Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Pick An Era, Any Era

I like to fantasize about what it would be like to be born at different periods of time. I'm pretty sure most other people do the same. I do it all the time.

I've considered what it would be like to live in the ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Colonial America, Civil War era America and pretty much any other time and place. I think I have finally decided which time period would be the most ideal time to be born.

If I could choose a time and place to be born it would have to be the latter half of the 1940's in the Mid-West of the USA.

It's the perfect era! You just miss out on all the fun of the Great Depression and WWII. But you are still born late enough to take advantage of indoor plumbing and electricity. You are born at the beginning of the baby boom. The Economy is soaring. A family can live a good life on a single income.

Kids still got to experience unbelievable freedom to enjoy their neighborhoods and the outdoors because society wasn't yet obsessed with the fear of killers, pedophiles and drug maniacs. Kids could play Cowboys and Indians without being reprimanded about how politically incorrect it is to use the term Indians or to depict violence perpetrated by either side. Kids got to play with toy guns! Hell, most kids probably had their own .22 rifles.

Then there are the movies. This was a time when going to the show was an all day event. You didn't cough up $15 to see a 89 minute show in a cramped room . You paid a nickel and saw a couple of cartoons, some newsreels, a serial or two and previews of upcoming shows followed by a movie that was at least 2 hours long and you saw this in an old time theater with a second level and balcony seating.

I also think radio programs would have been cool. I would totally be into tuning in to episodes of Superman, Little Orphan Annie or The Shadow. I can only imagine how cool it would be to see television for the first time as a kid.

You would get to experience the emergence of rock and roll. The entire Elvis phenomenon, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, the arrival of The Beatles. You would enter the summer of love in 1968 at university age. That Vietnam War thing could be a potential problem though!

Also in those days life wasn't so commercial. You weren't inundated with advertising 24 hours a day. Business was business and politics was politics. Somewhere along the lines those two entities merged into the business of politics or the politics of business, however you like to look at it. There were only a couple of channels to watch on TV and there were no video games, which means people used to go outside of their houses for reasons other than to shop.

Imagine going on a family vacation in those days. Jumping into the family car and traveling route 66 across America in the late 50's or early 60's. What an incredible trip that would be!

Sometimes I just get so sick of today. Instant communication. 200 channels of shit on TV. Satellite radio. Cellular phones. Crime. Violence. Greed. Pop music and Rap. Fear mongering. Video Games. Computers. "Made in China" written on 90% of my household items because it's the most affordable.

I could go on and on. I suppose every generation wishes they could go back and live in a previous time.

I wonder what era a person who was actually born in the late 40's would choose as the ideal time to live?

2 comments:

Heather said...

I actually have thought about this topic a lot myself. I just assumed it was because I'm weird. For a little while, my husband and I participated in a historical reenactment group, but he hates to socialize so we stopped. =( Now I just go to the Ohio Reniassance Festival every fall to get my kicks.

The Complaints Depot said...

are you sure you're not me? Canada Dad's like that lol