Someone lamented to me recently the loss of “the good old days.” We hear that refrain often. As a person of increasing years, I understood. As a realist who possesses at least a minimal acquaintance with history, I also understood that all the old days were not necessarily good. There included: rampant illnesses like polio, measles, and smallpox prior to the development of dependable vaccines, Jim Crow, legalized segregation, gender discrepancies in the community and the workplace, McCarthyism, Learyism, voter suppression, wars (both hot and cold), DDT, cars without air conditioning, and TVs without ESPN.
There was, however, much that was good about those old days. Pre-Columbine, we had never heard of school shootings. Aside from the OK Corral or the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, we weren’t really aware of mass shootings, either. There was no violence on Howdy Doody or the Mickey Mouse Club. Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese didn’t mystify you with metrics, but they entertained you with real deal stories about days when athletes played for the love of the game. Annette Funicello and Patty Duke didn’t have to be scantily clad in order to be attractive. Neither did Elvis or Ricky Nelson. The women and men who worked at the local grocery store, dry cleaner, and pharmacy all knew your name. Over 60% of people went to church or synagogue. Today that figure has dropped to 21% weekly and approximately 40% once a month. Our news outlets were just that – news outlets. They were not propaganda devices for anyone’s political agenda. Except for high traffic areas, children could ride their bikes in the neighborhood safely, and in most places you really didn’t have to lock your doors at night. I could go on and on, but you get the point. The good old days were not perfect, but in many ways they really were genuinely good.
One thing that was particularly good about the old days is that we were not programmed to hate one another back then. Look at the state of our current broken, angry society. Read the vapid, hate-driven posts that appear on social media. Watch the evening news (but make sure to take an Omeprazole first). We have devolved into an us-vs.-them mentality. The great divide in our nation (which some are now describing as “a social civil war”) is tragic beyond description. “One nation under God” has been reduced to the world of fiction and fantasy. Obviously, to a great extent, the fault for all this lies squarely at the feet of politicians on both sides of the aisle. They are not as stupid as they often appear. They understand the theory of “Divide and Conquer.” Read their posts. Listen to their speeches. Watch how they position us against one another primarily to extend their own political futures. Hear how they under-emphasize “America” and over-emphasize, instead, only segments of it that they identify as red or blue.
Even sadder, I think, is that we have allowed ourselves to be manipulated. We could say “No” to the power plays, but for some reason we submit (often even praising those who exploit us). We have bought into the silly myth that elected officials are messianic (that they will somehow “save” us). They aren’t, and they won’t. Elected officials from the very top down are simply the hired help (or, as we prefer to say, public “servants”). But we align ourselves with broken mortals who are no wiser and, often, far less moral than you and I as if they were golden calves. And in their names, we malign one another. We literally hear people say things like, “Those Democrats are all socialists” or “Those Republicans are all fascists.” Any thinking person realizes that broad-brushed statements like those are indefensible over-generalizations. There are good people and bad people in both parties, just as there are in any collection (community) of individuals. That’s called “reality.”
Across most of the years I spent as a pastor, one of the beauties of those “good old days” is that I rarely knew how any of my church members voted. I didn’t know if they were Republicans or Democrats because we all came to church for something far more important than that, something more lasting, something that united us and equipped us to have positive impacts beyond the church walls. We understood Who had the primary claim on our lives and loyalty.
You and I are the only ones who can right this sinking ship and turn it back in the proper direction. When we contribute to the anger and vitriol of this present moment (in spoken word or online), we have become part of the problem. When we listen graciously, relate respectfully, learn from one another consistently, speak out appropriately, coexist nonviolently, and honor things like truth, morality, and community diligently, then we are part of the solution … part of a desperately needed movement that still has a chance to create “the good new days.”