The “other” 1970s.

Seems everybody born past a certain date has discovered the 1970s.

I get it, each era has its flavor. I’m into the 1920s, for…. reasons.

For me, the 1970s, aside from Star Wars, was not the golden age some seem to think it was. We watched Star Wars, but we ourselves were Every Which Way But Loose.

Again, look it up. It’s a classic.

While you’re at it, also look up The Bad News Bears.

You’re welcome.

As a very early Gen X person born to a pair of Silent Generation folks (ditto, look it up, etc.) soda and chips were a treat for a lot of us because they were expensive non-essentials.

McDonald’s was a luxury, not a staple, likewise other fast food chains – why go out to eat when you had a kitchen?

Box cakes were something only rich people brought to pot lucks – likewise boxed mac and cheese. Brand name anything were something to admire from afar.

Vacations weren’t magnificent and regular things like cruises or annual group trips to Disney, but camping in a state park and eating out of the cooler while swatting flies was something my family could swing at least once a year.

We gardened, froze, and canned as well as raised chickens to stretch our once a month bulk shopping trip to dented can and grocery warehouse land not to “stick it to the man” but to survive.

We wore hand-me-down clothing, hemmed pants that were too long, and bought clothing and shoes two sizes too large. Twice a year or less (the week before school, usually) we’d get to shop off the clearance rack at Sears or Ward’s.

Going to the mall for recreational shopping was an unobtainable luxury even though both of my parents worked.

We didn’t get a a color television until I was 16 – people gave us their old black and white sets when they upgraded to color – why buy a new tv?

Cable was for hotels.

And rich people.

We got our first microwave only because the used car dealer threw one in as a deal sweetener when dad bought a second hand truck. It was either that or a toaster.

We already had one of those.

We were the dishwasher. Dishwashers were for rich people. We ate off of dishes that other, older family members gave us, ditto pots and pans, etc.

Sometimes somebody would die. We’d get new furniture or dishes that way. Not to mention the time dad noticed a box on the side of the highway – that netted us a glass pitcher set we used for years.

Christmas usually netted us things like a new outfit or a book. One year mom wrapped dad’s new office clothes and put them under the tree because that’s what we could afford.

Coke bottles laying on the side of the road were a quiet income source – one dime at a time.

The library was our entertainment center because it was free.

Welcome to the “other” 1970s, minus the glamour, glitter, and polyester disco pants.

It was factory jobs going overseas leaving entire towns high and dry. It was Jim Jones droning his eternal rant while his followers drank the Flavor-Aid, the Swine Flu, shortages, and the fuel crisis with Carter holding prayer breakfast after prayer breakfast in the hopes that the latest crisis would go away.

It was seeing healthy young men go to Viet Nam coming back in body bags if not wheelchairs.

To quote a troll, “But you got a house for $50 and a handshake, you lucky things who ruined everything for us!”

Ok, yeah, so the numbers were smaller, but when you have an unexpected expense or unpaid bill for $3 and you don’t have $3, that $3 might as well be $300. No, make that $3 million!

My point? The past is not  Paradise, and some day, for all its faults, some person not even born yet, will look back at “now” and pine for it’s lower prices and simpler times.

Tags: 1970s, nostalgia