Come Sunday morning, you were up and ready for church. No excuses were accepted. People on the road, in a move or on vacation, sought out a church to attend. There were those who did not attend, but they always were invited.
You did not go to a dude ranch on summer vacation unless you were rich. You either went to Boy Scout Camp or Church Camp.
Values Were Clear to Everybody
Then there was Daily Vacation Bible School. Your parents never had to worry about a child predator being at one of these venues. If one did sneak in, it would only happen once. Then he would be in jail if he survived the encounter with American youth.
There was no convoluted set of values. We knew what was right, what was wrong. Anyone who messed with children deserved a rope around his neck, not counseling.
It was an accepted fact you would be drafted or you would elect to join the military. Those who did not, got married. They always seemed to regret not going in with the rest of the guys. In Little League, you learned those with ability played. Those with none were used sparingly. By the time you got to high school, it was apparent you only played if you had ability. The only slots open to non-performers were water boy and manager.
If you acted up in class, you were paddled by the principal or coach. Nobody had to ask your Mom. It was just accepted that you would be a better man for it someday.
Long-Term Outcome Was Not Negative
No child, as I remember, went into adulthood carrying baggage from a spanking at home or at school. If you wanted to act up, the buck stopped at the seat of your pants. Your parents were informed, and you knew you had another paddling coming when you got home. The worst crime a child could commit was to raise a hand to his parents. You carried this stigma forever. Not because any family member ever brought it up but because you knew you had crossed a sacred line.
A forgiving parent, or even God, never was enough. For real men never could forgive themselves for such actions. Sadly, I know of this myself. It did not ruin your life, but it tempered your life. The advice you got was not to seek counseling. It was to get yourself down to the church-house and get right.
Back in the days, if you wanted to strip off your clothing in front of women and children at a park and go skinny-dipping, you had a butt-whipping coming. No warden or cop would arrest a man for protecting his family. If anyone went to jail, it would be the skinny-dipper.
Getting Authority Priorities Straight
No social worker had more power over a child than a parent. Only a judge could take up that role. With great caution. Until proven otherwise, they were your children, and they followed your rules.
Those who used drugs were looked down upon, as if they had come from low-class families and a low-class upbringing. If you had sought to “expand your mind mind,” you went to college, not the local drug-dealer. Even the rumor of drug use could haunt your every step.
Pregnant girls in high school simply disappeared. They were either home-schooled with a tutor or sent away to stay with relatives. No girl became a hero by getting knocked up in high school. It was not okay, and it never would be. If they whined or complained, the answer was simple: “You are responsible for your own actions. Deal with it.”
An Attitude Toward Abortion
Abortion? You must be joking. Get any kind of treatment without parental consent, and those arranging it, those providing it, and you were in deep crappola. It did not happen often. Why? Because no one supplanted the power of a parent over a child. The community and relatives stepped in when any kind of abuse was suspected. The laws were clear. No private organization had the right to step into the conversation. But everyone knew a disciplined child was not an abused child. People simply would say, “Better get a handle on that brat or (he or she) is going to become a real problem.”
What I remember most about my childhood was that the lines were clearly drawn. Any darned fool who wanted to pull the moral guidelines of the Ten Commandments off the schoolhouse wall or the courthouse wall would have been run out of town on a rail. This would not even be viewed so much in a religious context as a simple moral one. “Just which one do you find unacceptable, pal.” That was warning enough.
Not My Notion of Progress
Do not belabor me with how much we have “progressed.” Do not speak to me of “progressive values.” I know the term means you have no American values . My own children may call me “old-fashioned.” Others may use “new age” or such pat phrases to scorn what I have said above. But I was born the year after World War II into a great and beautiful country. No person had to drum the meaning of God and country into me for I lived in this wonderful land.
I knew the difference between right and wrong. If we drove drunk, we went to jail, not rehab. If we refused to support our country and soldiers in time of war, we had better start running. No excuse was good enough.
Do I dwell on the past? Only in this:
One Nation, Under God. America, Where Have You Gone?
