HAVE we lost our starry notions on the way?

 Yesterday posted a thread on my channel about the joys of growing up in the 1970s.

https://snowflakesforum.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-70s.html

Now, the era was not a joy for everyone, clearly.

The 1970s were a tumultuous time. In some ways, the decade was a continuation of the 1960s. Women, African Americans, Native Americans, gays and lesbians and other marginalized people continued their fight for equality, and many Americans joined the protest against the ongoing war in Vietnam. In other ways, however, the decade was a repudiation of the 1960s. A “New Right” mobilized in defense of political conservatism and traditional family roles, and the behavior of President Richard Nixon undermined many people’s faith in the good intentions of the federal government. By the end of the decade, these divisions and disappointments had set a tone for public life that many would argue is still with us today.

https://www.history.com/topics/1970s/1970s-1

I was too removed from all the political upheaval at the time, being in my own head space, but the reason I am pointing this out:

SO many are viewing THIS age as the "worst of times", yet my views, which I have expressed often, are quite different.

In the 60s and 70s, there was a movement afoot to change attitudes, but we still had to deal with assassinations, unjustifiable wars, rampant racist which included lynchings, and further back - McCarthyism.

But for me, the difference is more basic, at eye level. What we have NOW is social media, 24/7 news cycles, every word spoken, every policy advanced, is dissected to meet a narrative. Are things bad now? YOU BET YOUR BIPPY THEY ARE? BUT worse than the 50s, 60s, 70s?

Now I see gay couples walking hand in hand, I have witnessed the election of a black President, I see Muslim kids walking to school side by side with non-Muslim kids. 

AND the talk around the coffee table? You know, the "everyday" chatter? 

Believe it or not, NOT about stolen elections, NOT about Cuomo or Marjorie Taylor Greene. Granted, what I am hearing is anecdotal, but day to day, among my friends, family members, fellow townspeople - the talk right now is Afghanistan, still about Covid, concerns about the "weather" and what a shame about what is happening in Haiti.

HAITI! Yet how often does THAT make the news? Or gets discussed on social media?

So is NOW worse than it was back in the days of Jim Crow, lynchings, segregation, Vietnam, gay bashing, and fears of nuclear war?

YET, I would argue that:

Those were the days, my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

For we were young and sure to have our way

Now we just dwell on angst and anxiety, or so it seems, we have lost the ability:

Where we used to raise a glass or two

Remember how we laughed away the hours

Dreamed of all the great things we would do?

MAYBE:

Then the busy years went rushing by us

We lost our starry notions on the way