Random Thoughts: The Good Old Days?

Somebody recently bemoaned the rapidly changing world by referencing “The Good Old Days”.  I just stared at them and bit my tongue.  What Good Old Days?  Do you mean that time when we were all young, naïve and stupid?  Do you mean that time when our parents, family and teachers protected us from the world?  There were no Good Old Days.  Each generation has it’s own traumas and hurtles to deal with – it just depends on where you were at the time on how you remember that time.

There was a time in my early dance training that my father took over the task of driving me to my dance classes.  I thought it was great.  I remember wonderful afternoons in the car with my father – talking, laughing – him reaching over and tickling my knees – me screaming in convulsions of laughter.  That was my reality.  The other side of the story?  My father was driving me to dance classes because the USA was in the midst of a social upheaval – race riots were happening across the country.  The only route to my dance class was through a neighborhood that had recently been the scene of one of these riots.  My father drove me to dance classes so my mother wouldn’t have to.  He drove me to dance classes so I wouldn’t have to miss them – or know what was happening around me in the world.  He drove me to dance classes so my world continued to be safe.  He drove me to dance classes with a gun under the floor mat next to his left foot.

Two realities – both valid.  Two different memories.  For me – the Good Old Days.  For my father?  Someday I will have to ask him how he would define that time.  Knowing him – I think he would also define it as the Good Old Days – time spent with a daughter.   Maybe it is time we thanked those people for giving us a childhood of innocence.