretty much knew where you you stood!

Like you said...Life was good!


Hey Off Grid...
Sorry, I deleted too many of your post! I was just trying for the extras, but think I got the original instead!

We can really slow things down when we get moved to the country...then we can sit around the fire pit and talk about the old times, my friend !

Thanks for the visit today!


Hey Christer...
I hope for your sake, that it takes a long time to get to where we are as far as all the bad stuff!

Build all the good memories that you can now...so you'll have them as you get older!


Hey Cath...
That, my friend, is just too cold for me! I think I'll stick with my 70 and 80 degree weather for now!

I sure am glad you liked the post, and that you could come by today!


Hey Tony...
Funny, but I don't think we are any worse off for having to use our imagination to make some of our toys, instead of going to the store and having mom and dad buy something to play with!

I can still see the old fort in the vacant lot next door...we just called it the "field" and everyone knew were you meant!

Thanks for coming over today, Tony!


Hey JoJo...
Guess we must be getting old, sweetie! I can still remember most of the things in the video and the things that Doc talked about as well!

Think maybe it's time for us old fogies to get on the road, and go to the property, build a fire, and sit and share some fresh coffee outside.

Thanks, darlin', for coming by!

Ken said...

...well my fellow Patriots...i have lived...good post to come home to Jim...GodBless

HermitJim said...

Hey Ken...
Good to have you back, my friend! Always have a place saved for you at the patio table!

Thanks for coming by today!

Kyddryn said...

In some ways we are better off...advances in medicine save lives, advances in technology SHOULD give us more time for the things that count...if we are careful to own them without letting them own us.

Today we have the Internet, boon and bane. Without the Internet, I would not know many of the people I cherish today, Mister Hermit, sir...I wouldn't have met you, or your nephew, or most of the realtime friends I have now. But without the Internet, I might still be married, because my ex may have actually spoken to me, might have listened when I told him the ship was sinking, might have been more interested in his marriage and family than in whatever the pundits were spewing that moment, the latest YouTube video or newest gadget or gizmo being touted as the next great thing.

Have you seen the movie The Village? You may find it interesting...

Shade and Sweetwater,
K (who DOES miss the simpler times of her childhood, if only for the illusions they held that have long since been shattered)

HermitJim said...

Hey K...
I guess like most things now days...it's a two edged sword!

The 'net has caused us to loose a lot of things, while helping us get a new start on others!

I wouldn't trade some of the friends I've made on the net for anything! They are like a second family and I love 'em all!

The village was a very good movie, indeed! I enjoyed it...!

Thank you so much for coming by today, Lady K...

DianeLynn said...

Each generation is equipped with a two-edged sword. I remember and done most all that was mentioned in the video. I also remember the sadness the loneliness and the violence.
The sword I had did cut both ways.

On a happier note I did love the video, and would love to share a cup of coffee with you all.

HermitJim said...

Hey Diane...
I think that as we get a bit older, nature let's us for get so many of the bad things...and gives us better picture of the good!

Funny how that happen's, huh? As the good book says...we'll never bne asked to bear more than we can handle! I have to believe that...I do!

Thanks so much for coming by, my friend!

Anonymous said...

The voice is kinda scary, but I agree with the video Jim!

maybe some a very small some have that lifestyle. Even though modern cell phones and e-mail has done both good and bad. If we could just sit back and really learn from our mistakes our quality of life as a whole for all would be much better.

thanks for this post. and thanks for wiping out my repeated posts my computer has been having issues lately.

HermitJim said...

Hey Off Grid...
I hate it when my PC starts acting up! Always when I'm in the middle of something, too!

Don't worry about it, my friend! It happens to the best of us from time to time...

As usual, I really appreciate the visit today!

WrethaOffGrid said...

Thanks for the memories HJ! Sweet and bittersweet.

Wretha