changes

 How far back is the olden days? I was informed my childhood was in the olden days. That was just four days ago and I have been questioning that ever since. It would be fair to say my childhood was fifty years ago, a half a century, five decades. a while ago. Is fifty years ago the olden days? Certainly not to me it isn't, seems like it wasn't all that long ago. I suppose if your childhood was only ten or twenty years ago, fifty years does seem like a longer period of time, well, because it is. Still, the olden days. I think it would also be fair to say the olden days are the days before anyone you knew was alive. What I mean is, like your grandparents, their childhood wasn't the olden days, just the old days. There is a difference. I'm thinking the olden days would have to harken back to the beginning of tradition. Cultural tradition though, not personal tradition. That is what I think of as the olden days. Before my time and the time of my parents and grandparents.

 I was told my attitude was from the olden days. You know back when we weren't so enlightened, so compassionate, understanding and accepting of others traditions and beliefs. That is how it was in the olden days. I wasn't told that attitude was wrong exactly, just that it was an attitude from the olden days. I'm bothered a bit because of that term, the olden days. It is an inference that I'm that old. Hey, I didn't live in the olden days, the days written about in fairy tales and history books. I had electricity and television when I was a kid; and indoor plumbing! What we are really talking about are cultural changes. Something that in another's mind used to be, but has subsequently been changed, changed meaning improved in some fashion. 

 Change is always assumed to be for the better when you are the one changing it. That makes sense, no one wants to change things to make it worse. But the ones wanting that change normally want that change for themselves, for some self interest. What I had commented on, to bring about the reference to the olden days, was whether men should kiss other men. It wasn't in reference to anyone being gay, that not that kind of kiss, but a kiss that shows affection to another. I said, that wasn't my tradition at all, not in my world, as I put that. That is when I was informed that was the way it used to be, back in the olden days. It was that way because back in the olden days a man kissing another man, in any fashion whatsoever, was thought of as being gay. I was surprised by that response as I had never thought of it quite like that. My tradition is, after a certain age, boys/men display affection with a firm handshake and possibly an embrace, if he was an old friend or family member. In general though, you keep your distance. Leave the hugging and kissing to the womenfolks! Yes, that is how it was in my olden days, which is today.

 For me it is a cultural thing. That is the way I was raised. Was I raised to be homophobic? I don't think so, I never heard anyone making threats against those folks, or discriminating against them. Yes, I heard many jokes and references to their choice which ran counter to my own, but all that was merely an identifier. I don't understand the issue with that, today they have parades celebrating that choice! Really not that much different from someone being real tall, fat, ugly, or a different race. I'm not phobic about any of those people either, they are different though and I will make reference to that 

 Today we are supposed to be totally blind to any of that. We are supposed to do that while celebrating our differences! Sounds a little confusing to me. You can't point out those differences but you can celebrate them. Makes me wonder just who is being intolerant? Well back in the olden days we didn't think so much about all of that. We just followed tradition until we started a new one. Tradition and culture often go hand in hand. When many cultures are introduced into a society the challenge of tradition becomes vastly more complicated. Not that it hasn't always been so, but today that problem is being exasperated by mass communication. Today it's more about change than tradition. We seem to be fixated on changing everything! A better tomorrow? Maybe so, but it is my observation people are much happier when they are comfortable, when they know what to do and what to expect. Those needs are fulfilled by tradition and culture. Keep changing that, and you'll never be happy.