The good new days

Just how good were “the good old days” really? Not infrequently, I hear people romanticizing long-ago decades. They seem to want to return to, say, the 1950s and lament that life is no longer like it was then.

Certainly, there are cherished, specific memories. Childhood innocence can seem better than adult responsibilities. It’s not all bad that we call on selective memory to emphasize pleasant experiences, while pushing bad memories to the back. Yet was everything better back then?

Right off the bat, it needs to be noted that if the old days were so good, you have to be white. Also, even though I notice females being just as wistful as males, you really have to be male. The proverbial glass ceiling was rather low and often seemed shatter-proof. If they’d grown up in my day, my daughters wouldn’t have been the athletes they were and would’ve had formidable challenges to becoming the professionals they are today.

We enjoy better health care these days. I easily remember when a cancer diagnosis was essentially a death sentence. Infant mortality rates have dropped significantly since the year of my birth.

Compare safety features of cars in the 1950-60s to now. Both my daughters walked away from accidents (not their faults) that totaled their cars. I don’t want to think about how they would’ve fared if we were back in the old days.

I realize that technological advances introduce new potential problems, but that’s been true at least since the introduction of the wheel and the discovery of fire. I don’t long to go back to a time I couldn’t Facetime with my grandchildren. Making long-distance calls is a breeze now, especially compared with stuffing coins into a pay phone. I don’t regret living in a time in which email and phone texts make communication easier.

There are many things that are so much easier to do online now — renewing prescriptions, registrations, purchases, etc. Digital photography enables me to fire at will with my camera, without having to go into debt buying film. Then I have control over editing the photos.

Maybe this dreaded modern technology will eventually give us a time machine. Then those who want to return to what they claim to be “the good old days” can do so. (Anyone else see any irony here?) One wonders, however, how many will want to take their Spotify accounts and TV streaming services with them.