Good Old Days Revisited

I remember hearing about the 'Good Old Days' from my grandmother in reference to her childhood when I was growing up. She told us how you could buy a bottle of Coke for a nickle and that boxes of Cracker Jacks had really great prizes inside. About wearing underclothes made from flour sacks, sharing a bed with her siblings and going up on the hilltop to cut down their Christmas tree. She always painted such a vivid picture that I felt in some ways I had lived it too.

I just wonder what sort of picture Isaac and Mara will see when they ask me about my version of the 'Good Old Days'...before Peak Oil and the collapse of the 'Big Three'. I'd tell them about cheap gasoline and being able to afford to drive a large vehicle. About shopping trips to Walmart and filling up the cart with produce from all over the world. About fast food chains and auto parts stores as far as the eye could see. Wow. When you put those thoughts into actual sentences, it doesn't sound so great does it?

Maybe instead, I can tell them about our life after the collapse of 2008. About buying used sweaters to make the warmest gloves imaginable with matching Jingle Bell hats. And watching the chickens peak in the backdoor waiting for snacks after dinner. And staying home for vacation because airfare was so expensive and going to the local beach instead of the ocean. And packing picnic lunches to eat on an old homemade denim blanket after a morning at the playground. Those are the memories I cherish from their childhood so far and what I would deem the 'Good Old Days'.

I've read reports that say we are at a point now where there is very little that can be done on a national level to change the course of our country. In some ways that scares me and in other ways, I find great peace in it. Why does it scare me? Because for the first time in my memory, the PTB have driven our country to the brink of collapse, to a point where citizens are losing their jobs, homes, families. The PTB have acknowledged wrong-doing but have no plan for changing the path America is following. And still in some ways, I do find peace in it...because for the first time in my memory, all the superfluous drivel is being pushed aside. We're coming to a point where it's not a matter of who is the most successful, who has the biggest car, the trendiest clothes and toys, the fanciest house, the largest credit line or the most expensive education. It's coming down to a matter of survival. Feeding your children, staying warm, teaching life skills to the next generation. Simple. Straightforward. Uncomplicated. The rat race is ending and I for one am glad to see it end.