The good old days

What did ever happen to those “good old days” we always hear about? It does seem that the world has changed since I was my daughter’s age. She’s almost a teenager now and I’ve got 32 years on her. That’s my way of not exactly saying my age.

I’m not sure I could say for certain that there is one thing that has gotten me thinking about the differences between when I was a young girl growing up and the world in which my children are being raised, but lately just about everything makes me wish we could bring back some of the past.

I lived in a small town on the west side of Rochester, NY and during the summer months my mother was lucky if she saw me at feeding times. We would hit the ground running in the morning and be all over the neighborhood without a care in the world. In today’s world that would be severe neglect. We need to keep a vigilant eye on our children at all times and arm them with cell phones so that we can talk to them if we can’t see them.

My parents used to open their doors to whomever came knocking. I remember them politely listening to many different sales pitches or religious philosophies and signing petitions for various things, after inviting them into our home. Today I would never consider letting a stranger in and have unfortunately had to teach my children that you can’t trust anyone who might appear at the door. “Don’t open the door to anyone you don’t know if we’re not home”, my husband and I have warned them many times.

I remember when I was working at my first real job when I was nineteen. I worked for AAA (American Automobile Association) as a travel counselor. (For those that remember it, I was one of those people who drew the lines on the map and put together the “trip-tik” for road trips.) It was truly a customer service job and we were given extensive training and reminders about the way in which we were to treat our members. I learned very quickly that the customer was always right and were to be treated with respect no matter how much they asked for or how difficult they were. I saw a co-worker of mine be terminated for muttering under his breath after dealing with a particularly demanding customer.

Perhaps it is just not as important to many employers these days to teach customer service, but I believe it should be. I am quite literally shocked if I happen to get a happy sales clerk or waitress now. And don’t even get me started on the lack of customer service over the telephone. That is if you happen to get someone to help you that is actually in the country instead of outsourced to who knows where.

If I sound a bit bitter, well I guess I am. As a mother, a wife, a small business owner and a consumer, I am frustrated at the way the world has changed. Yes, there have been a great many wonderful advances, and my children are growing up with many opportunities. However, I wish we could bring back a few of the good things that have gone by the wayside.

I wish we could turn back the clock just a little bit and get back to neighbors helping neighbors instead of “what’s in it for me?” I would like to see more people get involved in their community instead of just sitting back and waiting to see what the leaders are going to do. I wish we lived in a time and place where it was safe to give our kids a little more freedom. But most of all, I wish everyone could be a little bit nicer to each other.

I know that sounds pretty simplistic, but I don’t think it would take much effort. There are a lot of really good people in the world, even though sometimes it seems like they are few and far between. Maybe we could start slowly and just try to smile a little bit more or take that extra moment to thank someone or offer a helping hand.

I’m not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and begin to trust everyone on sight again. Those days are gone and we can’t risk the safety of our children or ourselves. But what if we start slowly and tell our children how it used to be and teach them to think of others, be kind, volunteer in their communities and treat people with respect. If we do it right, in another generation the past could be the future. If we combined the attitude of the past with the opportunities of today we’d really be on to something.

I think I will go discuss this with my children now. I’ll tell them again about what it used to be like. Then, I’m going to work on myself and try to make sure that I smile at people more, have more patience when I’m driving and volunteer for something I have wanted to do for a long time. If I don’t see you, have a nice day!