Stay with this -- the answer is at the end... It will blow you away.
One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother
About current events.
The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought
About the shootings at schools, the computer age, and
Just things in general.
The Grandmother 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 yet 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 Grandfather 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 , CD's, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
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 & dime 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 Ford 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.
We were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
We volunteered to protect our precious country.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
How old do you think I am?
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
This woman would be only 61 years old .
She would have been born in late 1952.
GIVES YOU SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
Not quit accurate.
Penicillin was discovered in London in September of 1928.
CBS's New York City station W2XAB began broadcasting their first regular seven-day-a-week television schedule on July 21, 1931, with a 60-line electromechanical system.
I didn't check the others.
I know my mother's 1950 Ford cost $2,400 new, so that $600 Ford coupe was in the distant past. And where I worked about that time, regular gas cost 28 cents a gallon.
I saw video phones and lasers and fiber-optics at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964. But they were not in common usage until about a decade ago and still have not totally replaced wire. Skype just got common in the last few years. Just because a technology was invented doesn't put it into common usage. The fax was invented in 1846. The first time I saw one was in the 1960s. The first time I remember them being in common usage was in the 1980s. Microwave ovens were invented sometime before 1945 and went into production by 1947. But they did not become common in homes until the 1970s and ubiquitous in the 1980s.
Looks like at least 1944 before the mass production of Penicillin was invented and 1952 before oral penicillin was available.
A lot of people did not have TV when I was a kid in the fifties. While TV existed when my dad was a kid in the 30s, no one had one and even in the 40s almost no one had one. The TV was invented in the late 1800s and the terminology "television" was coined in a paper that was presented in August of 1900. The basic methodology used today was being demonstrated in the mid 1920s... But that didn't mean people had televisions...
When my Grandpa was growing up in pioneer Missouri, cars had been invented, in the year he was born, but he had never seen one as a child. Later airplanes had been invented, but he never saw one until he was an adult.
I remember going to my grandparents house to watch black and white snow.. meaning, there was a sort of picture covered by fuzz.. You could hear it pretty good, so you used your imagination.. Grandpa had a phone too! You had to count the rings, and they were short rings and long rings.. the combination of number and length determined if the call was for him or one of the other folks on the line.
We took turns running the churn to make butter, and turning the crank to make ice cream. We used hay forks and grandpas horse to pull hay up into the barn loft.. LOOSE. It was the kids job to spread it out and pack it down. The forks ran along a track, and tripped dumping the load of hay on our heads.. We never even considered wearing anything to protect our lungs from the dust and chaff.. It stuck to the sweat like glue.. and the cattle water trough was a pure blessing when you came out of that loft... I keep hoping for that solar flare that will kill everything electrical and put us back in time, TO a time, when you worked HARD, but life was so good!