Folksy times.

THis is a great thread...It is a common conversation among people in my line of work to talk about what we call The "wussification" of America" I respond to 911 ambulance calls in the buisiest city on the world for splinters, headaches, back aches etc..I remember my dad cutting most of his finger off and duct taping it closed..in fact I myself filleted the entire front of my thumb off not too long ago..wrapped it myself and drove to the clinic to get stitched up..(cause I didn't want to wake the mrs.) any who..there seems to be an attitude among folks today which says either "I can't handle this" or "it's not my problem" back in my dad's day, a man could do many things... Shoot a partridge, seduce a trout with a hand tied fly, fix a car, build a shed, today young people are all specialists...they can sit at a desk and pound out #'s and make 6 figures, but put a possum in thier garage and it's like they've been dropped off in the serenghetti.
Noone volunteers to help a neighbor..most people in my city don't even know who there neighbors are....I'm the only person I know, other than my brother that carries a pocket knife,..I'm the only person I know other than my brother that owns a firearm (a break open double barrel) not to mention the only person I know that hunts....
I was looking outthe window of my apartment the other day, behind the building is a private residence where a large tree had blown down into the yard... I laught a little when I saw the gentleman out there jumping up and down on the thigh thick limbs in an attempt to break them...I grabbed a hatchet nand a saw and walked over and wrang his bell.. he happily accepted my offer to help, but asked nervously why does a guy in an apartment have an axe. I thought in my head "why does a guy in a house not have one" but what I said instead was "it makes it easier to get rid of the bodies" all in all it was good fun I love chopping wood...

I'm from a big family We try to get together at my mom's fairly often in the rural part of the state where I grew up, when we get together theres always alot of young'ens and they crave the organic reality of old times... No sooner do I arrive there than do I hear "uncle John sjow us how to make a trap" or "Uncle john can I see your pocket knife. and can we make a fire?" What this leads me to believe is that The Children are ready, they crave it. What they lack is the adult interaction required by interested adults who care enough to take the time to make it happen...I too crave a simpler time, but I believe my way of keeping at least some of that alive in a digital age, is by making an effort to at least impart curiosity to the next generation...Just my opinion however.
 
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stockman242 said:
Even though I'm only 18, and only know about the old days from my grandfather, and some of the friends I made when I spend a year in the US of A, all of 'em are 50+, I am proud to be part of a small group, that try to preserve older values.

My grandfather was probably the most influential person in my life, to that bad I didnt realize that, until my quest to find his belongings was accidentally sabotaged by my aunt.
That didnt change my knife carrying habits (I never felt anything for tactical folders, and only handled some of my friends spyders), but it made me appreciate what he thought me, and I started carrying a candy tin like he did.

I've been told by a lot of people, that I am born 90 years too late, most notably by a son of a German immigrant that came to the states at the turn of the century and settled in north-eastern Colorado. He said I reminded him a lot of his dad.
And I do think the best place to live for me is just outside a small rural town in the midwest.

Peter
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Come on over Peter. You would be a great asset to the USA and would be welcomed for sure. With you attitude you could make it here and be prosperous.
Regards,
 
Sauconian said:
The simpler life of times passed is mostly a fiction.

I enjoy Jackknife's stories as much as anyone, as well as the "Old Man and the Boy'' tales of Robert Ruark, but do not mistake nostalgia for reality.

We remember the past that way because we remember the stories of those who made it through to a certain point, and dwelt on the good times, not the bad. We also remember the past as simpler because we heard those tales when we were young, and life was simpler for us at that time.

The old timers had to work harder to exist than most of us do nowdays. Go to a library and read 100 yr. old newspapers, and see the tragedy and foul deeds reported. There were just as many, proportionately, then as now. We just hear about more of it because there are more of us, and news from all over the world is quickly available.

Go for a walk in an old cemetary, and find the stones of the young children lost to many families to simple diseases, or those of young wives who died giving birth to those children. Look for the flags on the graves of veterans.

They suffered economic hardship without public assistance.

If you want that life, cut your grass with a push mower this afternoon, and then walk to the grocery store for your dinner. Better yet, plant a garden, buy a cow and two dozen chickens, and care for them daily. Give up your cell phone, TV, and the computer you're looking at, and take your only pocket knife over to your neighbor's house and sit on the porch and visit awhile.

The opportunities for a simple life are greater now than ever, by taking the best from the past and the present.

If you want a simpler life, choose to live however you imagine that to be. The oldtimers had no choice.

JMO
Fran
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Fran, very well said. We can get nostalgic about old knives and the simple and colorful times they represented, but as you say those times were hard and it took hard work to survive.

I'm 65, I remember the good old days when my 10-year-old cousin and I would pick up the rotary telephone, stick our finger in the Operator's hole, call her up and say something smart and then hang up laughing our butt's off :) And then she'd call us back (which we didn't think she could do, we thought we were anonymous) and tell us that she was calling the police and then we'd hide terrified in the garage for the rest of the day. :D Good times.

I recently had eye surgery for a detached retina (very successful, thankyou). Fifty years ago this would have been almost impossible. Today, after six weeks, the vision in that eye is back almost 100%; in the earlier good old days, I most likely would have gone blind in that eye. So I am very grateful for the medical technology we have today.

As you say, we can pick and choose what we want to remember as the "good old days," collect pocket-worn knives, raise chickens, etc. To me, today, these are the "good old days." Thanks for a great thread.
 
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d.parker said:
Come on over Peter. You would be a great asset to the USA and would be welcomed for sure. With you attitude you could make it here and be prosperous.
Regards,
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Well thank you, that really means a lot to me. And I know, that one day I will.

Peter
 
Fran has it exactly right.

Live how you want to live- nowadays we have the luxury of choices that our grandparents never did. How a person uses those choices may not reflect well on them, but the fault is in them, not that they were blessed with opportunity. (The HORROR of being prosperous.)

BTW, the 'rat race' is *not* new. The craving to stay "plugged in", "in touch" and "with it" is at *least* centuries old (that's just how old the examples I can come up with off the top of my head are- human *nature* doesn't change)- that's exactly the type of urge that drove the salon culture in the Enlightenment (among the well to-do) or general cafe culture for the past 2 centuries at least (spending your day drinking coffee and reading all the newspapers available from *everywhere* is the activity of someone who was MEANT for push email, smartphones and trendy Web 2.0 apps). It's no accident that hipsters often spend their day in cafes, with free wi-fi replacing out-of-town newspapers- the more things change, the more they stay the same (if you know what to look for).
 
Life in the old days no doubt was filled with many hardships, and people in the rural area where I live, still had very few modern conviences 50 years ago. I still try to keep my life style very traditional, eventhough I am 22. I fell trees for fire wood and to clear land with axes that I hung, and buck them with cross cut saws that I refurbished. My girlfriend has two dozen chickens for meat and eggs, and we both grow large gardens and spend fall canning and drying vegtables. We make our own sweet and hard cider with preses that I built with traditional hand tools. We also hunt for meat and pick up road kill deer, that we butcher our selfs. On cold nights we darn our socks, knit, and occasionaly make rag rugs. I even use a broom that I made with broom corn I grew. It does take alot of work to fit that in after work, but it also makes you appericate what you have and you dont waste as much. I am glad we have modern health care, trucks, electricity and computers. For me a good knife is just part of life, and in a folksy way it reminds me of my grand parents and the old timers that have passed away that I knew. joe
 
Fran, et al:

We do have cattle (being raised grass-fed, for our own, and friends' consumption), ducks (for eggs), horses and guineas and other livestock as well...and we don't mind keeping up with them at all. We grow our own vegetables in our garden, too. No, I don't want to go back to what life was in the 1880's, but I do want a simpler life, and that is what we are pursuing. I like having modern medical care available, as well as the ability to contact my family easily. And I do agree with what my Grandma Clark (born in 1884) used to say: "The good old days? The only thing good about them is that they are gone!" She said that in reference to the lack of medical care and such, not the simpler, less fast-paced lifestyle.

For the past 37 years I have lived and worked in the high-tech world, so I know what the "high-tech, fast-paced" world is...in spades!

At the tender age of 55, I am headed back to that simpler life of which jackknife speaks...and I'm looking forward to it!

With Best Regards,
Ron
 
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Our elders went through a lot, and certainly had their good times; but both sides of our family had their tragic stories too, the kinds of things other posts here have mentioned. One of the saddest stories I ever read is an account one of my wife's uncles wrote about their family living in the depression, and what they went through.

The fact that several of my ancestors are buried in Europe (WWII) is very sobering, too.

thx - cpr
 
I sit here typing this on a Dell Inspiron 1525, listening to a British radio station over a satellite radio, wearing a shirt that says "Adrenaline Gaming Clan", with two other windows open, one for Facebook and the other forr Youtube.

But I'm still here.

Why? I posted a thread on "why I like slipjoints" a while back, and I'll say a similar thing here.

I'm willing to bet I'm the youngest one on this thread- I just got my limited learner's permit today. I've been fifteen for three months. I didn't grow up in the "good ole days" and am not sure I want to.

I have Marfan's syndrome. I had my aortic valve and ascending aorta replaced this spring. Could that have happened fifty years ago? I don't know, but I don't think so. I have arch supports, not braces. I can get my news incredibly quickly, over the Internet. I don't overheat on long car trips, because of air conditioning. I don't faint when I exercise, because of ace inhibitors.

It's nice to romance the good ole days, but...

Come to think of it, I can't carry a knife to school. I can't get together with friends and play with toy guns or go squirrel hunting. I can't buy a brick of .22 and an Old Timer at the grocery store. I can't sit around and whittle


There's a lot I can't do, too. Why? I blame people not taking responsibility for their actions. Would I rather have grown up in the "good ole days?" I'm not sure. But I don't have to be.

Over here, on Traditional Folders and Fixed Blades, we've created a kind of artificial "good ole days." We sit around and tell tall tales and show each other the whittling we've done and compare knives. I can't get my friends together for BB-gun wars, but we do get together for Halo wars. Besides the obvious physical activity, is there really that much difference? I don't chitchat with people on the front porch of the courthouse, or share photos that I carry in my wallet, but I can chitchat and swap photos over Facebook. I can't fire up the woodstove and make some Brunswick stew in a pot my grandmother seasoned and taught me to cook in, but I can fire up the charcoal grill and cook steaks that Alton Brown taught me how to cook. Even those well-worn story-telling slipjoints have been replaced with well-worn story telling Leathermans.

What I'm trying to say is: the "good ole days" are right now. You just have to be able to see them.
 
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knifehunter50 said:
\yes I agree with you about the simpler times. By trade
I am a electrical engineer. I have traveled all over the world
to make the most money. When I turned 50 years old I ask
myself If I was happy with my life. The answer was no. I grew up on a ranch in Texas. and could not Waite to live and see the world. Now I am back on a ranch in east Texas
and very happy. It is a lot slower life. And a small town.
is just 15 miles down the road from me. We meet at the feed store every morning at 9am to drink coffee and swap lies also a little knife swaping go on and some whittling to
The company I use to work for called the other day and ask if I would like to do a job in south America for the next two years . They would pay very well. My reply was you don't have the kind of money it would take to get me back in the rat race. I am only sorry it tuck so long for me to come to my senses. I love it hear .

PS the town only has 1200 people including the outlying ranchers
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Good for you. I have stopped traveling so much myself. I was offered a 1 year gig overseas at 3+times my current salary, and I could have my current job back when I returned.

I'm staying here. Spent enough time away from my wife and kids, from the dogs and birds and deer and woods.
 
jim preston said:
What I'm trying to say is: the "good ole days" are right now. You just have to be able to see them.
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Very good point - and good luck to you, with those health issues. I know from experience how health problems can make you a lot more grateful for, well, life in general. Enjoy these "good ol' days". :thumbup:

thx - cpr
 
Sauconian said:
The simpler life of times passed is mostly a fiction.

I enjoy Jackknife's stories as much as anyone, as well as the "Old Man and the Boy'' tales of Robert Ruark, but do not mistake nostalgia for reality.
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Fran,

I am sorry, I have got to call you on the above mentioned statements here. I also like jackknife and his stories and recollections too. I also know that the majority of his stories and recollections come straight out of real world events that he himself experienced and are not just pure fiction, but are facts of his life recalled, recounted and retold here for the benefit of the greater good. I have known Carl for sometime now via this forum and do not know where you draw your information from, and how long you have been frequenting the Traditional Forum. But, for you to state the aforementioned quote, is not just a disagreement on an opinion, but rather questioning the mans integrity. Frankly, it just does not hold water.

In some of the other parts of your post however, you make some valid points. No question we are better off technogically, medically and informationally. But for me that's where it ends.

Speaking only for myself, I've always lived simply, only buy what I can afford for the most part. No credit cards. I own two PU trucks and one car that have been paid off for years. A small home with a few acres of land, several veggie gardens, and an herb garden and promote RRR for well over 20 years, and way before you heard the word 'green' and it became fashionable with the general public.

My point here Fran, is many of us here do walk the walk as well as the talk as evidenced by other members posts here prior to mine. Of coarse you are free to speak your mind, but please formulate and understand the content of your post along with the the validity of your statements first.

Thanks & all the Best,

Anthony
 
Anthony,

Before we start a debate which isn't apropos for this forum let me just say that my take on what Fran was saying is that oftentimes we romanticize things about bygone times without fully taking into consideration many of the hardships and dire conditions which were faced. I think that what he was saying is that many of us are fortunate to have the ability to choose to live in a simpler or more rustic fashion whereas our forefathers had no choice in braving the conditions prevalent in their time.

In any case, can we agree to take the debate to email or PM? Thanks in advance.
 
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