Memories, Memories

As a result of living in a small town where we spent many years as young people, last night for Valentine’s Day my husband and I had a delightful dinner at the location where we used to buy gasoline.  At other times we have had dinner in my cousin’s former bedroom – the old Galbraith dairy, of many years ago.  We have had dinner in the old medical building, and been to the dentist in the bedroom I shared with my cousin.   Although my all time favorite was the Friends of the Library fundraiser in the old Bucket of Blood Saloon.

We find this sort of amusing, and spent some time laughing about it last night.  Time marches on, and we have found the secret to not wishing things were the way they used to be, is to enjoy most of the changes.  As I said, the dinner last night was very good.   

One memory, however, that has surfaced recently dates back to when I was about 8 years old.  I was listening to the adults discuss how the country was going to be in real trouble and might go back to the worst days of the depression when it looked like things might finally be getting better.  Businesses were going to close, there would be massive unemployment again, the government had no business passing such a law when it would do so much harm.

Needless to say, I was quite frightened.  I waited for all of these dire predictions to come to pass.  Over time, I forgot to be frightened about this law because apparently none of the dire predictions came to pass.  My father still had his job, I didn’t notice that many businesses were closing, my teachers were still teaching at my school that hadn’t closed, and life went on pretty much as before. 

On Wednesday of this week, however, I heard those same arguments all over again, and my memories surfaced of how frightened I had been, only this time all I felt was sort of disgusted.  It has been 75 years since the minimum wage law was first passed in 1938, and the Republicans are using the same old tired fear tactics they used then to prevent the $0.25 an hour minimum wage from going into effect.  (Oregon State University) 

In fact, most of the economic and no government involvement issues the Republicans are raising I have heard for the past 75 years.  Isn’t it about time they evolved into something more productive?  After all, when the owners of the gas station we had dinner in last night recognized, for whatever reason, that it was no longer to their advantage to use it as a gas station, someone came along with a creative idea and with some remodeling turned it into a restaurant. 

Memories are great, and add a great deal of pleasure to life.  But to hang on to the way things were and the ideas that were around 75 years ago is stupid.  But then I’m not the one who called the Republican Party the Party of Stupid.