To the Editor,
We were before the pill and the population explosion, which inexplicable, went hand in hand.
We were before the television. Before polio shots, antibiotics and frisbees. Before frozen foods, dacron, Xerox and Kinsey. We were before credit cards and ballpoint pens. For us time sharing meant togetherness, not computers or vacation homes. A chip meant a piece of wood; hardware meant hardware and software wasn't even a word.
In our time, closets were for clothes, NOT for coming out of, and a book about two young women living together in Europe could be called OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY. In those days bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. We were before Grandma Moses.
We were before Grapes of Wrath and Snoopy. Before DDT and vitamin pills, vodka (in the US) and the white wine craze, disposable diapers. Before M&Ms.
When we were in college, pizzas, Cheerios, frozen orange juice, instant coffee and McDonald's were unheard of. We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent.
We were before FM radio, electric typewriters, word processors, Muzak electronic music and disco dancing.
Almost no one flew across the country and trans-Atlantic flight belonged to Lindberg and Amelia Earhart.
We were before pantyhose and drip-dry clothes. Before ice makers and dishwashers, clothes dryers, freezers and electric blankets. Before men wore long hair and earrings, and women wore tuxedos.
We were before Leonard Bernstein, yogurt, Ann Landers, plastics, hair dryers, the 40-hour work week and the minimum wage. We got married first and then lived together - how quaint can you be?
In our days cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, coke something you drink and pot something you cooked in.
We were before jet planes, helicopters and interstate highways. "Made in Japan" meant junk and the term "making out" referred to what you did on an exam.
In our time there were five-and-ten cent stores where you could buy things for five and ten cents. For just one nickel you could ride the subway or ride the ferry or make a phone call, buy a Coke or buy enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.
If anyone in those days has asked us to explain CIA, NATO, UFO, NFL, ERA, or IUD, we would have said alphabet soup. We were not before the differences between the sexes were discovered, but before sex change. We just made do with what we had.
Earl Pennington
Poplar Bluff, Mo.