FACES AND PLACES: Back to the future (10/27/96)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Back to the future

Do you remember when the American dream was alive and well, and people believed their children would inherit a better world?

I do. The 1950s were like that. Harry Truman was president. So was Dwight D. Eisenhower. We trusted them because they were men of integrity. Their word was their bond.

Do you remember when churches were full and the faithful believed in certain universal truths? I do. Today, many baby-boomers pick and choose their own transcendental road map to Nirvana. According to a University of California study of the inner life of boomers, 60 percent believe it's better to explore various religions than commit to one faith. Too many "thou shalt nots" may prove uncomfortable. Creating their own narcisstic rituals, New-Agers "follow their own bliss."

Do you remember when school prayer was permitted in the schools but condom distribution was not? I do. I attended a public school in the 1940s, and I distinctly remember my teacher asking us to stand and pray for the success of our troops when we learned of the Allied invasion of Europe.

Do you remember when the worst problems faced by our schools were gum chewing, running in the halls and an occasional playground fight? I do. I began teaching in Chicago's inner-city in 1956, and that's really the way it was. Today, many schools have metal detectors at the doors, armed security guards in the halls, gangs roaming the halls and shootings on the playground.

Do you remember when the school curriculum was devoted to cognitive objectives? I do. I taught in inner-city schools where reading, writing and computation were the most important subjects of the day. Today, we have sex education, multicultural education, values clarification, outcome-based education and a host of other feel-good fads that have little to do with literacy.

Do you remember when families could live on one income? I do. I was an assistant principal when Lesia and I got married, and we lived on my salary for the first 10 years of our life together. Today, both of us work. In 1964, only 15 percent of our income went to local, state and federal taxes. Today, it's more like 40 percent.

Do you remember when corporations cared for their workers and the feeling was mutual? I do. My father worked for the Standard Oil Co. for 40 years, and his loyalty was unconditional. He was an owner-operator of a service station, and although his job required long hours and hard work, he loved it. "The company has been good to me," he often reminded me. "If you produce, they take care of you." Today, corporate moguls care more about the next quarterly report than their workers. Downsizing, restructuring and golden parachutes are the new corporate buzz words. Small wonder people start looking for their next position soon after being hired at their present position.

Remember the golden age of television? I do. My grandmother and I watched such gems as " I Love Lucy," "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Honeymooners," "Hogan's Heroes" and "You Are There." Will there ever be another Red Skelton, Sid Ceasar, Imogene Coca, Dean Martin or Perry Como? They have been replaced by MTV videos that celebrate irreverence, blasphemy, violence, sex, profanity, sadism and drug abuse. Decadence rules the TV screen. If this continues, cried Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) on the floor of the U. S. Senate, "we should not be surprised if the foundations of our society rot away as from leprosy."

Do you remember Hollywood's Golden Era when the clergy was positively portrayed? Movie legends - Bing Crosby, Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracey - appeared in such classics as "Going My Way," "Bells of St. Mary's," "The Fighting 69th" and "Boys Town." I grew up on those movies. Today Hollywood treats us to pregnant nuns ("Agnes of God"), the horrors of parochial education ("Heaven Help Us"), and fornicating and homosexual priests ("Priest").

Do you remember songs to which you could sing and dance? Remember "Blue Moon," "Star Dust," "Whole Lotta Shaking Going On," "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and "Danny Boy"? They have been replaced by something called Gansta Rap performed by cretins such as The Geto Boys, the late Tupac Shakur, Guns n' Roses, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Poison. How does one sing along to rap lyrics like "I dug between the chair and whipped out the machete/She screamed, I sliced her up until her guts were like spaghetti"?

Do you know what "shacking up" or common-law marriage means? I do. It means living together without the benefit of marriage. Some "hopelessly backward" people still call that "living in sin."

Do you remember when divorce was rare? I do. Most married couples had the quaint idea that if they brought children into the world they had an obligation to raise them to adulthood. Before the advent of no-fault divorce the needs of children were more important than the needs of the parents. Today marriage is all about adults and their needs.

Do you remember when boys were raised to believe that only "sissies" hit girls, that a certain etiquette was expected of men when dealing with women, that marriage was sacred, and that if you made a girl pregnant you had a responsibility to her and your child? I remember how it was because I was brought up that way. By loving their wives, fathers taught young boys how to relate to women. Today, thanks in part to radical, gender feminists, we have date rape, rising spousal abuse and fatherless homes. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, four out of 10 children in America sleep in homes with an absentee father.

Do you remember when abortion was illegal in every state? I do. Today some 1.5 innocent babies are sacrificed on the altar of convenience in what is euphemistically called "an extraction procedure." Sort of like having a decaying tooth yanked. It's a billion-dollar business. America's gender feminist minority calls it "choice," but "choice," to quote columnist Don Feder, "is when you pick Coke over Pepsi. The deliberate destruction of an unborn child with a heartbeat and brain waves and a distinct genetic code is not the exercise of 'choice.' It is, to be blunt, a defiance of the Creator and an affront to a political system based on the defense of innocent life."

President Bill Clinton tells us we've never had it so good. Sen. Bob Dole believes America was better once, and to preserve our future we must return to the values of the past. On November 5, we'll learn who the American people believe is right.