Today is one of those drab, dreary days that is very conducive for thoughts of memories past. Just been sitting and thinking over how fortunate I have been and the many blessings Allaah(swt) has given me, knowing I am not nor ever will be worthy of any of them.
For some reason I am lost in thought about my life during the 1950's In 1952 we moved to Tariffville, Connecticut. Which I claimed immediately as my home town. Beautiful little town then. Built around a bend in the Farmington river near some white water rapids and small waterfalls. The Southern end of the Metacomet trail and in the middle of the Tunxis forest. We lived in an ancient apartment house that had 4 three story apartments It was originally an Inn built in the mid 1600s. One of the few structures that survived the "King Phillip Wars" of 1675-1676 during which at least half of the towns in the colonies were burned to the ground. King Phillip's actual name was Metacomet. Metacomet trail is the route by which he and his warriors came into the Tariffville/Simsbury area which at the time was called Simsbury Town. Virtually 100% of the town was burned down out of over 500 houses only 2 or 3 were left standing. In terms of percentages the King Phillip wars produced the largest casualties of any war Americans have been in, nearly 80% of all white Americans were killed and over 90% of the homes were destroyed. Even as a kid signs of the old battle were still visible. I found many arrowheads and musket balls out in the plowed fields and the rafters of our old house still had arrow heads embedded in them. It was a fantastic house for a young boy. It also was only three miles, walking distance of Simsbury Airport were I walked to nearly every weekend and began my first love of flying.
1952 late summer began with a bang. My first summer in Tariffville ended. The weekend before the start of the school year 2 friends and myself sneaked out of Sunday school to go "Mountain Climbing" a very high cliff begins at the Edge of the Farmington river and extends upwards about 500 feet over looking Tariffville. That was our challenge. I really do not know how high I was when I slipped and fell. I still remember the fall and rolling and tumbling, bouncing off the face of the cliff. And landing face down at the edge of the river. I was probably unconcious for a few minutes as I was just becoming aware of being on the ground when my friends reached me. My clothes were pretty much shredded, I was covered with bruises and scratches but only had 2 noticeably serious injuries a very bad gash on the side of my head and my left foot was oddly turned. Being typical kids of the time our concern was how were we going to cover up we had sneaked out of Sunday School. I had no immediate problem as my Mother was at work and would not be home until that evening. My worry was the clothes as they were the first new shirt and pants I had ever had and I was supposed to wear them to the first day of school next week. One of the kids said he had gotten several shirts and would bring me one the other kid said he had a pair of pants. I managed to keep my twisted leg hidden by wearing high shoes that we used to call Hi-Cuts, sort of like lace up boots. Well we managed to keep it hidden for several years and it was not known until I finally had some X-rays and it was found I had broken my leg and it had never been set and had completely snapped off a rib that never grew back together. I was in quite a bit of pain for most of 1952 and 1953. Yet, that turned out to be a blessing as a result I developed a very high tolerance for pain, which eventually served me well in my later years.
The 1950s were also the decade when I met some people who greatly influenced my life. Both were close friends of my sixth grade teacher and were frequent visitors at his house and in our town. Although I did not know they were anybody famous. I just knew Albert Einstein and Robert Frost as nice old men who liked sitting on the banks of the river and talking with kids.
The 1950s were also a time of fierce racism, especially in the South. segregation was the law in many states. None of us in Tarriffville had ever seen a black person and sadly we did believe many of the stereotypical views we were taught. Or saw in the movies. When I entered the AF and met my first Black Person, I was surprised to discover he spoke English. There were some sad memories and beliefs I wish I had never encountered. I had faced prejudice because of my oriental background, but it was nothing like what I saw directed against Black people.
It was an interesting era. Who from that time could ever forget the nuclear fall out shelters and the nuclear attack drills we practiced at school. Looking back, did anybody actually believe squatting under our desks or along the wall would save us when the entire country would be vaporized in the event of a full attack. And why did I always have to squat behind Tony W. on the days he had beans for lunch.
It was the time of treason, mistrust and constant living under the threat of Nuclear Annihilation. Any kid knew that a nuclear war would only last 10 minutes and life on earth as we knew it would no longer exist. I believe it was Eisenhower who said, "I do not know what weapons will be used in WW3 but WW4 will have to be fought with sticks and stones" It was a time of fear for American and Russian kids. We grew up expecting to wake up to mushroom clouds.
It was also a time of great opportunity for common physical workers. Overseas high paying jobs were available throughout Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq as they were paying oil field roughnecks over $10,000 a month at a time when the average salary in the US was $250 a month. Many people worked for 3 years came back and retired on those earning. a new car could be bought for $1000 a house was $25,000. It also was the begining of the downfall for American Business. American businesses could not match the pay the foreign companies were paying. The result was the printing of worthless inflated money. A 1950s dime (10 cents) bought about the same amount of goods it takes 5 of our now dollars to buy. That $10,000 back then was very near the same as $50,000 to $75,000 today in terms of buying power.
But looking back there were a few things we could not have, they were not available during the first half of the decade, most vaccines, Computers, color TV. wireless phones, cell phone, digital cameras, MP3 players, jet air travel, fast food restaurants
(Imagine life without KFC, MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, unleaded gasoline. credit cards, video games, or even 24 hour TV, if you even lived in an area that had TV, who else here can remember the TV test patterns at night when the TV stations signed off for the night?)
i just love history stories, i think thats why i love being around elderly people i love when they start talking about when they were young and stuff. well i wont call you old i will just call you mature:hiding: i use to work in a holiday centre where old people would come and stay for like a week.. we had to take care of them. there was an old woman i met, she was german she actually remembers having to hide from the nazi's. she was young girl at the time hitler was in control
nice post.