Those Were The Days “Times They Are A-Changing”

Cottage Country Connection would like to thank Russ Sanders for contributing his many articles over the years and sharing his fond memories.  Russ and his wife have just celebrated 65 years of marriage and we at Cottage Country send our very best wishes. CONGRATULATIONS!!

I was in one of the larger mall stores when a noisy commotion down one of the aisles not only caught my eye but the attention of quite a few shoppers. A lady in her middle forties was arguing with a boy we assumed was her son. The boy, approximately fourteen years of age, was shouting at his mother using language spotted with four letter adjectives. As he ranted on, the mother appeared ashamed but more so frustrated.

I started toward them as did a couple other enraged shoppers, all of us wanting to belt this kid across his swelled head; but in today’s world that is a no-no, if we intervened then we would be subjected to arrest. What could the mother do? Maybe kick his behind from here to kingdom come but again a no-no. If the mother severely reprimanded the boy then she too would be arrested for assaulting a minor, even though it is her own foul-mouthed son.

Someone once said “without discipline there is only anarchy” and in a small but significant way, it was being acted out right here in the store.

When I was that age the thought would never enter my mind to sass my parents in such a manner. No son or daughter in our generation, and generations to follow, would even consider talking back to their parents that way, or, for that matter, to anyone in authority. During my early teens police cars were all black with a tall aerial on the left front fender and an aerial on the right rear fender. We could recognize them coming from a block away and we usually stood still to see where they were going; or simply disappeared, not because we did something wrong but because both young and old recognized the law as the ultimate authority.

When the bell rang at school, we lined up to get to class and if a teacher told us to quietly take our seats that is exactly what we did, after all, teachers were there to give us an education so how dare any of us question when we were told to do something. Did I ever get physically disciplined? I sure did. Dad tanned my hide because I stole some pillows off Mrs. Barnier’s porch and hid them in an underground bunk I had made. Call the police? No way, I deserved the punishment and to this day I still remember the lesson I learned.

I am not advocating physical harm, discipline can come in many different forms.

I was born during the Depression and raised witnessing the awful events of World War II. I was taught the lessons of want, need, have, appreciate, respect and love – lessons today’s generations seem to have forgotten. Oh, I know some will call me an old guy out of touch with the world, but there is a song with words “times they are a changing” and I fully recognize over the past years there have been drastic changes, I just do not have to agree with them.    

Russ Sanders, epigram@nexicom.net