Tuesday, February 7, 1984

President Reagon glowingly remarked about a time, long ago, as if he believes that we could magically go back to those days or would want to. My dad, who died at the age of seventy-seven in 1976, referred to the past in glowing terms for about five years before he died. Even with all of his glowing references about women's bustles and horse-drawn carriages, he didn't want to live that way again, and was glad to have the twentieth century just around the corner. President Reagon said he is trying to bring the United States Government back to those days and the United States people with it. He talks about returning to out roots, but our roots are buried in poverty, one-room shacks, plagues, malnutrition, undereducation and despair. I remember my Grandpa's house. I had to sit quite close to a wood burning stove to keep the front side of me warm. If I wanted to warm the back side, I had to turn around to sit. Ditto, where Grandma lived. Grandma lived with her oldest child because Grandpa beat her, and she gradually lost her mind, probably due to the abuse. I remember the smell of the outhouse, and the Sears catalog to wipe with. Reagon said that since he graduated from school in 1932, his generation strayed from the basic values, but my Dad didn't stray from basic values and was well aware that times were much better than when he was younger. The parents of every generation since time began, has strived to make things better for their children, rather than the same or worse for their children. My child may never know the joys of home ownership, of being able to finance a new car or having job security. I may never be able to finance another new car, have a decent job again and may end up losing my home. President Reagon has returned me to my roots, and my child, as well. I can understand that he thinks that less money per household will unite the family again by keeping marriages intact (my Grandma and Grandpa were never divorced), and having several generations of the family share the same residence, but the consequences of this concept are horrendous, at best, with more battered children, wives and elderly people. Married children with their own children being forced economically, to live with their elderly parents and grandparents deprives everyone concerned, from infant to great grandparent, of independence and freedom, the very same rights for which democracy stands. Great grandparents, grandparents and parents alike don't want their children and children's children living with them, but this is the back to basics attitude that the Reagon Administration has taken. Certainly the children, parents, grandparents and great grandparents don't want back to the basics, but it is being foisted upon us, due to economic deprivation. Many parents, grandparents and great grandparents won't allow or don't have space or finances to allow their younger relatives to move into their homes. Many parents, grandparents and great grandparents would be 'downright mean' to their younger relatives that live with them, the same as it has always been when different generation lived together, and there isn't any need to paint a glowing verbal picture about it. When my Dad was young, there was as much or more child abuse, wife beating and mistreatment of the elderly, and abuse by the elderly on the younger relatives as now. Parents beating their children, husbands beating their wives and abuse to or by the elderly was commonplace, and every child, wife, elderly and every other person in the household knew their place, because if they didn't , they knew the same backhand or fist would be used on them that regularly back-handed or punched the other family members. My Mom and Dad were neglected and abused as children by today's standards, as were their parents, and grandparents, etc. Who wants the basic values and roots of fifty or more years ago?