To which we could add the latest banes of our lives...
We lived with the fact that there might be germs in the kitchen / loo / clothes because they were cleaned with bleach and/or soap and dried properly. We didn't get ill.
We didn't need adverts to all manner of things telling us that we are in danger of something that doesn't exist unless we buy another product we don't need.
If we needed to borrow money we asked the bank manager, pawned something or got credit from the grocer and greengrocer. And we got it...
The shops delivered to the house as standard. The greengrocer came round in his van. The paperboy delivered the paper. The milkman delivered the milk. The butcher delivered the meat. No one had heard of a superstore, nor travelled more than a few miles to the high street where they could buy everything. And we never felt deprived or jealous of others who had more...
If we had something to say we talked to our friends and family in a polite, reasoned way. We learnt to find things out, construct a sentence and make an argument that could be discussed. We could change our minds. We did not grow up to be idiots...
|