Sunday, February 14, 2021

Best Years Behind Me

Not just me but possibly the entire generation I grew up in.

When I graduated in 1966 it took me one week to get a job with Allen Organ on my very first interview. Two years there I finally landed a job in radio broadcasting. After two years of being taken advantage of walked out and two short weeks later landed a job managing and maintaining a large apartment complex. Eventually that job soured and I applied for a job with Kraft foods. I was hired the same day I applied and started one week later. Where in today's world would these things ever be possible.

When I worked in radio we took a bus trip to Niagara Falls Canada for a country concert. The night before I and a couple of others decided to cross the bridge into New York to go to a disco. I got a hoagie and loaded. Walked across the bridge back to Canada. No passports were required. No questions were asked. Almost for 50 years of my life you could simply hop on a plane without going through any kind of security. We took cruises to the Caribbean. Again no passports or metal detectors required.

I started out earning $93 week. Rent was $96 a month. Groceries and gasoline combined cost me around $35 a week. I even managed to buy a brand new Volkswagen Beetle on this salary. Banks were paying around 5% interest on savings.

My God how things have changed. In today's world everyone is suspect. Things are more difficult in every way. I shall remain ever grateful for the era in which I was born just after WWII. If there was one shooting in Allentown in an entire year it was front page headline news. I have no idea how things have become what they have. Today we like to "TALK" about freedom and morality. Back in those days most people never did. They just lived it.

Maybe I was naive or plain ignorant of such treachery back in those days. Whether that be so, in my twilight years I'm forever grateful I was born when I was. I can honestly say I had a pretty good life. Now that I no longer travel, remain relatively healthy and have no need for a job it's pretty damn good now as well. I remain ever hopeful to have many more. So too I wish for others to have the good fortune to live their lives as well as mine has been. Also to be aware of the more positives that you too experience along the way.

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