the good ole days?

i was listening to a local radio station yesterday that was extolling the virtues of the "good 'ole days". they were talking about the 50s and early 60s with fond memories. the "good 'ole days" were days when you could leave your front door unlocked, you didn't have to worry about your kids being kidnapped or molested, and teen agers never really got into any real trouble.

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!

the "good 'ole days" never really existed. bad things happened even back then. robberies still happened, kids were still kidnapped, and teenagers stilled screwed up. i mean just look at west side story. apparently during the "good 'ole days" they even fought while singing. who knew snapping could be so dangerous.

yet even if none of those things happened during the "good 'ole days", even if you could actually leave your door unlocked, trust your kids being outside, and not worry about your teen's drinking or doing drugs (all of which i think is actually a "pipe dream" about the past). even if none of those modern evils existed back in the 50s and 60s there was still at least one over riding evil that we no longer have - organized societal racism. remember that the "good 'ole days" were the days when entire segments of our population were excluded from the "american dream" merely because of their skin color. no that's not evil is it? our government was prejudice, our towns were prejudice, our society and culture was prejudice, we were prejudice. i believe that JESUS despises racism. i believe that HE is offended when someone, who was made in HIS image, is treated as an inferior.

we still have racism. i'm not trying to say that we have eliminated that evil. i know that we still have problems with treating people different merely because of their skin color. yet in 2005 racism is no longer tolerated in an organized, societal manner within the u.s. that alone, if nothing else, is enough to make these present days the "good 'ole days."