[Bungleau]

... and the grandfather continued.

"Back then, we also didn't question our parents about anything, 'cause my dad would haul off and whack me one just as soon as look at me. The only acceptible responses to mom was "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Ma'am". To dad, it was yessir and nosir.

"My parents would haul off and hit me if I misbehaved. Heck, my schoolteachers would do it, too. And my friends' parents... pretty much everyone could hit you if you were misbehaving (or they thought you were), and everyone else allowed as how you probably had it coming.

"There were seven of us living in a three-bedroom house with one bathroom to share among us all. We always had to wake up early if we wanted to get a shower before work or school.

"I had two pairs of pants, and my mother washed the other one every single day. I had to wear a collared shirt to school every day, and a tie most of the time. We always worried if dad was going to have a job when he got home that night.

"We couldn't afford store-bought toys, not even those penny whistles. We had to make up and create our own toys. One Christmas, my sister got a doll. It was the best Christmas she ever had, and she loved that doll until it fell apart. That was her only present that year, and it was a good one. All I got was a pair of socks.

"There was a war going on in Europe and Japan, and we had to give up lots of things to support the war effort. One restaurant figured out if they took plugs of meat out of every hamburger patty, you could make more hamburgers and no one knew the difference. That was the result of rationing.

"College was a place that only fancy kids went to, or really, really smart ones who could get a scholarship. Most people did whatever their parents did, whether that meant working at a factory, in a mine, or in a schoolhouse.

"There was none of this "self-actualization" stuff. You had what you had in life, and you were grateful for it... however little it was.

"And we used to listen to our grandparents talking about what it was like when they were young, when they only had meat three or four times a year unless they were super rich.

"Radio was our primary source of entertainment, and I still remember when the Williams family got their telephone.

"And those were the good old days.... and am I glad I don't live there any more."