Lessons From Earlier Times

I scanned the last few photos and documents from the family boxes of those items that I took from my attic last week. In doing so,  I did my duty for my daughter Jane by providing her with a little more of the family history. Aside from that, what I found fascinating about the old stuff was that it made my imagination work hard to make sense of it all. I found myself imagining I was with those in the pictures, at the time they were photographed. 

 Too, much can be learned about the past from those items. I have pictures from when the camera was first invented, the mid 19th century (most faces of those family members are unidentified, a mystery that will never be solved), yearbooks from my parents middle and highs schools, two college newspapers from Louisiana State University that my mother attended, letters written by my father to my mother during W.W. II from North Africa where he was stationed as a cryptographer, many family member photos, my mothers personal memory book cataloging many years during her pre college studies, the daily newspaper from Oct. 8th, 1946 (the day of my older brother's birth), and various other odd items (even a corsage my mom wore at her high school graduation).

Eventually these things will be lost, destroyed or deteriorate into oblivion. Scanning a few that I am certain of and labeling them may extend their life. But like humans, even things are mortal. I like much about early and mid twentieth century life. Choices were few. That meant there was a unity in what people did. They mostly all did the same things and treasured each one. Social events were a production then. Invitations were written for practically every social event, decorations put up, formal wear common, all was fancy and elaborate.  This seems to have made them memorable to those who lived them, as opposed to our current throw-away culture. I saw many references to a past dance or other social event, even years after it  occurred. Today we attend and forget, always looking for the next event and frequently not appreciating the current one.

Letters were common, cell phones unknown. I like that! How lucky those people were to not have some of the intrusive communication technology of today. They wrote to each other and with care and respect. The singular thing that I notice is the lack of anger, malice, jealousy and ridicule in the communications. People then really did wish each other well. Competition between people was not as intense or personal. Does this mean that our modern technology encourages us be so mean? In those earlier day communications that I saw, compliments were cherished and ridicule absent.

Having written about the "good ole days" I acknowledge that in those times illness was often fatal, comfort hard to find and struggle economically more common. I suppose that in the early twentieth century people had less physical comfort, but more social unity and a shared belonging.  I wonder how many of us would rather be alive then, free from cell phones and the other cultural icons we have today. It's something to ponder.