Flashback: 1955

Lately, I've been pretty down and cynical about the economy and issues like the exorbitant costs of childcare and health care, the increasing necessity two full-time working parents and rising costs of basic living expenses and fuel/energy. There are plenty of articles out there on the internet to make one feel hopeless about it all, and unfortunately, every one of them has a link to another downer article, and another, etc., ad infinitum. Of course these problems are real and serious, but I'm also wondering whether this in an inevitable phenomenon of every presidential election year when there are no incumbents...because, of course, campaigns need to let us know it's high time for change.

Anyway, my grandmother sent me an email this morning that was just what I needed to lighten up a little and get out of "Debbie Downer" mode. The following statements are claimed to be made 53 years ago in 1955:


"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00."

"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2,000.00 will only buy a used one."

"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."

"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

"If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon.
Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."

"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

"I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it."

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas ."

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President."

"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

"Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more, those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."

"I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to Congress."

"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."

"No one can afford to be sick anymore; at $35.00 a day in the hospital, it's too rich for my blood."
"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."

It obviously doesn't really matter if these statements are "real". I think things like this remind us that it was never truly "the good old days," and people have pretty much always thought everything was going to hell in a handbasket. I think once in a while we all need the refreshment of not taking ourselves too seriously, so we can keep up the energy to confront our concerns with hope rather than despair.