They don't make things like they used too!

I am sure that this post could very easily be seen as controversial, disliked, or even hotly disagreed with. But oh well, such is life. Also, it’s My blog right?

Furthermore, I don't claim to be an authority on anything of what I say, or disclose. It is purely my opinion, so take it as such.

They don't make things like they used too! You are probably thinking, "What are you talking about?" Well I will tell you.

We live in the 21st Century. It is a time of great technology and information. We live in an era when the whole world is connected by an invisible force greater than any physical one. Some may call it the Internet, others our advanced vehicles of transportation. Whatever it might be, we are no longer single pieces on the chess board of life. All are players, and if every piece doesn’t act in unity with the other others on the board, the Queen gets killed, and the King gets check mated. Never in the entire World’s existence was a pawn so highly regarded for its value on the battle field.

Human rights issues, and sexist issues are at the peak of resolution, and the arts and sciences have reached uncharted horizons. The 21st Century well could be named the age of discovery, of expansion, of universal aims, or of galactic enterprise.

And yet for all of our intellectualism, advancements, and sophistry we have seriously digressed in many ways back 80, 70 or 60 years. In some extreme cases even to the days of Antiquity. You might ask, “In what ways?”

Well I will tell you.

I am a lover of old classic movies. Black and white’s, and colors up to the 60’s. Back then the movies were all about the characters, the drama, the plot, the dynamics of good story and the human heart. It was about how love, family, and goodness will always triumph in the face of war and evil.

But those days of art and film are gone. They are more than buried under six feet of cold life sucking earth.

What do we have now? We have life and film literally polluted by extreme nudity, wild and unsacred sexual behavior flaunting itself for all to see. We have glorified the players of drugs, vandalism and gangs as if that way of life should be commemorated in some kind of hall of fame. We have become so desensitized to the level of ancient gladiatorial proportions, in regard to the different ways you can torture, mangle, or kill the human soul. All of these things and many more are a sign woeful digression.

In regards to just film in general. Like I said before, film in the old days was about character. Now, well the characters and actors take a seat back stage: graphics and visual effects have become the forefront of the movie experience. Visual effects to me are just like makeup: its purpose is to be used to Enhance or bring attention to an already existing feature. Not BE the thing itself. (makeup and everything that goes with it is a whole different story itself.) So now, visual effects are no longer a balanced piece of the pie; they almost are the pie.

TV shows are the same.

Cartoons are no exception!

Video games...wow how they have changed!

They don’t make things like they used too!

Enough about film.

There are other things in which we have digressed. Namely the quality of products. Yes, I said quality. That word is almost extinct in the world today when it comes to products of any kind. We live in a time when it quantity is the new quality.

So some of the things that could be named under this category would be electronics, furniture, cars, houses, cookware, tools, and food etc.

Back in the old days of cell phones, they actually worked as a phone. I remember the old razers. That was a simple, nice, easy to work phone. You could drop it and it wouldn’t brake. Now days, your $800 phone doesn’t even work all that well as a phone. And if you drop it..well 8 times out of 10 it is toast. They don’t make things like they used too!

I remember jumping on beds as a kid. You COULD jump on the bed then. Not now, you’d break it. That is the same with tables, chairs, desks, the works. They aren’t strong and of good quality anymore. Every 3-5 years you have to go get a new couch or something. Thy don’t make things like they used too!

Cars used to go and go and go forever! It was normal to get 200,000 thousand miles out of a vehicle. Not now. That is the top of the line. Back in the 50-70’s cars were made of tough steal, and could take a you all the way through a wild, or the learning teenage years. Now, well you can barely nick it against something, before the whole thing crumbles like a napkin. It seems to me that cars are made out of tin rather than steal. I may be exaggerating somewhat, but in principle I am right. They don’t make things like they used too!

Houses used to be made with material that weathered the storms of mother nature. They were built to be a home; not some kind of big strong tent. I have done some construction in my life. I am here to tell you that the old stuff was a LOT stronger. I remember having to rip and demolish  a bathroom, walls, and flooring in an old Victorian New England house built in the early 1800’s. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest jobs I have had to do. One week later, I was doing the exactly same to a house that was built in 2005. I got done so much faster.. days faster. Yes not hours, days! They don’t make things like they used too!

My mom has this set of pans and cookware that she got when she first got married almost 30 years ago. We still use them every day in our house back home. When I was in college, I used a pretty new set of pans for one semester. Those pans that I used for 3 ½ months looked worse than the ones my mom has used for 30 years! (Some may think, “Well of course, you were in college. You didn’t take care of them, you used and abused them.” Well, no, I didn’t. I kept them clean, put them away, and was kind to them.) They don’t make things like they used too!

 Screw drivers, hammers, saws, old electric power tools, shovels, gardening tools and anything else you can think of. Even twenty years ago they were better than they are now. The advancement of years has not been kind to these products. Go get a normal good hammer from 20 years ago, and then get one that is new. See the difference. Need I saw more? They don’t make things like they used too!

Microwaved mac and cheese, white bread, instant dinners from Walmart, pop tarts, soda, sugar loaded cold cereal, and 18 oz steaks! In so many ways we have lost and seriously compromised our eating habits and quality of food. Home cooked meals are becoming a thing of history, while Doritos and a coke is becoming life’s daily staple. Where is the homemade bread, the amazing pasta dishes, the tasty salads, the bake potatoes, the awesome fruit salads? For many, years in the past. They don’t make things like they used too!

Finally (I could say more, but I won’t) there is education. In more modern times yes I agree that more people get to be educated. I understand that more information is available than at any other time. But we have digressed in our ability to both learn, and compute that information. And this is a relatively new thing. Even in the 1950’s people could do and know, and use things that many if not all of us can’t even come close to be able to do. Our technology is both expanding us to new horizons, while crippling us in the old. For example, back in the 50’s kids could do math in their heads. And pretty complicated math mind you. Now, we can’t even get passed basic algebra without a calculator. Kids could write by hand very well, cursive and other nice forms of hand writing. If a teacher wrote on the board in cursive at a high school, at least 40% or more would have a super hard time reading it, and about 25% of them couldn’t read it at all to begin with. Might as well write in Russian on the board. Retention is WAY down. In days of antiquity, men and woman could memorize thousands of pages worth of texts, and use it on demand. Now, we can barely get passed our pledge of allegiance and national anthem. They don’t make things like they used too!

For my readers, I would have you know that I am not a pessimist at all. I actually love the world I live in today. I am so thankful I live at this time, and have the opportunities that I have. This IS the age of opportunity! But so many (including myself sometimes) don’t seem to care, or to even use what we have.

It just surprises me how much we have advanced in so many way, but seemed to equally digressed a the same time. Maybe that is the story of mortality, I don’t know.

The world just isn’t what it used to be.

For bad or good.

Let’s just hope that we will be able to hold onto the good things, and keep the same today, yesterday and forever!