Turn Back the Hands of Time with a Cultural Revolution

Don't know who thought up paying forward, but I like it. Your ideas are surely worthy of our effort.

I grew up in a small town of 300, so maybe close neighbors had something to do with it? I recall those days of everyone getting together and helping each other out. The men would get together and burn blueberry fields for each other, so the following years crop would grow better. The women would can and make preserves, then everyone would trade off. People would hunt and share the bounty with each other. Those WERE the days. I miss my small town and wish I was still there.

I would love it if we all watched TV for only an hour each day. I love your suggestions for bringing back the good old days. Life just made more sense back then.

Comradeship it is, Sir Bill. We call it 'bayanihan' here in the Philippines or simply helping somebody through group effort without asking in return.

Materialism is not yet the forte of the old gens, unlike today.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us, Bill! Awesome hub!

Beautiful! I'd love to drop in for a barbie, bill. I too remember a childhood like yours, full of kind gestures from neighbours and gentle manners and thoughts from family and friends which I was expected to return and did so happily.

Materialism and all the shiny gold has taken away our innocence, our happiness and our values.

I'm happy to say that I often do most of your list; I'm not bragging, it's just the kind of thing I think is important. It makes me feel good to do those things, so maybe it's selfish!

I yearn for the simple of life of the 50s which made me so happy and bit by bit I'm pulling it back within reach through my slower lifestyle, through my grandchildren and through looking around me and appreciating the good things that are still there if we want to see them.

Thanks for the reminder, bill!

Ann

billybuc: It is easy, but people won't do it because they're afraid whoever they smile at or help in some way will think they have an ulterior motive. Unfortunately that's something else we have today we didn't have years ago - too many people thinking the worst of a kind gesture.

I always said I would never use that phrase - 'in my day, those good old days.' Now I seem to say it continually. Really can't recapture the past or turn back the clock though it would be nice. Just this week got abused parking my car, road rage is out of control. I agree with all your points and live by most of them. Confess about the TV though. My priority would be that meal around the table, a way to discuss and interact as a family seems to have disappeared. How sad. Looking on the bright side I am lucky enough to watch many young people in my life choosing to work with the disabled, with migrants, nurses, teachers. Much comfort that all is not lost

As I was reading this, I couldn't help but remember the old drug stores that had places where you sat down and had coffee and talked to the old guys that came in every morning. I used to go with my father every now and then. People don't socialize like they used to. Perhaps it's fear - there's a lot of violence in today's world.

Yet, as you say, there is nothing wrong with a smile now and then and saying hi to people as they pass by. I still do that. I can't imagine going around being grumpy all the time.

A hard hitting reminder to us all to spend that time with a neighbor, ring that long forgotten friend and make that time for our partner and our family. This message Bill has really hit home to me funnily enough these past 7 months and I made contact with several friends I had not seen or spoken to for years. It felt great catching up and seeing how their lives have changed. You are dead right saying how these simple acts were the norm and not exceptional.

What a lovely thing to happen in the coffee shop!

You are an example to us all and boy do I wish I were on the same continent and in the vicinity of Olympia . . .

Have a great weekend with Bev, sending you a big hug!

Yep billybuc, what that officer did for you has gone a long way! You've put it in writing besides returning the act of goodness. Hopefully, it'll catch on around the world. Going back to those good ole times would be so refreshing.

Yes, people were neighborly in the village where I grew up, so long as you were white, heterosexual, and Christian. Going back to that seems neither feasible nor desirable. Going forward to a global village in which if you're an earthling you're a neighbor is what I hope for. Today on a networking site I read a post by a housewife somewhere, "I try to show a little kindness every day." A kind heart; a community spirit; a culture of spontaneous giving, as in your hub -- such are the elements needed.

Beautiful! We in this generation had better make the effort, because the next generation already seems lost. There is a young man who walks through my yard picking papayas, guavas, spinach leaves-whatever is available for nothing but a smile and a thank you. Last week, I forget to take out my garbage; he offered to do it for me if I give him $5.00 each time. Caribbean grandparents would turn in their graves at an attitude like this. I'm all for modeling the "pay it forward" principle.

I well remember the ' good ole days ' We lived on a street where everyone knew each others name. I remember women coming to borrow a cup of sugar, sitting on the front porch in the evening, neighbors gathering around. We kids played kick the can in the street, no fear of muggers or pedophiles. Of course we didn't have a T.V. we actually got some exercise. I can't remember one obese child, now there is an epidemic. Your six suggestions are a great start. I'm in......

I couldn't agree with you more. There are so many simple things we can do to make things like they were when we were younger. I think some people will be surprised how far something as simple as a smile can go. We smile at one person and that makes them happy so they smile at someone else and on and on it goes.

I feel as though we are doing exactly what you are suggesting right here on HubPages... to me, so far, it has been a MOST courteous and friendly experience. It reminds me, each day, to care the same feeling into the outer world, as well. Thanks for the challenge, and reminders! ;-)

A cultural revolution indeed!! What has happened to the good old days? The current external situations has affected the minds and hearts of good people. Let us try, you and I and members of this community. Let us try. Thanks for the great memories.

There are good people and bad people. I learned how to recognize the good people a long time ago and I reach out to them and am grateful they exist in my world. We can tun back the hands of time, one simple act and one person at a time. Love this hub, billy. Voted up, beautiful, awesome, interesting and useful.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Or so I've heard.

Just yesterday, I was talking to an old childhood buddy that we both have worked hard to keep a steady line of communication with each other throughout our lives and we were discussing this very topic. How we grew up in a neighborhood that you would have a hard time finding these days. It was a rural neighborhood that sugar and milk was passed around when they needed it. Mowing the widow lady's lawn down the road was done by a few of us kids who always got nothing more than a couple of cookies and a cup of milk. We could ride our bikes down to the creek and not come home until supper time.

It was as if it was a different world. We had somehow crossed into another dimension....

I would NEVER let my kids even get out of my sight, let alone go a mile or two down the road on a bike and not be back until evening...

My neighbors are nice, but are on the go all the time, just as we are. It is usually a wave and a nod at best.

It saddens me that my kids will not have the opportunity to have the childhood that I had.

It is a different world..........

But Billy you are so right..........it really doesn't have to be that way...people are still good, I really believe that. I think too many are just waiting for the other to make the first move.

You always have a way of inspiring me........

:)

My mother and I were talking last night about how her life was when she was young, and it fits perfectly into the things your wrote. Why can't we make some changes back to the way things were? We were happy as I recall. We sat on the porches of our neighbors and they came over to our house to give us time to visit, laugh and talk. I have been doing something over the past year, or so and it works so well.

I always greet, smile and look each cashier in the eye when I go into stores. I almost always get a smile and usually good wishes in return. It makes such a difference when we treat people the way we want to be treated.

The hub is awesome and you made numerous great suggesstions. We do not have to be like everyone else. We all have a choice. Voted ++++++

Awesome Bro.......and I sooooo am on the same page. The current state of "stranger-danger" makes me sad too. I make it a point to seek out the most grumpy and/or loneliest-looking person in a crowd....I smile big and say "Hello," in my friendliest tone. Once when I did this, an elderly man looked at me with a visible question mark above his head....and he said, "Do I know you, young lady?" I said, "Well, I'm Paula. You know me now.....and since you referred to me as "young," you can be my best friend." He laughed so hard and took my hand and said, "Thank you, Paula."................Damn! I nearly cried.

Tell you what......not a damned thing bothered me that whole day. I just kept picturing the old man's smile..........UP+++

Rock on Bill! We need to gather people with similar thought under a different forum! Jamie

Wonderful Billy and as always your wose words enchant and teach me. Teach me to remember the simpler things in life;things we overlook and its these simple acts that enrich our lives to a greater might. Great hub a salways and lots of love to you and Bev.

Eddy.

Bill, I already do four of the six. I don't have a spouse, so that's out. My son's work schedule doesn't allow for us to share a meal but once a week, if we're lucky. I do try to take advantage of those days. One thing I need to work on is reaching out to old friends. Actually, I did that last night, but the times are too few and far between.

Thanx for the reminder, my friend.

LOL, funny you said that because I have always thought that I might end up in prison or executed for something rebellious like that! I am not afraid because heaven is much better than earth. And, on top of that, it's wonderful living life free from fear.

Having said that, I would prefer a different sort of execution than being burned at the stake...something a little quicker ;)

Awesome! Yes, it's a difficult thing, I totally understand because if I had cable and a TV I would watch it all the time, which is why I don't have it.

I agree with everything except I think we should throw out the TV or instead of watching 1 hour less only watch 1 hour completely!

Sigh. Coincidental that we're thinking along the same lines with this! Yes, it's changed so much, hasn't it?

we were talking about this last night with some friends. Life has changed so much and is down to texting and cellphoning. People rarely talk. I also think people are working hard at surviving--sometimes missing the forest for the trees here. Every time you go to the grocery store prices up and service down. People who really care are sometimes becomng extinct.

Life has become very complicated and almost chilling in some ways. respect is disappear --family type mostly. Great hub about what is really happening. I don't you have prettied up the past at all.