How old is Gandpa?

[john70t]

Thought I'd pass this on:


-----Original Message-----
Subject: How old is Grandpa?

Subject: How old is Grandpa? This is really good. I think you will be surprised at the answer at the end. Just for fun, read it all.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
' television
' penicillin
' polio shots
' frozen foods
' Xerox
' contact lenses
' Frisbees and
' the pill

There were no:
' credit cards
' laser beams or
' ball-point pens

Man had not invented:
' pantyhose
' air conditioners
' dishwashers
' clothes dryers
' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
' man hadn't yet walked on the moon


Your Grandmother and I got married first, and then lived together..
Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, 'Sir'.
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.'

We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.


Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios..

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, .. .. but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day:
' 'grass' was mowed,
' 'coke' was a cold drink,
' 'pot' was something your mother cooked in and
' 'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby.
' 'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office,
' ' chip' meant a piece of wood,
' 'hardware' was found in a hardware store and
' 'software' wasn't even a word.


And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us 'old and confused' and say there is a generation gap. and how old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old person in mind....you are in for a shock!

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
Are you ready ?


This person would be only 59 years old.

[widgeon13]

All very true, I'm 63 and wish it was still that way!

Life was not nearly as complicated and fuched up.

[sammyg2]

Life was better when I was your age.

[onlycafe]

not all correct, but amusing anyway.
by the way, i was born in 1950. i am 59.

[john70t]

"We are physically as old as the stardust of the universe, and mentally as old as our next thought."
-John70t

[Zef]

In those time there were no GM crap...!

[vash]

pretty sure man did not invent pantyhose...not sexy.

[911Rob]

Life moves on, always has, always will.
Right now at this moment the mass majority is wanting something different than what they have, it's that or your dead. Grandpa wanted a better life for us and that's where we are, the future only holds the same for our Grandchildren.

There has never been a better time to be alive!
Focus on that

[Schumi]

I was up at 4AM last night, working on stuff.. couldn't sleep. Turned on the TV and landed on Nick at Nite reruns of 'Rosanne". AKA my childhood. I ended up watching 4 episodes back to back of it.

Late it struck me on how amazing it was to watch a show that was made... these were early episodes so I'm guessing around 1993- just 15-16 years ago or so, and not see a single:

Cell phones
Computers
Navigation in a car
flat-screen TVs
LEDs
Internet

Obviously, Rosanne was a show about a lower-middle class family in the midwest, but still. it was amazing how much things have changed even in my lifetime, and I still got plenty to go.

Becky was 16 and didn't have her own car. They were taking the bus to the mall. When Darlene got stuck at a concert- she had to walk to a gas station and call for a ride with a pay phone. Becky had a school report due and she had to walk to the library to find a book on the topic.


Those were simpler times, even just 15 years ago. I felt really nostalgic watching the show... the music, the horrible clothes, etc. Would I like it to be that way again? I dunno... I think it would be good to experience it for a bit just to give myself a break every now and then.

[gprsh924]

Yup, there were no problems back then

[sammyg2]

I was picking up a pizza the other day from my favorite dive in the seedier part of town.
Out front I saw something I haven't seen in a long time, a pay phone. Prolly didn't work tho .....

[Tervuren]

In my opinion, we forget the bad of the past over time and look back over the good. Over the years I've seen people complain about how terrible things are, only to wish they where back "in those days" years later, what the heck? It just comes down to the simple fact that this world won't satisfy people, and imagination is selective.

The good 'ol days of the great depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, WWI, The Panic, Civil War, War of 1812, you only get a few good years at best in a decade...

[M.D. Holloway]

I am convince blowjobs were invented when I was in HS...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

Yup, there were no problems back then

Yep, teenage girls never got pregnant when they were unmarried.

Women and minorities were treated with equality.

There was no such thing as date rape, we all know she was just playing hard to get and really wanted it.

People didn't die of diseases and injuries that are now cured or easily treated.

You didn't have to watch your step if you were gay because you'd be ostracized at best if it was found out.

If you were black you didn't have to watch your step around whitey because you might get lynched or killed for doing something wrong.

Information was readily available on just about any subject at just about any time.

Printed material was easily accessible for everyone and there was no censorship.

Children weren't working in factories and other industry in abysmal conditions from the age of 5 and 6 so their family could survive.

Yep, the golden age.

I'm not saying that there weren't lots of things about days past that were better than things now. But memories often seem to focus on the best and forget the worst. Just like recent memory seems to focus on the bad and not on the good. A lot of the stuff that does exist today is AMAZING.

As much as I often think this, I'm pretty sure that we haven't invented stupidity. I think that due to media and the Internet it's just more obvious now. I'm sure lots of folks did stupid crap back in the day.

[futuresoptions]

It's the things that we have given up in the quest for progress that hurts us... I wish my kids could ride their bikes all over town like we did when I was a kid... growing up just isn't the same in some of the more positive aspects of the "good ole days"

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by john70t

Thought I'd pass this on:


-----Original Message-----
Subject: How old is Grandpa?

Subject: How old is Grandpa? This is really good. I think you will be surprised at the answer at the end. Just for fun, read it all.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events.
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
' television Commercially available in the 1930s
' penicillin 2.3 Million Doses were made ready for the invasion of Normandy in 1944
' polio shots
' frozen foods The first quick-frozen vegetables, fruits, seafoods, and meat were sold to the public for the first time in 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, under the tradename Birds Eye Frosted Foods
' XeroxXerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1949,[1] and it gradually replaced copies made by Verifax, Photostat, carbon paper, mimeograph machines, and other duplicating machines.
' contact lenses
' Frisbees and
' the pill

This person would be only 59 years old.

I think Grandpa is lying about his age

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

In my opinion, we forget the bad of the past over time and look back over the good. Over the years I've seen people complain about how terrible things are, only to wish they where back "in those days" years later, what the heck? It just comes down to the simple fact that this world won't satisfy people, and imagination is selective.

The good 'ol days of the great depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, WWI, The Panic, Civil War, War of 1812, you only get a few good years at best in a decade...

Yep. I'd considered mentioning WWI and WWII and the Holocaust, back when war meant bombing civilians.



In a similar vane (or is that vain or vein ). I used to work at a retail autoparts store in the early 90s. One day a guy came in with a nearly new car, just 2 or 3 years old (at the time, a nice car). He had a fancy new 3rd brake light that used fancy new halogen tiny little bulbs. The model of bulbs had never been used in any other car before. Because there was little demand for these, at the time, relatively specialized bulbs, they were $10 (expensive back then). When he got to the checkout line, he was cussing up a storm and cursing the United States (this was a regular old white guy) about how the bulbs could be that expensive. Honestly, I wish I'd have been able to put his azz on a plane to someplace else right then and there. Dumbazz. Sadly, he didn't realize how fortunate he was to be driving a fancy new car where his biggest complaint was that a bulb to fix it was a little expensive.

[targa911S]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

All very true, I'm 63 and wish it was still that way!

Life was not nearly as complicated and fuched up.

I'm 58 and you are correct ...sir.

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by BLEW911

I'm 61 and I do long for some of the old ways. However, I don't understand the gleefullness with which errors have been researched and pointed out. Just read it and let it go already.

Not necessarily glee, but I knew that those facts seemed a bit dated. Maybe that email originated 10 years ago or something, I dunno.

I do, however, get somewhat confused when people mention 'society today' as though society 50 years ago was without its faults. We have problems today, and they had problems back then too. They were just different.

I wish I had grown up in a time where customer service didn't mean a call center in India. But I don't mind that today a child in a small town has access to the same data resources as a child in NYC (thank you internet). You take the good with the bad.

[MRM]

Maybe 30 years ago that story was true. Two obvious dates are penecillin being invented in the 30s or 40s, depending on what you consider to be the invention date. It was mass produced by the end of WWII. Ball point pens were invented in the 1890s, but what the mythical grandpa is probably referring to was invented in the 1930s and was mass produced by the 40s.

It is human nature to look back at the past as a simpler and more idealized time than the present. As my high school social studies teacher pointed out about the good old days, the best part about them is that they are over.