If you could go back in time...

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
How far would you go back in time? As in what era, and why?

What sorts of things do you miss from back in the old days that are no longer today?

What differences do you see today compared to years past?

If you could go back in time and remain there, what era would you choose?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I would never ever go back. I would not go back to the to the times when my parents ran into towns, when looking for a home, that said "No Jews Allowed." This was after WWII. i would not go back to a time when blacks couldn't go to school with whites or drink at the same fountains as whites or date whites...ugh. I have black and Asian kids. Would my wonderful family have been allowed??? What a loss that would have been!

I would not go back to a time when my gay son would have to be afraid and hide it. Or when teachers could beat kids in some schools. So what if a few stores were nice? There are nice places now too. I love me my Starbucks!!

I would never go back to those days that we're good only if you were the right color or sexual orientation. Plus I love my phone and new technology and progress and the future.

I was bullied badly at school as a kid and back then nobody even TRIED to stop it. It was accepted. Really??? That was what I used to think. Why did the teachers even seem to join in? It was a nightmare.

No, I would not go back. Things were not better, even for whites. Things like wife beating were just hidden. Child abuse was allowed. A whoopin' was even accepted/expected. I don't see how life was better then. In little snapshot moments maybe and for some white people but hardly for everyone.

I am happy living in 2018. I do not mourn and pine for a time when bigotry was worse and beating was okay and men had all the power over women. I look forward to it getting better. If I could pick anytime I would pick now. I am content with my life as it is :) Things don't get better than my life right now, at least not for me!
 
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KTMom91

Well-Known Member
I definitely don't want to go back so far that I'm without electricity and indoor plumbing! If I was just going for a visit, I'd like to check out the 1960's, but as an adult, so I'd have a different perspective than I did as a child. I want to go to San Francisco and wear flowers in my hair. I want to dance on the street in ratty jeans and a white gauze top. I want to hear the seriously cool music and hang with the bands. I want to drive a red convertible VW Bug filled with my friends as we speed down Highway 101.

I don't necessarily miss things, but I'd love to see my grandparents again. As I get more into genealogy, I'm finding many questions that I want to ask, and I have no one to ask. Family has scattered, and memories fade.

What I see today is a lack of respect - for one's self, for others, and for authority, so everyone is on edge. People don't seem to like themselves or each other very much these days.

I don't want to go back in time and stay there.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
If it had visit an era I actually lived in, I would go back to the 80’s. It was a fun time, and I didn’t have to watch what I eat.

If I could go visit a time before I actually lived, I would go back and visit Daniel Boone in the 1700’s. I am originally from Kentucky, and would love to go back and see my ancestors.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Lots of insight. Thanks everyone.

How far would you go back in time? As in what era, and why? I'd go back to the 60's and 70's. Loved that time! Free, fun, relaxing, money went a long ways, and people relaxed watching life pass-by.

What sorts of things do you miss from back in the old days that are no longer today? I miss the laid-back lifestyle of yesteryear, where women stayed home to tend to the home and the children. in my opinion it was a more stable time where relationships meant something, unlike today, and where a more regimented lifestyle graced people's lives.

Families sat down together and ate meals together, unlike today, everyone that wanted to work - could work, unlike today, and there was far more respect in those days compared to today, where all I see is people running wild with no direction. Kids also ran free. Playtime wasn't restricted to the confines of a white picket fence.


What differences do you see today compared to years past? The Hustle bustle, both husband and wife have to work to afford to live, no job prospects, not a lot of hope for today's younger generation, where in order to afford a home one needs 20% down... imagine trying to save $60K - $80K for a down-payment? I can't, and forget about getting a job where such savings could be achieved. High paying jobs just aren't as plentiful anymore like they used to be.

If you could go back in time and remain there, what era would you choose? The late 60's and early 70's. That would be me... the time frame fits perfectly for who I have always been. I feel our world was a much better place, much.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Also back in the 60's and 70's, our world, our environment (our home) wasn't as poisoned as it is today. Our world is filthy and toxic today.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Also back in the 60's and 70's, our world, our environment (our home) wasn't as poisoned as it is today. Our world is filthy and toxic today.

Old-hand. I don't know about that. I grew up in Chicago before the Clean Air Act, before they cleaned up the Great Lakes. It's actually much better now.

At least in the cities. Rural? I don't know. I remember not being able to see nor breathe for the smog, though, and I remember the state of our Great Lakes. Do you remember hearing about Lake Erie catching fire?

You can fish and swim in Lake Erie today.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Old-hand. I don't know about that. I grew up in Chicago before the Clean Air Act, before they cleaned up the Great Lakes. It's actually much better now.

At least in the cities. Rural? I don't know. I remember not being able to see nor breathe for the smog, though, and I remember the state of our Great Lakes. Do you remember hearing about Lake Erie catching fire?

You can fish and swim in Lake Erie today.
I was born and raised a small town girl, so thinking about it now, I'm sure that had a lot to do with the purity of the water, less pollution/smog, etc.

I don't recall Lake Erie catching fire. Please tell me more about it. Would love to hear about what happened.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
It was 1969, and more correctly, it was the Cuyahoga river where it flows into Lake Erie. The Rouge River in Detroit also caught fire on its way into Erie, but I don't remember when.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Of course, the main reason I would like to go back to the 80’s would be to preemptively ban shoulder pads in women’s clothing.

What were we thinking?????
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I would go back to the 70's. Oh. I was there! Opportunity for women had arrived, but the economy was still on track. The civil rights movement had made gains. Labor unions were still around. While there had been riots, antiwar protests and white fight from the cities, the extreme social divisions of now were not as present.

There seemed to be more hope and openness. We were more relaxed. Less afraid. We could have personal boundaries. The internet. Has it really helped us?

There was less the need for social mobility, extreme personal ambition.

There seemed to be more the ability to stay in place. I did not. Maybe I romanticize what I did not have.

I live in a place now that is laid back. I thought I did not like that. (I lived in the 70's in the extreme dead center of social change, conflict and innovation. I was swept along with it.) Maybe the slow lane is what I crave at heart.

Nice thread old hand.
 
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AppleCori

Well-Known Member
ROFLAO! I know, Apple. How about flared leg pants (bell-bottoms)? What did you think of those?

No, that was before my time.

I did, however, wear the 80’s “big hair”.

And sweaters over button-down shirts, either worn over or tied around the shoulders. Straight-leg jeans with the cuffs rolled up. Those tennis shoes with different colored laces to match your outfits.

And I didn’t have to worry about muffin-top!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I would go back to the 70's. Oh. I was there! Opportunity for women had arrived, but the economy was still on track. The civil rights movement had made gains. Labor unions were still around. While there had been riots, antiwar protests and white fight from the cities, the extreme social divisions of now were not as present.

There seemed to be more hope and openness. We were more relaxed. Less afraid. We could have personal boundaries. The internet. Has it really helped us?

There was less the need for social mobility, extreme personal ambition.

There seemed to be more the ability to stay in place. I did not. Maybe I romanticize what I did not have.

I live in a place now that is laid back. I thought I did not like that. (I lived in the 70's in the extreme dead center of social change, conflict and innovation. I was swept along with it.) Maybe the slow lane is what I crave at heart.

Nice thread old hand.
You bring up a slew of goodies related to, Copa.

The internet in my opinion affords common folk very little in the way of betterment.

As for hope, I totally agree, the 60's and 70's held way more hope than today, and that applies to both the older generations as well as the newer (from everything I see).

Dreams could also be realized back in that era, unlike today where the cost of most everything has sunk the working class, while the rich keep on getting richer.

I do believe that relationships, either marriage or common-law, actually stood for something back then, unlike today where the relationship failure rate tops 80%. If that doesn't reflect the materialistic and shallow world we live in, I honestly don't know what does.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
I imagine, as Jabber and I do the medieval reenactment stuff, you'd think I'd jump at the chance to see the real middle-ages...right?

No.

We do the middle ages as they should have been - as in everyone is a Lord and Lady, there are no peasants, and no one dies of the plague. There's a porta-john on every corner and clean drinking water. We may cook over and open fire and eat off wooden plates, but we then wash them with Dawn and rinse them with bleach-water. If you get hurt, you hop in a car go to the ER...instead of slapping a leach on it or rinsing it off and hoping some willow tea will keep you from getting gangrene.

Nope...not going back that far.

I wouldn't mind being a visitor to many time zones, like Doctor Who, just popping in and seeing what's up, witnessing history first hand, then coming back home. I'd like to see the roaring 20's, and the depression, and I'd like to see the patriotism that took place during WWII. I'd like to see the hippie movement - I was too young, (born in 63), to really remember that kind of thing. I'm definitely disco generation.

During my own time-line, no. I can't think of anything in my own time that is that much different. The world seemed kinder, somehow. But I think it might be more a lack of instant knowledge of all things BAD in the world that we have now. Bad things always happened, we just didn't know. I think that's half the reason the world seems worse now. And the simpler times of my childhood? I think that's more because I was a child! So no, no where in my own timeline seems like a place to go other than to see my parents again.

If I had to pick only one time and stay for a little while, I think I'd like to meet my parents when they were still young a young couple - in the early 50's. I'd like to see how they lived. I think that's plenty for me.
 
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BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I love nature. Right now and forever more will live in the peaceful area of trees, green grass, land and beauty. But I grew up in a Chicago suburb and it was also pretty.

Cities have been crowded and noisy forever. I think where we grew up has a lot to do with cost, opportunity, beauty and peace. Not everyone wants a quiet, peaceful space! Some love all the culture and diversity and places to go in a city.

I am more of a peacelover but I like diversity too. I have that where I live.

In the 60s and 70s, where I lived, there was social strife and division...deep, deep between conservatives and peace loving liberals who were against the Nam war. It wasn't pretty. The lense of time often photographs life in the past in a more gentle picture than it truly was. I was neither a hippie nor a person who thought My Country Right or Wrong. I saw problems with both. I hated drugs. I still do.

Flower children got shot at by farmers in a particular college town. And those same flower children held streets and college buildings hostage and started bad riots. This was in the 70s in America, perhaps not in Canada. Division was off the charts. Hippies SPIT on veterans. My husband was a vet. Rabid Patriots beat up hippies, gays, etc. People of color we're seated in the backs of restaurants if they had white dates. I lived this myself. Peace? Respect,? Not ever in this country in all areas. The KKK thrived in some areas. It's less now, but the KKK is still in certain states.

And of course there were still rural areas that chose to stay out of the mayhem. Wish I had been there. I was caught in between social bickering in which I didn't agree with either side and would have liked to have not been in it's hub. Ah....the lack of this social strife in the country!

Now I think the politicians were saner. That's my opinion. Even Richard Nixon sounds pretty sane compared to now. We had compromise. The parties worked together to try to do good. It didn't always work, but the parties did not act like robots to their leaders. I particularly thought Reagan and Clinton did great jobs for our financial good. Not just the rich. Reagan helped end the Cold War. A good man. in my opinion of course. One I did not appreciate until after he was not President.

I realize not everyone feels this way, but....Trump to me is what is making us go down in 2018 as a people who respect one another, but I try to ignore the news. Lots of bigotry now due to him in my opinion. I could be way wrong here. I also think talk radio, in which both sides hate on certain groups of people yet can muster thousands of cheerleaders, is a humungous step backwards in every way. I think such talk should be banned but we have a 2nd amendment and bigots of all stripes may speak. They speak more now than in the 70s. Again, just my perspective but the hate on all sides is worse than before it started.

In all, there were really good things and really bad things and neutral things about every generation. I feel grateful that I never pined for the past. I look forward to the future. I enjoy the now. It is good, bad and ugly. But it is, in general, mostly steps forward for those who are underdogs. I don't think Mexicans will ever go back and I hope I am right.

Particular people may have had a blast in, say, 1971. That was a great, fun year for me.

But that doesn't mean that 1971 was better for most people.

I am NOT old fashion and do accept each change as it is. I cherish what every generation teaches us, the good, the bad and the ugly.

With that I will step off the soap box and enjoy the peace and quiet of now. And realize that now is not perfect but we have come a long way.
 
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