Twenty five years ago twenty five years ago in These titles mean nothing.

I wrote this in May of 1990:

What was it like in the old days?

Twenty-five years ago - before there was a Sesame Street - female voices never read the news on TV or radio - before disposable diapers and TV remote controls - car chases were mild things before “Bullett’…

We were 25 years younger, if not more innocent, at least more new. How does it look to someone who’s lives those years?

As Johnny Carson would be asked, “How long ago was it?”

Twenty-five years ago, high school girls did not have babies. If a teenager got pregnant, the baby was offered for adoption. Some quit school and got married. “Having to get married” was a big part of life then.

Living together without marriage was not even thought of. You were either pregnant when you got married or very soon after or people wondered if there was something “wrong”. Were you doing something to avoid it or was something else wrong? Either was a matter of concern.

The only women with children who worked were those with ‘careers.’ And they were wondered about. There was a sneaking suspicion that they were threatening their husbands’ manhood.

Did I mention husbands? Every woman had one. I can almost honestly say that until I graduated from high school I only knew one divorced woman.

The few children who didn’t have both parents were marked as different.

Only the ambitions or the rich went to college, the ambitious to prepare for professions, the rich to prepare for advantaged lives.

One of my sources credits the Vietnam war for a lot of social changes, including the proliferation of higher education. People who would never have thought of going to school, thought about four years of deferment.

The schools grew to supply the demand. Community colleges sprang up, graduate schools swelled, and the end result is a lot more people with college degrees justifying their existence, their jobs and their educations.

Twenty-five years ago there were molds to conform to. We either matched or we didn’t. Those who couldn’t be like everyone else paid a high price for all that stable society.

Twenty-five years ago we were at the edge of the brave new world of freedom.

Since then we have found that we could work or not work, marry or not, stay married or not, have children or not, raise our children or not. The apparent choices are mind blowing.

Nobody wants to go back to 25 years ago. All that stability demanded a price. The price was conformity, go along with the crowd, be good - or else suffer the ultimate punishment of being different.

Life has changed incredibly in the last 25 years or so. We are all much more free to do and be what we want to be. But there has also been an incredible price for that freedom.

Here - after all that heavy lifting - have a photo.

                                          turkey feather and toes

Last updated June 28, 2015