I was born on this day in 1953. I don't remember the day or what was happening much. Fact is I don't remember a whole lot much before 58. Now living in this modern world of wonders that I do I just went on the net to find out. Some interesting facts were revealed to me. The average cost of a new car was 1650 dollars. Gas was an astounding 20 cents a gallon. The average wage earner made 4000 dollars a year. That's just about one dollar eighty one cents an hour.
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to climb Mount Everest. Dwight Eisenhower was elected president and the FBI was rounding up suspected Commies in the country. Peter Pan the movie was released. Playboy sold their first issue.The Polio vaccine was first announced. The government also first reported that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer.
New York state adopts the use of the three color traffic light. The corvette was first produced. Finally I see the first color television went on sale in the united states for an amazing price of 1175 dollars ! We didn't get one until about 1968. I don't know what Dad paid for it but it wasn't over a thousand dollars I can tell you that.
All that was sixty years ago and some of it we still talk about. Cigarette smoking tops the list. I am amazed that people are still able to sue the tobacco companies for damages. Isn't a sixty year warning enough ? I remember getting the polio vaccine. We went to the school and was given it on a sugar cube. That was about 1963 or so. Must have worked, I didn't get Polio. People are still climbing that mountain and I wonder why ? I suppose because it is there. I was surprised that the average wage earner made 1.81 an hour. I would have thought it less. That is an average though and a lot more people were working, proportionately, than there are today I suspect. I didn't verify that so don't quote me. I also think the government was taking a lot less from us.
We have come a long way in the last sixty years, or have we ? Looking back over the years I see a lot of the same issues being repeated, rehashed and reanalyzed. We have become more tolerant that is for sure. Perhaps too tolerant. Just as you can spoil a child, a nation can be similarly be spoiled. Sixty years ago we had real life heroes and now we manufacture them. Progress has been made but I find myself wanting the old ways back. Isn't that what most of us really want for our birthday ? A do over ? Or maybe not so much a do over, as an enjoy over. To go back in time armed with the knowledge of today, and just enjoy. After sixty years that is one thing I have learned. Enjoy each day as it comes along. Every day is a gift. Sure sometimes you don't get what you want but that's life. Don't let that ruin your day.
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first to climb Mount Everest. Dwight Eisenhower was elected president and the FBI was rounding up suspected Commies in the country. Peter Pan the movie was released. Playboy sold their first issue.The Polio vaccine was first announced. The government also first reported that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer.
New York state adopts the use of the three color traffic light. The corvette was first produced. Finally I see the first color television went on sale in the united states for an amazing price of 1175 dollars ! We didn't get one until about 1968. I don't know what Dad paid for it but it wasn't over a thousand dollars I can tell you that.
All that was sixty years ago and some of it we still talk about. Cigarette smoking tops the list. I am amazed that people are still able to sue the tobacco companies for damages. Isn't a sixty year warning enough ? I remember getting the polio vaccine. We went to the school and was given it on a sugar cube. That was about 1963 or so. Must have worked, I didn't get Polio. People are still climbing that mountain and I wonder why ? I suppose because it is there. I was surprised that the average wage earner made 1.81 an hour. I would have thought it less. That is an average though and a lot more people were working, proportionately, than there are today I suspect. I didn't verify that so don't quote me. I also think the government was taking a lot less from us.
We have come a long way in the last sixty years, or have we ? Looking back over the years I see a lot of the same issues being repeated, rehashed and reanalyzed. We have become more tolerant that is for sure. Perhaps too tolerant. Just as you can spoil a child, a nation can be similarly be spoiled. Sixty years ago we had real life heroes and now we manufacture them. Progress has been made but I find myself wanting the old ways back. Isn't that what most of us really want for our birthday ? A do over ? Or maybe not so much a do over, as an enjoy over. To go back in time armed with the knowledge of today, and just enjoy. After sixty years that is one thing I have learned. Enjoy each day as it comes along. Every day is a gift. Sure sometimes you don't get what you want but that's life. Don't let that ruin your day.
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