Were you a kid in the Fifties or earlier? Everybody makes fun of our  childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids 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 grassburrs  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 real mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike rides,  playing cowboy, 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 bubblegum cigars 

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that! 

And was it really that long ago?