A Jar of Change & Cable TV – See it Ain’t So Bad!

Southcoast, MA - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. These are the immortal and classic words of the first sentences of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

Gas prices are going up and up and up and as with a rising tide; lifts all boats. The Middle East is in turmoil. Not again!?! What else is new? The Korean War raged from 1950 to 1953. Spiking gas prices helped torpedo the already shaky introduction of the (Ford) Edsel in September of 1957 and opened the door for smaller, fuel-efficient models for a short while. Among them, the Nash Metropolitan, the first American car marketed specifically to women. U. S. Marines stormed the beach in Beirut, Lebanon two months before my sixth birthday in July of 1958. And, that was just the beginning. Construction on the National Highway System began as part of the national defense plan spurred on by the Cold War to empty out major metropolitan cities in case of a nuclear attack. Elvis helped us though this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair. We indeed, had everything before us and, we had nothing before us.

The Sixties gave us Vatican Two and the birth control pill, AKA "The Pill", and one of the first enclosed shopping malls was opened in Chicago’s Mt. Prospect in 1962. The Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit, Mother’s Little Helper was banned on some radio stations. The Stones, the Pill and malls are still with us today. Also in 1965, we escalated our involvement in Vietnam. Three years later the Chicago police and National Guard create a battleground outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. A president, his brother and a civil rights leader were assassinated, just to name a few who were taken from us in this time of upheaval. There was so much more to shake us to our cores and more yet to come in the next decade. The Beatles helped us though this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair. We indeed, had everything before us, we had nothing before us.

The Seventies brought us into reality about where we get our oil. In 1974, increased gas prices along with the gas resulting shortage created havoc with long lines at the pump and odd and even (last number of license plate) numbered fueling days. This, and the first Earth Day, caused changes in energy consumption consciousness and use. Speed limits were reduced on highways. Japanese cars, smaller and more fuel-efficient than American cars, were in high demand. Solar energy panels shared roof lines with television antennas. Houses were insulated. Help Wanted columns for men and women were abolished in 1975 as the result of the women's equality movement. VCRs were marketed for home use at just about $1,000. Cable would replace free television with DVRs as a bonus of sorts. The Vietnam War’s Selective Service Lottery sealed some fates. My draft number was 70 out of a possible 365. Another story for another time. The musical artists of the (1969) Woodstock Music Festival guided us though this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair. We indeed, had everything before us, we had nothing before us.

In the Eighties, the national divorce rate doubled and introduction of microwave ovens increased the demand for prepared frozen foods – just heat and eat and put on the weight. Just nine years into the decade, the first of the personal computers were already in twenty-percent of all homes. School and office work were changed forever. The first computer games were also part of the technology. These technological advances would pave the way to a whole new way of life. Greed was good or so some thought. Disco, depending on your point of view, fouled or fueled the musical landscape of this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair. We indeed, had everything before us, we had nothing before us. However, our own homegrown disco super-group Tavares, did Southcoast Massachusetts proud.

By the Nineties, two-income households were the norm and professional babysitting businesses (day care) were sprouting up on nearly every street corner. This decade gave us the Gulf War, the fall of the Soviet Union, Joey Buttafuoco, Waco, OJ, the Oklahoma City Bombing; good president/bad president Bill Clinton and Columbine as if enough wasn’t enough. The mixed bag of music from the B52s to Madonna helped us dance to this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair, and into the new millennium.

The first ten years of 2000, whatever we call them, the tens? The early years of the 21st Century; is front-loaded with wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair. The U. S. Supreme Court rules that Microsoft violated anti-trust laws. The 2000 Presidential Election hangs by a chad. Tiger Woods becomes the first to win all four major golf titles. Islamist fundamentalist terrorists attack the United States by flying commercial jetliners into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The U. S. is spurred into unleashing its military shock and awe in the search for Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. The terrorist intervention spreads to Afghanistan. American troops, the most technologically equipped are killed by low-tech I.E.D.s (improvised explosive devices). The American economy is rocked by the real estate sub-prime mortgage meltdown. The I’s have it with Apple’s iPod, iTouch, iPhone and now the iPad.

In 2007 world markets are affected. Stocks collapse. Greedy, innocent and ignorant Americans alike are directly or indirectly affected by their actions or those of others and lose their homes and their retirement funds. Gas prices climb, food prices are affected and thousands lose their jobs. We continue to Facebook and Tweet our way through this decade of wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity, Light and Darkness, hope and despair, and into the next decade of a still new millennium.

There’s so much more history that I left out in just these almost sixty or sixty years plus or minus years, depending on when the first wave of Baby Boomers was born. Today, as of this writing, gas prices are near or at $4.00/gallon – here we go again! But, as a child of the Great Depression of the 1930’s told me, “As long as you have a jar of change and can afford cable TV – it ain’t so bad. You see, the difference is; we didn’t have as much to lose as you kids do.”

It’s time to pump up our local economy instead of waiting for the state or federal government to do it. Time to make do or do without. Time to save more than we spend. Time to invest in the local banks. Time to stop sending our college educated children somewhere else to make a living. Time to get the trains rolling instead of just talking about it to death. Time to give it up or to give in on gambling – you do realize now that it’s not recession-proof - right? Time to create new neighborhoods or rebuild the old ones. Time to stop talking out of both sides of our mouths about diversity. Standardized educational testing flies in the face of true diversity. Time to walk to somewhere instead of just for our health. Time to start developing taste buds.

It's time to network socially at the dinner table and over the back fence. Time to slow down. Time to put down the phone and pay attention when you drive. Time to start raising our kids instead of paying strangers to do it. Time to teach our kids instead of relying on the school system. Time to recapture the common sense of previous generations. No, they weren’t perfect! Time to ask why we gladly pay for what used to be free. Time to ask ourselves why, if we have no time, we can Facebook, blog and Tweet? It’s time to make the best of the worst of times and to make the most of the best of the time we have left.