Your Thoughts: Better Or Worse? The Verdict Is In And, All In All, Older Spokane Residents Feel Life Is Better Today
Is the world going to the dogs? Or has it never been better? That was the question posed to seniors on Perspective March 5. Spokane writer Jane Lavagetto, 75, said our culture has lost its ability to trust. Writer Bob Van Thiel, also of Spokane, countered that the world is a wonderful place to grow old. Thanks to the more than dozen older people who wrote and called with their opinions.
Fred Anderson, 86, of Spokane: As a child I had pneumonia, chicken pox, measles, yellow jaundice and scarlet fever, besides frequent bouts of “summer complaint” probably because we had no icebox for food preservation. In the last three years, I have survived 37 radiology treatments to defeat a prostate cancer, an intraocular transplant in the right eye which had to be done over and open heart surgery for two bypasses and a new pig valve to replace a bad aortic valve.
None of these could have been done in the old days. How can I help but believe the world has become a better place? My wife and I are still strong enough to load and launch our canoe, to catch a trout, and we have corrected eyesight good enough to tie the flies. I am also thankful that our combination of pensions, investments and social security is sufficient to support our modest lifestyle and certainly appreciate the Medicare and insurance for the major problems.
All things considered, I can’t help but believe that the benefits I have now far outnumber anything nostalgic of yesteryear.
Anonymous Woman: I think things are much worse. We are coming to the end of the world.
Bob Swehla, 68, of Spokane: So are these good times or bad times, you ask? Most of us refer to the good old days because of an innate human trait to suppress bad memories and enjoy good ones. If we objectively look at any period of time we can say that it was the best of times and the worst of times.
Instantaneous worldwide communication and the media’s penchant to dwell on negative events has made us more aware of all the bad going on without the counterbalancing awareness of all the good that goes on simultaneously (and in greater preponderance) around the world. Actually, our own appetite for the bizarre, scandalous and titillating and willingness to purchase (watch, hear or read) such items is probably as much at fault as the media itself.
‘Still Trusting” of Spokane: We moved five miles north of the city limits in 1962. We bought five acres. Since we had moved from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, my husband and I felt we had found a piece of heaven to raise our children in. We still do. We had two more children we raised right here. Never locked our doors - still don’t. That’s why no name. We’ve never had anything stolen.
Jean Rudolph of Moscow: Well of course the good old days were better - haven’t we been telling our kids that for years? Who could forget the cheery ping of buttons popping off shirts as they ground through the wringer? Or getting out of taking a bath because the washing has used up all the hot water. Then there was the exciting bedtime challenge of donning filthy gloves and pawing through the coal pile to find the biggest chunk that could be rammed through the furnace door.
And the joys of travel! Playing in dusty ditches while Dad pried off a flat tire, patched the tube and jimmied the wheel back on. Those were great trips, bouncing along the rutted roads at 40 miles an hour with never a worry about air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter.
We were so lucky not to have television, computers, garbage disposals or garbage collection, electric stoves - any of those things which stifle creativity and lead to idleness. Oh, for the old and better days!
Doris Whitver, 67, of Spokane: I thank God and skilled medical wizards for saving my life so I can be here to praise or complain. It is an exciting time to live. But there is a downside. We have lost our “friendly city.” I walk daily and pass children going to or from school. A smiling “hi” brings lowered eyes.
When I was half of a young couple starting out, we were able to buy a house, but though I was working, the bank did not allow my salary in planning an affordable mortgage. I held the same job for years, but my salary was never allowed as collateral. Most mortgages then were 20 years. Today, couples who want to buy a house must both work, for 30 years or more.
One thing more. When we were young and did something forbidden by our elders, we KNEW it would be found out, KNEW we would be in BIG trouble. Parents these days tend to make excuses, sometimes outright denying it could have been their child.
Bernadine Van Thiel, 70, of Spokane: There is an old poem that goes: “Two men looked out of prison bars. One saw mud. The other saw stars. The man who focused on mud wasn’t aware of the beautiful stars. The man who saw stars chose to focus on the beauty of the skies.” I don’t believe it’s either good or bad. But both. Admittedly, it’s difficult to find the stars in the polluted view we often get. Nonetheless they are there.
Dick McInerney, 57, of Spokane: Maybe a better question would be are we really happy now or did we once live in happier times? Our lives are now filled with creature comforts, but what has happened to the happy people we once used to see all around us? How many happy people do we encounter in cars as we drive around town? When I was a boy, my dad used to take my brother and I and all of our friends to the ballgame for a couple of bucks for the whole carload. Now the average family can’t afford that and the average ballplayer makes $1 million a year and has been on strike. When I was a boy, doctors made housecalls and even 20 years later, we could take our kids to a doctor for $5.
When I was a young boy, a neighbor would load us kids in his car and take us out to a swimming hole. Today it’s all private property. No trespassing allowed. When my wife and I vacationed in Mexico a few years ago, we couldn’t help but notice how happy the people were, especially the really poor people. Are we missing something?