The more things change..
My sister brought some old Time magazines to our cabin last year. I mean really old ones, dating from the late 1960’s to late 1970’s. OK, maybe that’s not REALLY old to some of us, but they are so enjoyable to read! And I can’t help to compare and contrast to our current society, and I love the similarities and differences!
The contrasts are that the advertisements (mainly cars, booze and cigarettes) are not as flashy as our current ads are (and there weren’t as many ads as we have now). The old ads have a lot of words, and sometimes you have to read a paragraph to understand what they are selling! I think we had a greater attention span back then. Also, the articles are longer and more complicated- I have to focus my attention to understand what they are saying. Were we smarter then? The world sections are large and varied- in some ways we knew more about what was happening outside or our country than we do now.
For the comparisons, I am relieved to say that we had large financial, environmental, education and social issues as large and overwhelming as we do now. In one article it talked about our population problem and how we will have a food crisis by the 1980’s due to overpopulation. Our advanced farming techniques seem to have kept that at bay, at least for the US, even though the world population continues to boom. Other articles have said that we would run out of oil by the 1980s, or at least not be able to keep up with demand. That hasn’t happened either, although the age of cheap oil is probably gone. One article talked about developing shale from the US and Canada- I thought that was a recent development- guess not. A November 1968 essay in Time urges voters to vote and laments the dismal percentage of adults who vote in our country (from a low in 1920 at 44.2% to a high of 63.8% in 1960). Sounds like today?
There was a “crisis” in medical care in the US in 1969, due to skyrocketing hospital costs. Seems that most people had hospital insurance but not outpatient medical insurance, so women would get admitted to a hospital for a pap smear in order to have it covered by their health insurance. The average hospital stay in 1968 was 8.2 days at a cost of $530, of which half was paid by insurance. Admitting patients to the hospital on Friday for surgery on Monday was standard practice- keeping hospital beds as full as possible was the name of the game. There was a primary care doctor shortage then and predicted to get worse, and physician assistants were going to be the answer to those shortages. Seems like we are still having that same conversation today!
Some of the good news is that eagles have been brought back from near extinction and our waterways are cleaner than they were 35-40 years ago. Consumer goods are definitely less costly- (who could afford an “electronic Timex” watch in 1969 for $39.95?!), a Magnavox colored TV started at $319.90. My family owned second hand furniture, but we did have a console color TV, but I don’t know if we bought it new or not. Our cars were always used too, often bought from the local junkyard.
We haven’t made a lot of advancement on mpg for cars- the compacts were getting 27 mpg in the early 1970’s. VW’s were cheaper than domestic cars to buy- starting at about $1900. The US made cars seldom advertised their prices- I am guessing because they cost more than the foreign cars- the1969 American Motors’ Ambassador cost $3165, but it was huge (“like a limousine”), and it doesn’t say what the mpg it gets. The 1969 Chrysler Imperial cost between $6000 and $7000. Ouch.
I am comforted and encouraged by reading these old Time magazines. Comforted because we have always had problems- and some we have even managed to solve along the way! I feel encouraged because in many ways we have gotten better- from male dominance (Dear Sir, was how all the letters to the editor started up until the mid 1970’s), race relations (interracial adoption was an issue then too!), preventive healthcare (no longer have to go to the hospital for a pap) to taking care of our environment (recycling, energy efficiency). Homosexuality is no longer a disease in the DSM, travel is cheaper and more for the masses rather than the wealthy (15 days in the “Orient” as low as $936!).
Mom might have a job outside the home now, but the American family is alive and well. We will always have problems and the ability to solve them. Our energy, healthcare and environmental issues will not go away any time soon, and hopefully we will make strides, as did the generation before us.
I end with a quote from Joseph Campbell: “The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It’s always been a mess.” We share much in common with our parents and grandparents.
The contrasts are that the advertisements (mainly cars, booze and cigarettes) are not as flashy as our current ads are (and there weren’t as many ads as we have now). The old ads have a lot of words, and sometimes you have to read a paragraph to understand what they are selling! I think we had a greater attention span back then. Also, the articles are longer and more complicated- I have to focus my attention to understand what they are saying. Were we smarter then? The world sections are large and varied- in some ways we knew more about what was happening outside or our country than we do now.
For the comparisons, I am relieved to say that we had large financial, environmental, education and social issues as large and overwhelming as we do now. In one article it talked about our population problem and how we will have a food crisis by the 1980’s due to overpopulation. Our advanced farming techniques seem to have kept that at bay, at least for the US, even though the world population continues to boom. Other articles have said that we would run out of oil by the 1980s, or at least not be able to keep up with demand. That hasn’t happened either, although the age of cheap oil is probably gone. One article talked about developing shale from the US and Canada- I thought that was a recent development- guess not. A November 1968 essay in Time urges voters to vote and laments the dismal percentage of adults who vote in our country (from a low in 1920 at 44.2% to a high of 63.8% in 1960). Sounds like today?
There was a “crisis” in medical care in the US in 1969, due to skyrocketing hospital costs. Seems that most people had hospital insurance but not outpatient medical insurance, so women would get admitted to a hospital for a pap smear in order to have it covered by their health insurance. The average hospital stay in 1968 was 8.2 days at a cost of $530, of which half was paid by insurance. Admitting patients to the hospital on Friday for surgery on Monday was standard practice- keeping hospital beds as full as possible was the name of the game. There was a primary care doctor shortage then and predicted to get worse, and physician assistants were going to be the answer to those shortages. Seems like we are still having that same conversation today!
Some of the good news is that eagles have been brought back from near extinction and our waterways are cleaner than they were 35-40 years ago. Consumer goods are definitely less costly- (who could afford an “electronic Timex” watch in 1969 for $39.95?!), a Magnavox colored TV started at $319.90. My family owned second hand furniture, but we did have a console color TV, but I don’t know if we bought it new or not. Our cars were always used too, often bought from the local junkyard.
We haven’t made a lot of advancement on mpg for cars- the compacts were getting 27 mpg in the early 1970’s. VW’s were cheaper than domestic cars to buy- starting at about $1900. The US made cars seldom advertised their prices- I am guessing because they cost more than the foreign cars- the1969 American Motors’ Ambassador cost $3165, but it was huge (“like a limousine”), and it doesn’t say what the mpg it gets. The 1969 Chrysler Imperial cost between $6000 and $7000. Ouch.
I am comforted and encouraged by reading these old Time magazines. Comforted because we have always had problems- and some we have even managed to solve along the way! I feel encouraged because in many ways we have gotten better- from male dominance (Dear Sir, was how all the letters to the editor started up until the mid 1970’s), race relations (interracial adoption was an issue then too!), preventive healthcare (no longer have to go to the hospital for a pap) to taking care of our environment (recycling, energy efficiency). Homosexuality is no longer a disease in the DSM, travel is cheaper and more for the masses rather than the wealthy (15 days in the “Orient” as low as $936!).
Mom might have a job outside the home now, but the American family is alive and well. We will always have problems and the ability to solve them. Our energy, healthcare and environmental issues will not go away any time soon, and hopefully we will make strides, as did the generation before us.
I end with a quote from Joseph Campbell: “The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It’s always been a mess.” We share much in common with our parents and grandparents.
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