“THE GOOD OLD DAYS” – By Des Kelly

We go around these days, complaining about this & that, the latest being Corona Virus, the lockdown, the inability of going abroad on holidays, the this, & the that, WHY must this happen to US ???, etc., etc.,& most of us hark on what was termed the good old days, myself included, and yet, thinking about it, in fact, thinking about what people in general had to put up with, just from the date my dear Mother was born, is something else again.

This might shock some of you more sensitive readers, but, once read, you will have a much different perspective on what is happening all around you right at the moment.

The more you read folks, the more you learn. Covid 19 has already taken a big toll, and will continue to do so, until a Vaccine is found to combat it, but with the technology around today, it’s only a matter of time before we “ease the squeeze”, so to speak. Viruses will always be around however, they will never be wiped out, but they can, and they will be contained, provided we learn how to do this.

It is a whole different World out there, at the moment folks, but let me take you now, to what was supposed to be

“The good old days”.

Desmond Kelly.

(Editor-in-Chief) eLanka.

Maybe we don’t have it that bad?

Maybe we don’t have it that bad? Excellent perspective. My mother was born in 1915!  True!

It’s a mess out there now.  Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria.  For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.

On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people perish in that war.  Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years.  Yes, 50 million.

On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins.  Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%.  That runs until you are 33.  The country nearly collapses along with the world economy.

When you turn 39, World War II starts.  You aren’t even over the hill yet.  And don’t try to catch your breath.  On your 41st birthday, the United States is fully pulled into WWII.  Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.

Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40’s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime. 

At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish.  From your birth, until you are 55 you dealt with the fear of Polio epidemics each summer.  You experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or die. 

At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years.  4 million people perish in that conflict.  During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation.  On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War.  Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended.  When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends.

Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900.  How did they endure all of that?  When you were a kid in 1985 and didn’t think your 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was.  And how mean that kid in your class was.  Yet they survived through everything listed above.  Perspective is an amazing art. Refined and enlightening as time goes on.   Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Your parents and/or grandparents were called to endure all of the above and ……YOU ARE CALLED TO STAY HOME AND SIT ON YOUR COUCH…!!