The Good Old Days.. The Good New Days .. by Christine Bush

 

One of the things that I do when I am not writing is teach.  I am an adjunct professor of Psychology at a local college, and I love my job.

Although I am the “teacher”, there are many days that I learn as much (If not more) from my students as they do from me.

Recently, in a rather heated discussion about contemporary ethics, and the state of the world today, several students adamantly complained they were tired of hearing “old folks” talk about the “good old days”, implying that life in the past was so much better than today.

“There are so many medical advances today,” one said.

“We can travel all over the world.”

“Technology is growing by leaps and bounds, like streaming movies instead of rabbit ears on the TV, and having phones that take pictures and keep us in touch with people all over the world.”

 

“We have cars that can park themselves, and electric cars that don’t depend on gas.”

“What’s so bad about that?”

Their comments made me think.

The world has certainly changed in their lifetimes. Many of these students were still in diapers when 9/11 occurred. The world in THEIR lifetime certainly has differences than in the early part of mine. And there are some things that have advanced, for sure.  Some things, as they say, are actually better.  And some things are not. 

The truth is, many things are simply different.  Family structure is often different. Economic pressures are often different. Communication is often different. Good and bad, things have evolved.

The truth is, I think the history of how things WERE is important. I think it’s important that we tell our stories, that we share our stories about the world that we knew way -back –when.

But all of a sudden, I get their point. It’s HOW we tell our stories. When we shake our heads and try to say that their world is all BAD, and our world was all GOOD, we do everyone an injustice. Nothing ever stays the same. We had our “good old days.” And today we all have our “good new days”.

Those of us who have been on the planet a few more revolutions have a lot of experiences, memories, and often a lot of wisdom to share.  I feel we’re heard better when we aren’t critical and judgmental when we reflect on the changes we see.

And the most amazing conversations take place when we listen to each other’s perception.

How about the young people in your life?  Do you share stories about life difference?

 

Christine Bush is a USA Today Bestselling author of romance, romantic mystery, and suspense.  She can be found living in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania with her husband and 2 lazy cats, and spending time with her 12 grandchildren.   When she’s not writing, she’s teaching Psychology at a local college, and working with clients in her private practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist. She loves to hear from readers and writers!

Christine's novella in our Sweet Christmas Kisses 5 anthology is called “Christmas with the Carmichaels”.

https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Christmas-Kisses-Beate-Boeker-ebook/dp/B07FN4KVWP/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539053525&sr=8-1&keywords=sweet+christmas+kisses+5+ 

 
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