# Can't go back, wish we could



## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

I was explaining to one of my daughters last night how every believer struggles with and against sin. Some are more successful and it depends on the spiritual benefits we take advantage of. I told her that the unbeliever doesn't usually struggle with sin. They give themselves fully to it.

Countries are the same way. Our country barely struggles against sin anymore. There was a time not long ago when things looked very different on the television. Here is a refreshing look at a tv teen from my childhood - Mouseketeer Annette!

[video=youtube;wRsTDzfoNgg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRsTDzfoNgg[/video]


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## jaybird0827 (Mar 25, 2008)

Bawb! You cannot be THAT old. That was from MY childhood.

Reminds me. We just picked up a DVD that features 4 episodes of Howdy Doody. One of the things we noticed as we observed the "peanut gallery". Those kids sat and watched the show being performed in front of them. They didn't fidget. They didn't talk to one another. They didn't disrupt. And you know they weren't taking meds to calm them down.


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

Wow. Contrast that with the typical American teen, or even my, attitude today.

How far we've slid in such a short time, it's really sad.



> Alexis de Tocqueville (via Dwight D. Eisenhower):
> "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

> Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. ... The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.





> Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.



------ Ronaldus Magnus


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

You've got 9 years on me Jay but I never missed Howdy Doody. I had a Howdy Doody phonograph. Man, I sure wish I had kept that. I also never missed the Mickey Mouse Club or the Loretta Young theater. I was in love with her. Those were the days when there were only 3 channels on TV and sometimes there wouldn't even be a program on that channel because there weren't enough programs to fill the spots.


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> > Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. ... The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they’re sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Great! Now I miss the 'Gipper' and the '80s too. 

You're just a regular little Miss Mary Sunshine Bawb.  

Are you having some sort of post middle-aged melancholy today?


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## SueS (Mar 25, 2008)

I remember watching "Sky King", "Lassie", "Fury", and LOVING "Rin Tin Tin" (and the white buffalo, buffalo, buffalo ) - German Shepherds have always been my dog of choice because of that program!!! I hated "Mighty Mouse"!!!

When my daughter was small I was happy to see "Mickey Mouse Club" on the Disney Channel. It only took a few minutes of watching to put it on our banned list! Ick!!!


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

You nailed it my friend. I'm a bit weary over how far our culture has fallen.



Seb said:


> Are you having some sort of post middle-aged melancholy today?


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## jaybird0827 (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> You've got 9 years on me Jay ...


 


Too funny. I taught Geometry to some of your counterparts in northern NJ when you would have been a freshman or sophomore in high school. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have had Bawb as a student!


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> You nailed it my friend. I'm a bit weary over how far our culture has fallen.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Not to get too serious or be a downer, but I think about this a lot.

I've got a four-year old little girl, and daily I'm saddened when I think that she'll probably never have the kind of culture I grew up in. I was born and raised in Mississippi in the '60s & 70s. 

That seems like a million years ago now, both in time and type. It really was a kinder and gentler time.

I think I'm gonna go cry in the corner for a while now...

But, praise God that better times await in the His kingdom, yet to come.


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

Remind me to stay out of the "Entertainment and Humor" forum.

It's just too sad for me here.


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

I hear you Steve. I raised two girls and it was hard enough. Now I have a 13, 7 and 4 year old. When my son is 22 I'll be 70. I have to be real serious about how I raise him while I have the strength.

When I was 4. I would walk up the street by myself or with a buddy. I'd stop at my dad's barbershop and he would give me 35 cents for candy and a movie. I would continue up street, everyone in town watched out for us. I would stop at Ablondi's Fruit Stand and buy some candy (sugar babies, red string licorice, a plum) and when I got a little older we'd buy pea shooters and a box of peas.

I'd continue to the theater and go in and watch a movie for 25 cents. Didn't matter what it was, they were all good with nothing objectionable. Disney was my favorite of course. 

Life and safety couldn't be more different now.


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

Wish I would have had you for geometry Jay. I got straight A's in algebra but I had Mrs. Heath for geometry. She was gorgeous. I couldn't pay attention to anything but her - the way she combed her hair, the way she moved, the way she smiled. I got a "D". 



jaybird0827 said:


> BobVigneault said:
> 
> 
> > You've got 9 years on me Jay ...
> ...


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## SueS (Mar 25, 2008)

> When I was 4. I would walk up the street by myself or with a buddy. I'd stop at my dad's barbershop and he would give me 35 cents for candy and a movie. I would continue up street, everyone in town watched out for us.
> 
> Life and safety couldn't be more different now.





That's what I so resent about life today. When I was a child I could catch the streetcar in Emsworth and ride several miles to the next town to go to the movies (35 cents in my case!) and my friends and I could play all over our neighborhood until dark with no worries. When we moved to outer, outer suburbia I would wander for hours in the woods, walk miles along the RR tracks, and ride my bike for even more miles. There was never a worry.

My dd was 13 when we moved to Bald Mountain in the middle of the woods. I worried every time she walked in the woods or rode her bike down our isolated dirt road. She is grown now and expecting her third child. Those children will never know even the limited freedom she enjoyed. It just isn't fair!!!


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## BobVigneault (Mar 25, 2008)

Oh Sue, you're spilling my guts.

I wonder if there was some particular social event that was the catalyst for so much change. Was it Kennedy's assassination? Viet Nam? Taking prayer out of schools? The ratings system? No fault divorce? or all of the above.


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> I wonder if there was some particular social event that was the catalyst for so much change. Was it Kennedy's assassination? Viet Nam? Taking prayer out of schools? The ratings system? No fault divorce? or all of the above.



I've thought for a long time that the pivot point was the popularity of the godless radicals in the late '60s. I believe they came about because the 'greatest generation' (parents of the '60s kids) became somewhat complacent after WWII and the Korean War. 

'It' slipped from their hands because they forgot, or didn't realize, that 'it' could.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Mar 25, 2008)

SueS said:


> Those children will never know even the limited freedom she enjoyed. It just isn't fair!!!


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## Southern Presbyterian (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> Oh Sue, you're spilling my guts.
> 
> I wonder if there was some particular social event that was the catalyst for so much change. Was it Kennedy's assassination? Viet Nam? Taking prayer out of schools? The ratings system? No fault divorce? or all of the above.



All of the above, to varying degrees.

Don't know if this has been posted here before, but I think it applies.

The Day They Kicked God Out of Schools

Note: some of the video may be shocking/offensive. Watch with care and discernment.


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## jaybird0827 (Mar 25, 2008)

The video listed violations of many of the 10 commandments.

Here's another thing. Back on the block we had to "mind our p's and q's". The neighbors watched. If you did anything you weren't supposed to do or if you were discourteous to an adult neighbor, your parents got a call or a visit from the neighbor, and it was your word against the neighbor's.

Let something like that happen today. It means the neighbor has a problem.


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

That video about covers it all. It was like the 'Carousel of What Went Progressively Wrong' 

Great and sobering history lesson.


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## Mushroom (Mar 25, 2008)

Some of us remember this:


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## JBaldwin (Mar 25, 2008)

I am crying now. 

I grew up in the 60s. My public school teacher was a devout catholic who demanded dress codes, good behavior and high morals. Out of my class of 60, maybe 3 did not go to church. The year after (1969) the school board demanded that the dress codes be lifted and voted to go from closed to open classrooms, she retired early, because the behavior went out the window with the dress codes. The following year when the classroom walls were torn down for experimental open classrooms, my mom and dad pulled me out, and I never saw the inside of a public school as a student again until I attended one class at a community college. That was 1970. A year later, they pulled my sister out of the public high school because the drugs were so bad. It went downhill from there. 

I cry because my children will never see the gentle world I knew. They think they are the odd ones out because I demand respect, calm behavior and clean speech from them. They think that we are not normal because my husband and I are still married and love each other. 

All we can do is pray and lead our children in the right direction.


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## panta dokimazete (Mar 25, 2008)

Seb said:


> BobVigneault said:
> 
> 
> > You nailed it my friend. I'm a bit weary over how far our culture has fallen.
> ...



Born, raised and still here - I miss the days of dinner on the grounds, homecoming and singing all day, spending time with all my cousins, playing tag/hide-n-seek and laughing, going to the creek to swim, walking the gravel roads, laying in the front porch swing, daydreaming, even walking a freshly plowed field and scattering seeds for our garden...even so - come quickly,Lord!


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## Seb (Mar 25, 2008)

panta dokimazete said:


> Born, raised and still here - I miss the days of dinner on the grounds, homecoming and singing all day, spending time with all my cousins, playing tag/hide-n-seek and laughing, going to the creek to swim, walking the gravel roads, laying in the front porch swing, daydreaming, even walking a freshly plowed field and scattering seeds for our garden...even so - come quickly,Lord!



I miss all those finer points growing up in rural Mississippi too JD. 

Well, most of them... I don't miss swimming in the creek with all the water moccasins and alligator gars. I'll stick to the 'concrete pond' nowadays. 

FYI...My avatar pic was taken on the bank of the Chunky River in Clark county (near Meridian - My hometown) a couple of years ago.


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## Ivan (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> You've got 9 years on me Jay but I never missed Howdy Doody. I had a Howdy Doody phonograph. Man, I sure wish I had kept that. I also never missed the Mickey Mouse Club or the Loretta Young theater. I was in love with her. Those were the days when there were only 3 channels on TV and sometimes there wouldn't even be a program on that channel because there weren't enough programs to fill the spots.



I watched some Howdy Doody but was a big fan. I watched quite a bit of the Mickey Mouse Club, but again, not a big fan. I seemed watched more shows like I Love Lucy, Jackie Gleason, variety shows...I guess what would be considered adult programs at that time. I can remember when we had the addition of PBS and a fifth TV station in the St. Louis area. Big day!

Loretta Young? Yeah, I wanted to marry her!! Still like to watch the movies she's in.


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## Ivan (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> I hear you Steve. I raised two girls and it was hard enough. Now I have a 13, 7 and 4 year old. When my son is 22 I'll be 70. I have to be real serious about how I raise him while I have the strength.
> 
> When I was 4. I would walk up the street by myself or with a buddy. I'd stop at my dad's barbershop and he would give me 35 cents for candy and a movie. I would continue up street, everyone in town watched out for us. I would stop at Ablondi's Fruit Stand and buy some candy (sugar babies, red string licorice, a plum) and when I got a little older we'd buy pea shooters and a box of peas.
> 
> ...



Mayberry!


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## cwjudyjr (Mar 25, 2008)

BobVigneault said:


> I was explaining to one of my daughters last night how every believer struggles with and against sin. Some are more successful and it depends on the spiritual benefits we take advantage of. I told her that the unbeliever doesn't usually struggle with sin. They give themselves fully to it.
> 
> Countries are the same way. Our country barely struggles against sin anymore. There was a time not long ago when things looked very different on the television. Here is a refreshing look at a tv teen from my childhood - Mouseketeer Annette!
> 
> YouTube - Annette Funicello Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers



Certainly not the Disney of today! Sad but true!!


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