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I don't belong here.

V

Vogue_1983.

Guest
It may sound strange but I watched it 2 today.And during that movie I got this strong feeling that I didn't belong in this century (lol it was a horror movie idk how I was so moved)But that was probably because of the 80s flashbacks that where in the movie.When the movie was over I looked around and looked at all the modern technology around me and I wondered why things had to go so fast and why humans decided we needed all of these modern machines or why people considered them "convenienent" or "amazing".Idk I probably sound like a caveman typing this out but i'ts hard to put this to words in an interesting and normal way.While we drove home I just saw all of these modern cars flashing by and I longed for the time that cars didn't look like Whales on weels.Now I'm home and I feel depressed.This life is so stressful and I wish I could escape it.I know that I had other worries too in my past lives,but still.When I look at a modern item or person or listen to modern music I just get even more stressed out and depressed.If things like timeloops actually existed I'd be more than happy to jump into one and escape the modern world at times that it just becomes too much.This post wasn't helpfull at all but I just wanted to write it all out.
 
No, you don't sound like a cave(person) [pc, you know!], it has happened in my current lifetime. I remember earning a portable radio in the sixth grade for selling the most of something, I had never seen or owned one before. I had clamp-on metal-wheeled roller-skates and, at fourteen, my first job got me $5 per day plus lunch as a farmhand, but that was where I met my first really important girlfriend. Things like that are hard for people to understand in this day and age. I did not see a TV until I was about nine years old, We had to play outside mostly where we learned to interact with others instead of being secluded as kids are now. I walked to school and rode my bicycle to get from point A to B,WWII made all of us kids think of ourselves as equals somehow.
 
KenJ said:
...my first job got me $5 per day plus lunch as a farmhand, but that was where I met my first really important girlfriend. ... I did not see a TV until I was about nine years old, We had to play outside mostly where we learned to interact with others instead of being secluded as kids are now. I walked to school and rode my bicycle to get from point A to B...
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I can relate to all that, Ken. The Age of Innocence. When children were children, not miniature adults. I'm glad I had that idyllic childhood when we never had to think about 'issues'. I'm sad that it's gone forever, and most of today's children will never know it.
 
tanker said:
I can relate to all that, Ken. The Age of Innocence. When children were children, not miniature adults. I'm glad I had that idyllic childhood when we never had to think about 'issues'. I'm sad that it's gone forever, and most of today's children will never know it.
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Can I ask what you mean by those "issues" that kids need to worry about nowadays? I thought children who grew up during the 30's, 40's and 50's had the most worries. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was acctually a better world for children back then. Perhaps we in general expect to much of our children nowadays.

I grew up in the 80's and 90's. Europe, West. My parentes were refugees from communism. Along with them I travelled a lot behind the iron curtain in those early years of mine. Just like "tourists" from the west. I saw a lot. Heared a lot of stories from people. It had its challenges. (Sometimes I had my heart broken.) But, yeah, I'm glad I am not born into this world now. It all seems to have become so chaotic. Its difficult to say something essencial about our time, I would say. Its hard to put a label to what is happening and not happening on the world scene today. What's next, who knows. Lets hope the best, of course. All the best for the children. Thats what we are here to give them. They deserve all the peace and love we can possibly give them.
 
I'll answer for my part, Tanker can speak for himself. I learned to socialize and learn that you didn't have to get a trophy for learning that there are winners and losers in competitions, I got sunlight and exercise by being outdoors most of the time, I stayed healthy because of my activities, there as less pollution, and we had real food - not the GM crap and dead food that now exists. Our mothers were home all day, washing was hung on clothes-lines to dry naturally, it was safe for me to ride my bike to and from a barber in another village three miles away for fifty cents when I was seven years old. it was when doors could be left unlocked and women did not have to worry about being assaulted, and there was no political correctness or rioting that we heard of.

There were no gun issues nor were there very many who did not understand the very real reasons for our second amendment as there are now [I know that that one will make me unpopular to many, but hey, it's true]. I don't see kids climbing trees to their tops anymore or playing sand-lot baseball, only organized or school activities and Monkey-bars. Skinny-dipping and kite flying were common and supplanted the electronic distractions of today's youth. No air-conditioning in school, but with teeter-totters and huge swings for recess in elementary-school [the only school building that I attended].

On the other hand, I would now take exception to neighborhood children skating on my concrete driveway with metal skate-wheels or having them wear paths in my yard. And there was a lot more racism back then.
 
Hi Ken,

Well put! Life was a lot more "wholesome" and the roles men and women and boys and girls played were very traditional. There was a strong sense of security, safety and orderliness about day-to-day life. God and Country were not dirty words. We grew up outdoors and obesity was just not a problem like it is today. However, while our day-to-day life was a good deal more healthy and tranquil, we lived with a real awareness that missiles could reach across the oceans and fall at any time. There was always a sense of the danger of a nuclear holocaust and the fact that it could happen with very little advanced warning.

So much has changed since then. Now, it is almost the exact opposite. Before there was a sense of safety and tranquility about growing up and being an American. The world was a dangerous and chaotic place--out there--but not in our neighborhoods and schools. The big threat was not the one that would snatch or kill a child, but the missile with U.S.S.R. on it. Now everything seems to have reversed. There is still a danger of nuclear war, but it seems like a distant one compared to what I grew up with. However, no one wants to let their children out of their sight, and danger, crime and chaos seem to be much closer than they used to be. Our homes and neighborhoods and schools are no longer safe.

It was too good to last I suppose. Plus, it was not something shared by all even in the U.S. Ironically, while the young are now trained to think there has been amazing progress since the mid-1900s, I feel like we have lost at least as much as we have gained as a society. It is a shame that progress in some areas seems to come at the expense of loss in others.

Cordially,
S&S
 
Yeah, agree with Ken and S&S. My childhood was simple, I played outside, life was ordered, teenagers hadn't even been heard of, nor had rock n roll. The word 'music' meant classical, my mother was always there to greet me with tea and cake when I returned from school, small kids didn't need to wonder about their sexuality, or have to worry about drugs, economics or politics. I didn't even have to worry about the nuclear bomb before the Cold War. I could walk alone across countryside for an hour to get home from junior school in complete safety. I climbed trees and did all sorts of dangerous things that would make a mother's hair stand on end. I could disappear for a whole day in the countryside, exploring, and nobody needed to worry if I was safe. I played in haystacks and got chased by irate farmers. I was free and I was happy. I knew what the rules were, and what to expect if I broke them. Seemed fair enough to me. Oh, but I took up secret smoking when I was 11, and even bought cigarettes at the local shop on my way home from school. That's probaby not a plus.

I guess not everyone had as happy a childhood as I did, but seems to me that life was sweeter back then.
 
I often feel that way too, like I don't belong in this time either, but I'm okay being here in the 21st century.

Things things are often more challenging and scary now. One of my first clear memories in this life is seeing the live footage of Columbine on the news, if that tells you anything. In some ways, we're better as a society than we used to be, and in some we're worse, but I think that's a matter of perspective.

I'm way too young to truly relate to Ken's experience, but I will add that my early 2000s childhood wasn't really a sheltered one. This was the kind of area where kids roamed free all day and were safe in doing so.

Despite everything, I'm actually pretty content being born when I was. Got it way easier than my past selves did at least. You couldn't pay me to go back to the 1600s lol.
 
I forgot to mention that after I got married, and we had our children, I wanted my daughters to experience as much of that as possible by building a house on the property behind my parents' property on the same creek that I played in for a decade and more.
 
KenJ said:
I'll answer for my part, Tanker can speak for himself. I learned to socialize and learn that you didn't have to get a trophy for learning that there are winners and losers in competitions, I got sunlight and exercise by being outdoors most of the time, I stayed healthy because of my activities, there as less pollution, and we had real food - not the GM crap and dead food that now exists. Our mothers were home all day, washing was hung on clothes-lines to dry naturally, it was safe for me to ride my bike to and from a barber in another village three miles away for fifty cents when I was seven years old. it was when doors could be left unlocked and women did not have to worry about being assaulted, and there was no political correctness or rioting that we heard of.

There were no gun issues nor were there very many who did not understand the very real reasons for our second amendment as there are now [I know that that one will make me unpopular to many, but hey, it's true]. I don't see kids climbing trees to their tops anymore or playing sand-lot baseball, only organized or school activities and Monkey-bars. Skinny-dipping and kite flying were common and supplanted the electronic distractions of today's youth. No air-conditioning in school, but with teeter-totters and huge swings for recess in elementary-school [the only school building that I attended].

On the other hand, I would now take exception to neighborhood children skating on my concrete driveway with metal skate-wheels or having them wear paths in my yard. And there was a lot more racism back then.
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Ken J, I can so relate to this. I was in grade school during the 60's. I used to play outside until it was dark and left our front door open and never worried about someone breaking in. There were no gun issues at school either or gangs for that matter. When I was a teenager and came out of the closet in the late 70's everything was happening in terms of social consciousness opening up. Women rights in terms of job equality and social norms where changing , interracial marriage and equal rights for minorities groups where coming to the surface, gay rights, the music scene with the disco era and 80's new wave following closely behind. Watching us land on the moon back in 1969 I was 9 yrs old then watching it on our new RCA color TV with rabbit ears. If people wanted to meet we did not have personal computer yet so we had to call someone up on the dial phones and actually meet some where either at a bar, club, or other social spot. I think over all life was much simpler back then and people in general where happier despite all that was going on in the world at the time. I'm glad to have been part of all that change in the world back then. Most of it good although some of not so. I guess we really did loss our innocents back then because I'm not sure now where our species is going in terms of the future of our planet.

I see the human race on planet earth much like baby birds getting too big for their nest. They need to learn how to fly and go out into the world as nature intend for them to be in the grand scheme of life in the cosmos. Because much like the baby birds if not we will simply die off by our own hand.

thanks for posting this. It was great to read!!!

Love and peace P.
 
Hi Polaris,

I watched the moon landing on a black and white portable TV with a somewhat snowy screen (that's static for youngsters). I was about 15, and it was a big moment. I always assumed that we were marching onward and outward from there. Needless to say, the last 50 years have been a bit of a disappointment from that standpoint. Hmm. What can I say that hasn't been said? How about Transistor radios! Those marvels we used to listened to rock and roll on AM stations. (This was a huge advance to be able to bring music with you out on the beach, etc.) Girls "lying out" sunbathing was big back then--skin cancer didn't become a concern until later. And for me, the ocean and surfing during those "endless summers" long ago.

Cordially,
S&S
 
On my 13th birthday in 1957 my father said to me son... My childhood was in much better times than we live in now that is a real shame for you No different to what we beleive about the kids of today in my opinion its all a generational thing
 
Hi John,

Good to hear from you! You've been pretty scarce around here over the last few months.

You're right that "old timers" always lament the passing of the "Good Old Days". However, its possible that they are right some of the time. Frankly, there is a lot about those days that I don't miss, and a lot about these days that I prefer. Some of my lament is just pure sentimentalism. However, I do think that a narrative of constant and consistent "progress" does not comport with reality. I see lots of advance over time, but I also see loss. Some things are better, and some worst. It's a mixed bag at best.

Cordially,
S&S
 
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