My… How Times Have Changed
By Nina B
I can’t believe it... I awoke this morning and thought, ‘Egad! I have become my mother!’ ...When did Times Change?
Gladys Knight and the Pips sang a remake of “The Way We Were” and Gladys opened the song with these words:
“Hey, you know, everybody's talkin' about the good old days, right Everybody, the good old days, the good old days Well, let's talk about the good old days Come to think of it as, as bad as we think they are These will become the good old days for our children…”
Gladys Knight The way we were Try to remember, live in Chile, 1979
Oddly, this is so true. I grew up at the end of the fifties and into the sixties on the south side of Chicago and remember great fun - of times in the alley, for stick ball games, jumping from garage rooftops, rock teacher on the steps of the apartment buildings where we lived, (we never played on anyone’s grass or much in the front). I remember penny candy, giant dill pickles from the corner store, pickle jar for 10 cents and a half of pint of real ice cream on a sugar cone for 25 cents, (this was one scoop), and the flavors were nothing like today - they were real - like the ice cream... and the times…
I also remember curious times. Times where the air felt full of static electricity- change, (electricity that stayed in one place but is produced by friction - movement - sometimes painful movement). Times of a push-back that seemed right and good. Times when we were taught to be proud, stand tall, and show the world that we, (Black people), were to be counted as contributing members of society and we had earned a piece of the pie.
Sidenote: We earned it - no one expected handouts. We were willing to work hard and did. I am the product of a single mom who worked 2 and 3 jobs daily, who expected the best from her three daughters and one son.
However, we were taught to respect others… By and large, most people were.
Yes, there were those who were angry and were holding onto strands of hope that faded with assassinations and fights against those who were thought to be behind it all, (this was the mind of some on both sides of the fence), - but those on my side; were mainly successful in burning and upturning our own neighborhoods and causing a stigma to be painted with a broad brush - unjustly used on everyone on my side of the fence and kinda on the other side too, (like a counter stigma),… So, it took more time than needed for Whites to see the “character” of those willing to work hard; through unfairness, because of the stigma and hard-headedness…
Still we respected each other and even those that had differing opinions. We developed a live and let live and agree to disagree mentality and we achieved. Did we learn to play the proverbial game? NO. There really wasn’t a game… We simply worked hard.. We went further than our parents and teachers ever hoped for and became more. We were respected, but we also returned the respect. It wasn’t conditional - it simply was something that was a given… Yes, there were exceptions - crude exceptions, but we pressed on - coming and going or not.
I may have written about this once upon a time, but I remember back in the early sixties when my dad took me by the hand to the Evergreen Park McDonalds. I remember it like it was yesterday. McDonalds was kinda a new thing back then. We walked in the front door during the lunch rush, on a Sunday afternoon. What I noticed and remember, was that there were other customers that were different… What I don’t remember is, if we were the only Black customers… But it did not matter to me - my mindset was we were all customers - and what a wonderful treat - it was.
In hindsight - YES! That was a huge step for my dad to take with me. It imprinted in my mind: I can go and do anything I want - we are all people. Sounds too child-like. But nothing happened to us. We were treated respectfully. Sadly, I know this was not always the case, especially down in the southern states - I know,... a sad ugly history, but that history does not dictate my present or future nor my mindset.
For the present, when someone is disrespectful - and too many are, of ALL RACIAL groups; I choose to show respect and love - like my father and Heavenly Father. To me, to be anything else is exhausting, because it’s heart work which is God's work and power, (but, even in matters of the heart, God even gives choice - free will). Still, people who disagree could minimally be respectful.
This argument is cyclical: agree to disagree and/or be respectful - child-like thoughts and heart… It sounds really too simple and folks still fight it… I don’t get it…
Some might argue that I don’t get it because, life has been good to me…but, not really… Still, my parents while not together made good choices and sacrificed and maintained a code, a standard. They had a hope and an ethic (called work hard - save - “No” to credit). Education was also, back then, very important - there was an exchange of ideas - not agendas for the purposes of producing fans/drones. Education did some prep work for life, but people had parents, (a dad and a mom), that were mind-filled about their children - even when they weren’t together. There was always the shared goal of the future for your offspring. They respected each other, they taught their children to respect their teachers. Teachers taught respect for the country and learning. The church taught respect for God… and so we learned to respect ourselves and each other…
Too simple!
What went wrong… God/church was dropped, television and music gave very questionable ideas on many subjects, an out of control sexual revolution, the desire to give more to children when there was an excess and so; there became the waste and disregard for the hard work and so “the not caring” about anything or anyone… slothfulness developed.
And I can hear it now, “Nina?!… Who do you think you are?…. You must think as I do...You are wrong… You co….You UT….” All because I don't agree… I am vilified… I'm supposed to submit to the masses, even when they look like me…or not...
WRONG!
I look like my Father God and He says to pray for those who persecute you, forgive your brother, turn the cheek, keep the peace, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!
Once again I went overboard! Father sometimes calls me Martha-do-the-most.
Times have changed. Father God does NOT! Love and pray like there’s no tomorrow - there may not be! Especially if we keep up like we are.
You have read Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Matthew, Luke, 2 Peter, ...
Revelation -"The day of the Lord cometh quickly, even so Lord Jesus come soon".
Soli Deo Gloria
Nina B.
The path just west of Lake Shore Drive
By the Lake in Chicago
