Robert BruceBefore the War
June 25th 2010 09:34
Which war? Why WW2, of course. As time continues to take away my ability to rush madly from one adventure to the next, I think back to what was, think about what is, and wonder what the hell will come next. I am old enough to remember the time when the Great Depression held sway. Of course, I was but a child and therefore, what would I know of the world at large? Probably very little, because the world at large played no part that I could see in my day to day life.
Compared to today’s families we had nothing; no TV, no washing machine, no refrigerator, no air conditioner, no car and of course, no computers. We did not need them, we had something far more valuable, something which money has never been able to buy: Freedom. We were free to live, love, laugh and be happy. Mostly, we were. We did not care about what we didn’t have, what had not yet been invented, nor what the people on the other side of the world had and we didn’t. We were free.
We went where we felt like going, we made our own fun with whatever was available to us, and we accepted the consequences of our own actions with as much good grace as we could muster. Yet we were happy with what we had. We were better off than some kids who lived in rusty shacks on the other side of the railway tracks. Our roof didn’t leak much when it rained.
What I regret most is the loss of simple courtesies, respect for each other, including he who lived on the wrong side of the tracks, and kindness. In today’s cash oriented society every single thing must have a dollar value. Strange, isn’t it, that what we have lost is priceless, and we, silly people, have replaced it with material possessions. Big house, fancy car, thick carpet, air conditioner, and so on and on. All bought with that now elusive commodity, money. What we are now doing is paying exorbitant prices for many things we don’t need, with money we borrow so we can work for the rest of our lives to pay it back, and still have nothing when we die. Strange ambition many of us have.
Before the war the vast majority of us had nothing. We worked out a way of getting what we didn’t have, but Needed, without money. We worked together, we co-operated with one another, we trusted one another, and we had a very open and honest society. Money poor, yes, but rich in friendships and respect.
I suppose I, in my own small way, have unconsciously contributed to our modern society. It doesn’t just happen like a shower of rain, it is slowly contrived over many years. I don’t know what is ahead for my grand children and their children, I only know I miss the friendships I used to have, the friendly neighbours I don’t have anymore, and the basic honesty of the world I live in. Have we progressed forward as a society or is our forward progress limited to technological things.
Maybe that’s the crux of it all, things, instead of people.
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