would you live back in time?

[Spitfire]

heck no - thank you!
I think it's better to live now and read about the good ol days,
than to live back then and read about the future.

 

[donCarlos]

No, thanks. Certainly not in Europe. Maybe in some neutral country with some servants to take care of me.

 

[Ace Fedora]

Random thought I had while perusing this thread:

If we went back to 1945 and asked people there if they would prefer to live in 2008, giving them the same knowledge of the future as we have of the past...

...would ANYONE say no?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Random thought I had while perusing this thread:

If we went back to 1945 and asked people there if they would prefer to live in 2008, giving them the same knowledge of the future as we have of the past...

...would ANYONE say no?

New England shoe and textile workers might. Since they'd no longer have any hope of employment.

Actually, though, that brings up an interesting corollary question: would it be any easier for a person from 1945, say, to adjust to life in 2008 than it would be for a person going the other way? I think the raw culture shock for the average working/lower-middle-class American of that generation being dumped suddenly into the world of today would be absolutely debilitating. And on top of that, the deeper issue of how such a person would earn a living, coming from an economy devoted to *producing* tangible goods into an economy that is based much more on intangibles.

One illustration: I had a fine meal recently in a restaurant built into an abandoned shoe factory -- it was a delightful experience, but I rather doubt that the waitress who served me makes anywhere near as sound a living as the women (and yes, the people doing such work included a substantial percentage of women) who turned out shoes and boots in that same building sixty years earlier.

 

[Lauren]

You know, I've got to say, that with the lifestyle we're accustomed to now, my main reason for not going back in time is that many people would not be psycologically capable of adapting- regardless of how much they think they are. If you think things are bad now with our recession- forget it. And the unemployment rate? How about during the Depression! Things were a lot harder. All of us are more accustomed to having more than they ever would have back then- especially as collectors. All you clothes horses just need to look in a period book at the average wardrobe of people back then- sure, style was great in home and in clothing, but the whole point of the challenge is to see if we'd crack it with our modern income and such in line with what it would have been back then. Our economy the way it is, especially with the majority of our products being made overseas and our vintage stuff being bought (or as I do it) at a bargain through rummage sales, estate sales, flea markets, etc, wouldn't have been the same. I'd be able to afford all the disposable products from back then that aren't left (including my clothing). I'd much rather live now, find things I have a passion about at a bargain, and be able to collect... collectors back then were mostly wealthy- and that's not where I'd be on the economic scale. There's things I'd like to see, for sure, but they could all be done in visits instead of being stuck there. And, forgive me if this offends, but I believe God put us where we are for a reason. If I was meant to be living in 1939, I wouldn't be the age I am in the current year we are in.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Over the 15 + years I’ve collected odds and ends, as I’ve learned about the past… and feeling a very unique and special tie to it, I have to say that when someone asks me why I’m so interested in it, why I try and live life as it was then (Exception being the computer) I really haven’t a good answer for them.

Why is it that I’ll be at a dance at Fort McArthur, being surrounded by period togged visitors and seeing all sorts of preserved equipment and classic cars… then hearing the echoing sound of Helen Forrest singing Skylark floating on the air in a very haunting manor as the rain falls ever so slightly… wile walking dressed as a Civil Defense officer, I have to fight down tears of emotion… why is that? Am I missing something I once knew? Or, am I just crazy?

What cheeses me off most about “The Now” is the serious lack of romance regarding relationships, as well as everyday things. I’ll be at a dance and a nice ballad comes on and the floor empties… or people gripe: Why do they play this slow stuff? And so many choose a career over marriage and raising families... I just don't understand I figure. I don't like working but, I have to do it... why do so many today feel they wouldn't be happy if they didn't have a high paying job? Remember that 70-80 years ago, we used to have the gold standard... and you could buy things for less because people made less... the money really meant something... a dollar could go a long way! Food for a week didn't cost over $100 bucks; it would cost no more then a few dollars to get food for a week. It all balances out. There were also a lot more “Mom and Pop” business, not as many large corporations coming in and buying up everyone and eliminating the competition. It really was possible to peruse the “American dream”… not so much today.

I have lots of stuff… I mean, if I did go back in time, I wouldn’t have that much… but, would I need that much? I don’t think I would. I only have as many clothes as I do and I hold on to them for dear life because, once they’re gone, they’re gone! If I lived in the 30s and was one of the lucky ones to have a job, I’d be tickled to have only a few suits that I really liked… I could actually fit all my clothes in a small closet! Have a few appliances, have maybe only 2 radios and not 25. lol

Looking at it closely, and pondering it, I’d like to give it a shot for a year… and if I can’t hack it, then I have the choice to come back… and if I do well in that time, then I have the choice to stay.

One last thing, then I’ll lay off of the novel length comments… there’s an old timer who helps my mechanic at the garage I take my car to. A nice, funny old guy, a WWII veteran, a Navy man… he’s in his 80s and works on his own car still! And I talk with him ever so often and I asked him what he thinks of today compared to yesterday. He said he doesn’t like it. I asked him if I had a time machine, would he go back in time… he answered YES! Didn’t even think twice… said he’d go back to the 1920s! He also told me that the 30s were hard times, but he said they always found a way to enjoy something or manage to make ends meet... I then asked him what about the lack of modern medicine back then; he replied: Well, that wouldn't be fun but, I don't care... I'd leave here before things got really ugly! lol

 

[Ace Fedora]

Actually, though, that brings up an interesting corollary question: would it be any easier for a person from 1945, say, to adjust to life in 2008 than it would be for a person going the other way? I think the raw culture shock for the average working/lower-middle-class American of that generation being dumped suddenly into the world of today would be absolutely debilitating.

That's where I was going with my half-baked thought above -- I'm pretty sure that the culture shock would go both ways, especially for those young'uns (like myself) who weren't around back then.

I mean, I can handle myself all right in the modern world, and I like to think I know a lot about living in the past... but I don't think I'd be able to start a car in 1945!

And on top of that, the deeper issue of how such a person would earn a living, coming from an economy devoted to *producing* tangible goods into an economy that is based much more on intangibles.

Well, right now my area has a severe shortage of labourers -- a carpenter or metalworker could make a decent living. A haberdasher, on the other hand...

 

[Forgotten Man]

but I don't think I'd be able to start a car in 1945!

It ain't so tough! Cars came with owners manuals and they even went over the fundamentals to driving!

Once you drive a car from that period, you'd forget you drove anything else!

 

[Kassia]

That's where I was going with my half-baked thought

Well, right now my area has a severe shortage of labourers -- a carpenter or metalworker could make a decent living. A haberdasher, on the other hand...

I think that is pretty much the norm right now in all of Canada...

It's so pathetic here in Vancouver that when BC Hydro advertised for 7 new vehicle technicians only 3 applied for the jobs.. So, for the first time in thier history, they had to hire apprentices.. They hired 3 journey men and 3 apprentices and were still one person short...
So who's gonna fix the trucks so the guys can go out and restore power after a big storm?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I mean, I can handle myself all right in the modern world, and I like to think I know a lot about living in the past... but I don't think I'd be able to start a car in 1945!

Left foot on the clutch, all the way in, turn key, right foot smartly on the starter button, and down smoothly to the gas as it catches. (If it's cold out you might need to pull out the choke a bit.) Move shift to the upper left for reverse, let out the parking brake with the left hand, ease up the clutch until you're moving, roll out of the driveway, clutch again, move shift down to lower left for first gear, ease up clutch, ease down gas, and you're on you're way! Easy breezy!

 

[jamespowers]

That's where I was going with my half-baked thought above -- I'm pretty sure that the culture shock would go both ways, especially for those young'uns (like myself) who weren't around back then.

I mean, I can handle myself all right in the modern world, and I like to think I know a lot about living in the past... but I don't think I'd be able to start a car in 1945!

You would likely be able to start a car. Not much is different. However, I doubt you would be able to operate a wire recorder. I have one that I have no idea how to use---even though I have tons of recordings for it. :eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

Left foot on the clutch, all the way in, turn key, right foot smartly on the starter button, and down smoothly to the gas as it catches. (If it's cold out you might need to pull out the choke a bit.) Move shift to the upper left for reverse, let out the parking brake with the left hand, ease up the clutch until you're moving, roll out of the driveway, clutch again, move shift down to lower left for first gear, ease up clutch, ease down gas, and you're on you're way! Easy breezy!

You are speaking of the three on the tree and not four on the floor right? I really hated using the tree to shift. :eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

It ain't so tough! Cars came with owners manuals and they even went over the fundamentals to driving!

Once you drive a car from that period, you'd forget you drove anything else!

Good point. The manuals are very simple to read and not 500 pages like the current ones(with a cd for more information ). Some were even in comic book format like my 1957 GMC.
I have a problem now with automatic cars as I keep reaching for the non-existent shift. :eusa_doh:

 

[Kassia]

Left foot on the clutch, all the way in, turn key, right foot smartly on the starter button, and down smoothly to the gas as it catches. (If it's cold out you might need to pull out the choke a bit.) Move shift to the upper left for reverse, let out the parking brake with the left hand, ease up the clutch until you're moving, roll out of the driveway, clutch again, move shift down to lower left for first gear, ease up clutch, ease down gas, and you're on you're way! Easy breezy!

I was thinking even farther back when you had to hand crank start a car...
My dad remembers that era and said there was a man in thier town that lost an arm trying to start his tractor.. The crank kicked back and mangled his hand are arm... Eeeewwww and to think of having an amputation in the 1930's? Yeck oowwww eewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... And then living the rest of your life like that.. We are a bit more knowing and tolerant of people with handicaps nowadays too... Anyone out there with a disablity that would go back?

Another question to all the gals out there, would you want to live before women could vote?
When women were still considered "chattel".. You had the same rights as the insane and the criminals..
You stayed with your husband no matter how he treated you?
You could die in childbirth?

It is really only since the 1950s that women have been able to live a life of leisure so to speak.. Modern times have eased our life tremendously..
I don't have to homestead in a soddy and sweep the, dirt floor, with a twig broom.. Live a Canadian winter with no heat or food.. I don't have to use an outhouse.. Altho we did have one at the cabin when i was a teenager..
I can drive to the grocery store and buy my food.. All ready for me to eat.. I have no doubt that i could not kill anything and, even in the past, probably would have been a vegetarian...

One more thought is to ask your parents if they'd go back.. Things where not easy for my grandmother and my mother.. Living as a single parent/woman in the 1930's and 40's was not easy.. There, at least in Canada, was not maternity leave, no welfare, no pension plans, etc.. My grandmother had the guts to leave an abusive relationship and for that she is one of my role models.. My mother was only 7 years old at the time.. So that would have been in 1938. But she never divorced and still had my grandfathers last name till the day she died... She outlived all her siblings and died at the ripe old age of 89... Her former husband i should add died, of cancer, in 1959 at the age of 60.

My inlaws, i am sure would not want to live thru the occupation of Denmark again.. But with that being said, if they didn't come to Canada, they would not have had a 4th son, and even if they did, i would not be married to him.

But all that is a mote point because at this time we can't go back...
What happened in our past made us what we are today.. Somethings were good and some things were bad.. It is what it is.. C'est la vie!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

You are speaking of the three on the tree and not four on the floor right? I really hated using the tree to shift. :eusa_doh:

We always had the Tree -- my mother always wanted all three of us kids in the front seat so she could whack us without having to take her eyes off the road, so we needed that extra legroom!

By the way, wire recorders work just like tape recorders -- full spool on your left, feed the wire thru the little gap in the head shell (that thing that moves up and down when the motor is engaged), thread it onto the empty spool (the big round drum-looking thing ) at your right, and turn the knob to PLAY. If the wire snaps, tie the ends in a tight square knot and trim the ends flush. If the wire gets tangled, tell your kids you'll give them a buck if they can untangle it and quietly leave the room.

 

[Forgotten Man]

You are speaking of the three on the tree and not four on the floor right? I really hated using the tree to shift. :eusa_doh:

Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? Ya know, when I've been out on dates, that extra room comes in nice, and I can even shift with the other hand wile my right arm is keeping my date cozy!

 

[reetpleat]

I looked it up in the dictionary, but it wasn't very helpful! In my own personal definition, Latinos who have Spanish blood might in effect be considered part Caucasian or full, depending on how they identify. Same would go for those of European-descent living in Latin America, I guess. But I think most Latinos who identify more with their nationality (Honduran, for instance), or indigenous culture/history/phenotype/what have you, would probably ID as Latino or some other term separate from Caucasian. Caucasian usually seems to imply European without any indigenous influence.

All this is very complicated and it varries a lot. In SOuth Africa for example, there was black and white and asian. Dark skinned europeans and probably Latinos would have been considered white.

In Latin America there is a lot of distinction between light skinned and of Spanish descent and indigenous people. In the Us, I am not sure of legal definitions. Many neighborhoods had restrictions against black, asian, and Latinos. others only limited it to no blacks could live there.

In the US, I don't think it was ever illegal for Latinos to marry whites, but it was less common and there were certainly many people would be against such marriages.

Throughout the world there tends to be discrimination, usually against darker people. But how it is treated legally is always a matter of politics and the desires of the law makers to manipulate the situations to their own ends.

 

[jgilbert]

Maybe to visit only. I am way more interested in what is yet to come.

 

[jamespowers]

Whaaaaaaaaaaat??? Ya know, when I've been out on dates, that extra room comes in nice, and I can even shift with the other hand wile my right arm is keeping my date cozy!

Having the four on the floor has its advantages in such a situation too.

 

[jamespowers]

We always had the Tree -- my mother always wanted all three of us kids in the front seat so she could whack us without having to take her eyes off the road, so we needed that extra legroom!

By the way, wire recorders work just like tape recorders -- full spool on your left, feed the wire thru the little gap in the head shell (that thing that moves up and down when the motor is engaged), thread it onto the empty spool (the big round drum-looking thing ) at your right, and turn the knob to PLAY. If the wire snaps, tie the ends in a tight square knot and trim the ends flush. If the wire gets tangled, tell your kids you'll give them a buck if they can untangle it and quietly leave the room.

Unfortunately, my grandmother left it tangled. I managed to get it all out but the lead with the eye on the empty spool came loose. As far as I know, it works but I have to find a new lead to tie the wire to when I change the spool.
I suppose it doesn't matter which way the wire unrolls from the spool? [huh]