Seeing The World In Black & White

Still trying to downsize and it is the most difficult thing I ever tackled. I just can’t give up the old for the new. That’s the case because of my upbringing. Oh how I wish the good ole days would re-arrive. As much as we enjoy all our acquired technology, sometimes I think we were better off when we weren’t all in the know. With our acquired truths come too many misconceptions.

If you are under 40, you may wonder what this is all about—but if you have passed that age, there is acquired understanding. Look back to the days when you could leave your doors unlocked; when you could drop in on friends or family unannounced and even stay for dinner; when all the kids in the neighborhood could go to the park without close supervision; when the teacher asked each Monday morning if you had gone to Sunday School—and you raised your hand; when Aunt Mildred came for a short visit and stayed for years.
This line of thought comes to mind each day when I consider downsizing. We have been experiencing monumental changes throughout our lifetime and today we hear that the first astronaut who ventured into space is going again!

Here on earth we are disposing of so many things, including recordings, black and white TV sets, books that have lined our shelves for years. In doing so, memories return to the days when we first enjoyed television and trying to see through the snowy images:

You could hardly see for all the snow, With rabbit ears spread far as they’d go. Pull a chair up to the TV set… “Goodnight David—goodnight Chet.”

Depending on the channel you tuned
You got Rob and Laura or Ward and June. It felt so good, it felt so right Life looked better in black and white.

I Love Lucy, the Real McCoys, Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Superman, Jimmy and Lois Lane.

Father Knows Best, Going to the zoo, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too. Donna Reed on Thursday night! Life looked better in black and white.

Simple people, so sublime Good guys winning all the time. Everything always turned out right Makes you want to go back to black & white.

Now nothing is the way it seems In living color on TV screens; Too many murders, too many fights. I want to go back to black and whites.

In God you trusted, in bed you slept, A promise made was a promise kept. You never cursed or broke a vow (You’d never make the networks now).

So, if we could we’d rather be In a TV town in fifty-three. It seemed so good, it felt so right. Life looked better in black and white.

I’d trade color channels that we see For old time movies on TV When everybody knew wrong from right.
Yes life was better in black and white.

Some things you never forget. Simply put: “Things are back to normal, but normal isn’t what it used to be.”
Now, years later, for the upcoming generations, the best we can do is to help them know and remember that life’s more simple pleasures are very often the best, like in the days of black and white television.

Kitty Maiden is a staff writer for Seniors Today.