Why most Americans live worse than Medieval serfs toiling for a king.

The word medieval is often treated as synonymous with filth, lawlessness  and brutality. In particular the recent actions of ISIS and their  treatment of prisoners have been called 'medieval’ by journalists,  commentators and bloggers alike. But why do we do this, and is it fair? 

-History Today

While many of us are grateful for the 40-hour work week, Medieval peasants worked far less than even that.

When professor Juliet Schor released her book, The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, the average American was shocked. According to her research, they were working more days and taking fewer vacation days than a medieval peasant.

Americans are working harder, and being rewarded less, than a Medieval serf.

Now, her scholarly presentation was correct. American life has migrated far, far away from what it was like during Medieval times. There are good and bad things about this. But we need to put things into perspective. Because most Americans have a very warped idea of what life was like in the past.

American Misconceptions…

Americans mistakenly believe that Medieval life was far, far different than the lives we live today. I counter the opposite. Aside from technology and medicine, socially and economically, we are identical.

Let’s get rid of some misconceptions…

Typical Misconception 1. Peasants were a single class of people who were more or less equal to one another.

It's easy to think that people in the Middle Ages were easily divided  into very broad classes: royals, nobles, knights, clergy, and toiling  peasants at the very bottom. But just because you didn't have "king,"  "lord," "sir," "father," or "brother" (or their female analogs) in front  of your name doesn't mean you weren't concerned with your own social  standing. There are vast classes of people whom, today, we might  generally refer to as "peasants," but there were actually various  classes of people within that broad category.
   
Mortimer points out that, in 14th-century England, for example, you  have your villeins, people bonded to a particular lord's land. Villeins  were not considered free folk, and they could be sold with the lord's  land. And free folk were of a variety of social and economic classes. A  freeholder, for example, might become successful enough to rent a lord's  manor, essentially acting as a lord himself. And, in a village, a few  families might hold the majority of the political power, supplying most  of the local officers. We may tend to think of these people as  "peasants," but they had much more complicated ways of thinking of  themselves, with all the class anxiety that goes with that.

Much like today. American society is stratified. America hardly has a middle class. Most of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few elite. The rest of us fight against each other for the “table scraps” thrown to the side by “trickle down economics”.

Misconception 2. Inns were public houses with big common halls below and rooms above.
   
There are few images as firmly rooted in pseudo-Medieval fantasy as  the tavern inn. You and your party enjoy a few flagons of ale in the  main room, hear all the local gossip, then go up to your private rented  chamber where you'd sleep (alone or with a lover) on a lumpy mattress.
   
That image isn't wholly fiction, but the truth is a bit more  complicated — not to mention interesting. In Medieval England, if you  combined a city inn with an alehouse, you'd probably get something  resembling that fantasy inn. There were inns where you could rent a bed  (or, more likely, a space in a bed), and these inns did have halls for  eating and drinking. But these were not public houses; innkeepers were  generally permitted to serve food and drink only to their guests. And,  Mortimer points out, you would likely find a single room with several  beds, beds that could fit up to three people. It was only in the most  upscale inns that you'd find chambers with just one or two beds.
   
There were establishments for drinking in these cities as well:  taverns for wine and alehouses for ale. Of the two, alehouses were the  rowdier establishments, more likely to function as your Medieval Mos  Eisley. But ale and cider were often made at home as well; a husband  might expect his wife to be skilled in brewing. The Gieses note in Life in a Medieval Village  that a tavern in an English village was often someone's home. Once your  neighbor opened up a fresh batch of ale, you might go to their house,  pay a few pennies, and sit and drink with your fellow villagers.
   
There are other options for accommodations as well. Travelers could  expect the hospitality of people of equal or lesser social class,  enjoying their food and beds in exchange for tales from the road and a  tip. (Mortimer says that, if you were lucky enough to stay with a  14-century merchant, the digs were much nicer than any inn.) Or you  might go to a hospital, which was not just for healing, but also for  hospitality.

Like America today, there are all sorts of accommodation. Is the modern housing APPs any different from the medieval arrangement? It’s just a modern equivalent.

Misconception 3. You would never see a woman engaged in a trade such as armorer or merchant.
   
Certainly, some fantasy stories will cast women in equal (or  relatively equal) positions to men, carrying out the same sorts of  trades that men might carry out. But in many fictional stories, a woman  who makes armor or sells good would seem out of place — although this  does not universally reflect Medieval reality. In England, a widow could  take up the trade of her dead husband — and Mortimer specifically cites  tailor, armorer, and merchant as trades open to widows. Some female  merchants were actually quite successful, managing international trading  ventures with impressive capital.
  
Women engaged in criminal activity as well, including banditry. Many  criminal gangs in Medieval England consisted of families, including  wives with their husbands and sisters with their brothers.

Men and women shared and swapped roles in the past, much we do today. There is nothing new or progressive about that.

Misconception 4. People had horrible table manners, throwing bones and scraps on the floor.
   
Sorry, even in the Middle Ages, members of polite society, from kings  to villeins, followed certain etiquette, and that etiquette involved  good table manners. In fact, depending on when and where and with whom  you were eating, you might have to follow very strict procedures for  eating and drinking. Here's a tip: If a lord passes you his cup at the  dinner table, it's a sign of his favor. Accept it, backwash and all, and  pass it back to him after you've had a sip.

Manners are part of the human condition. While they might vary from society to society, manners follow us everywhere.

Misconception 5. People distrusted all forms of magic and witches were frequently burned.

In some fantasy stories, magic is readily accepted by everyone as a fact of life. In others, magic is treated with suspicion at best or as blasphemy at worst. You might even hear the Biblical edict, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

But not all claims of magic in the Middle Ages were treated as heresy. In her essay "Witches and the Myth of the Medieval 'Burning Time,'" from Misconceptions About the Middle Ages, Anita Obermeier tells us that during the 10th century, the Catholic Church wasn't interested in trying witches for heresy; it was more interested in eradicating heretical superstitions about "night-flying creatures."

And in 14th-century England, you might consult a magician or a witch for some minor "magical" task, such as finding a lost object. In Medieval England, at least, magic without any heretical components was tolerated. Eventually, the late 15th century would give rise to the Spanish Inquisition, and we do see witches hunted down.

Witch burnings weren't unheard of in the Middle Ages, but they weren't common, either. Obermeier explains that, in the 11th century, sorcery was treated as a secular crime, but the church would issue several reprimands before it would resort to burning. She puts the first burning for heresy at 1022 in Orleans and the second at 1028 in Monforte. It's rare in the 11th and 12th centuries, but becomes a more common punishment in the 13th century for relapsed heretics. However, it depends where you are. In the 14th century, you probably won't be burned as a witch in England, but you may very well get the stake in Ireland.

Much like today. You might have trouble finding a practitioner of the Black Arts in the Southern American states, but you won’t have problems in New Orleans. Or Los Angles. Or Detroit. Or New York. Or Baltimore.

Misconception 6. Men's clothing was always practical and functional. 

Yes, Medieval people of various classes  were interested in fashion, and sometimes fashion — particularly men's  fashion — got pretty absurd. Early clothing is more functional, but  during the 14th century, men's fashions in England were both  body-bearing and rather experimental. Corsets and garters were common  for men, and increasingly, popular fashions encouraged men to show off  the shape of their hips and legs. Some aristocratic men wore gowns with  sleeves so long they were in danger of tripping on the cuffs. It became  fashionable to wear shoes with extraordinarily long toes — one such  shoe, imported from Bohemia, had twenty-inch toes that needed to be tied  to a man's garters. There was even a fad of wearing one's mantle so  that the head went through the arm hole rather than the head hole, with  the sleeves functioning as a voluminous collar.
  
It's also important to note that fashions would trickle down from  royalty, through the aristocracy, and down to the common folk. In the  seasons after a fashion appeared among the nobility, a less expensive  version would appear among those of lesser stations. In fact, sumptuary  laws were passed in London to prevent people from dressing above their  stations. For example, a common woman in 1330s London was not permitted  to line her hood with anything but lambskin or rabbit fur, or risk  losing her hood.

Much like today. The fashions might change, but the importance of having them is a time honored standard.

Misconception 7. Servants were all low-class people.
   
Actually, if you were a high-ranking individual, chances are that you  had high-ranking servants. A lord might send his son to serve in another  lord's manor — perhaps that of his wife's brother. The son would  receive no income, but would still be treated as the son of a lord. A  lord's steward might actually be a lord himself. Your status in society  isn't just based on whether or not you were a servant, but also your  familial status, whom you served, and what your particular job was.
   
Something you might not expect about servants in English households in  the late Middle Ages: they were overwhelmingly male. Mortimer points to  the earl of Devon's household, which had 135 members, but only three  women. With the exception of a washerwoman (who didn't live in the  household), the staffers were all men, even in households headed by  women.

Most Americans today fall in the below-middle class; the serf and slave classes. We do not have servants.

However, the wealthy do. If you were to poll the wealthy Democrat politicians in America today, you would discover that their contemporaneous servants would indeed fit the Medieval model.

Misconception 8. Medicine was based on pure superstition.
  
Admittedly, if you're looking outside of Game of Thrones,  a lot of healing in fantasy novels is just plain magical. You've got  your cleric class who gets their healing from the gods, and otherwise  you might have someone on hand who can dress a wound or make a poultice.
  
And yes, a lot  of Medieval medicine was based on what we would consider today mystical  bunk. A great deal of diagnosis involved astrology and humoral theory.  Blood letting was a respected method of treatment, and many of the  curatives were not only useless — they were downright dangerous. And  while there were medical colleges, extraordinarily few physicians were  able to attend.
  
Still, some aspects  of Medieval medicine were logical even by modern standards. Wrapping  smallpox in scarlet cloth, treating gout with colchicum, using camomile  oil for an earache — these were all effective treatments. And while the  notion of a barber-surgeon is a horrifying one to many of us, some of  those surgeons were actually quite talented. John of Arderne employed  anesthetics in his practice, and many surgeons were skilled in couching  cataracts, sewing abscesses, and setting bones.

Not so different from today. While American “big pharma” and high technology has saturated American culture, practitioners of chiropractic techniques, acupuncture, herbal medicine and Chinese traditional medicine abound.

Misconception 9. The most powerful military force consisted of armored knights riding into battle.
  
James G. Patterson, in his essay "The Myth of the Mounted Knight" from Misconceptions About the Middle Ages,  explains that while the image of the mounted knight might have been a  popular one during Medieval times, it didn't match the reality of  warfare. Armored cavalry, he explains, can be incredibly useful — even  devastating — against untrained revolutionaries, but they were far less  useful against a trained foreign infantry. Rather, ground forces,  including knights on foot who frequently served as officers, were  invaluable in battle. Even during the Crusades, when the image of the  mounted knight seemed synonymous with glory in battle, most the actual  battles involved sieges.
  
In the 14th  century, English warfare focused increasingly on archery. In fact,  Edward III prohibited football in 1331 and then again in 1363 in part  because people were spending too much time playing football and not  enough time practicing their archery. The English archers were able to  repel many a French cavalry force.

Aside from technological differences, force mixtures, arrays and alignments remain the same.

Misconception 10. Only men's sexual pleasure was important.
   
A common belief during the Middle Ages was that women were more  lustful than men. A lot more lustful, in fact. Rape was a crime in 14th  century Medieval England, but not between spouses. A wife could not  legally refuse her husband's advances, but a husband could not refuse  his wife's advances either. The popular belief was that women were  always longing for sex, and that it was bad for their health not to have  intercourse regularly. A woman's orgasm was also important; another  common belief was that a woman could not conceive without an orgasm.  (Unfortunately, this also made rape impossible to prosecute if the  victim became pregnant; Medieval English scholars believed women's  bodies had a way of, in the modern parlance, shutting things down.)
   
So what was an unmarried woman to do? Well, if she couldn't find a  husband, the English physician John of Gaddesden recommended that she  find a midwife who could get the job done manually.

Men and women both have sexual needs that must be met.

As I have stated, the point must be made clear that aside from differences in technology and culture, mankind has not really matured away from what it was one thousand years ago.

Americans, aside from technology advancements, live within the same kind of ruler – serf arrangement that existed during Medieval times.

Thus, subtracting those influences, we can compare life between the two times. We can compare lifestyle, leisure and freedom. However, when we take a look with these new eyes of ours, we become astounded.

Americans are working more days and taking fewer vacation days than a medieval peasant.

The numbers.

Unfortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest available data only supports this notion. Indeed, the average annual hours worked by Americans in 2017 reached 1,780, whereas an adult male peasant in the United Kingdom worked an average of 1,620.

Let’s take a closer look at why we work 160 hours more than the average serf.

Because the need for agricultural labor in the Middle Ages was season-dependent, the average peasant had about eight weeks to half the year off.

Plus, the Church knew the opportunity to rest would keep workers happy and orderly, so they ordered frequent mandatory holidays.

The 70 to 80-hour work week for the average 19th-century laborer in the industrial revolution was actually a deviation from the ways of their medieval predecessors. Arguing for an eight-hour workday was not so much a push for the progressive, but a return to the ways of yore.

Indeed, medieval peasants enjoyed a less rigid workday.

Meals weren’t rushed and the afternoon might call for a nap.

“The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed,” said Schor. “Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure.”

Feeding time on the farm. — Feeding time.

Work hours weren’t as rigid back then due to a variety of factors including season-dependent tasks.

A 16th-century Bishop wrote of the average workday of his time…

“The  labouring man will take his rest in the morning; a good piece of the day  is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast…

At  noon he must have his sleeping time, 

then his bever in the afternoon,  which spendeth a great part of the day; 

and when his hour cometh at  night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools,  leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth.”

While we may be accustomed to images of medieval peasants toiling away from dawn until dusk and be convinced from this that we have it better than they ever did — a 13th-century laborer could have up to 25 weeks off per year.

For reference, the average American worker has 16 days of vacation per year.

Life was slower, the pace was slower. People were more content.

“Consider a typical working day in the medieval period,” said Schor. “It stretched from dawn to dusk (sixteen hours in summer and eight in winter), but, as Bishop Pilkington has noted, work was intermittent…

… called to halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner. Depending on time and place, there were also mid-morning and mid-afternoon refreshment breaks.”

Additionally, the medieval calendar was also one of many official Church-going holidays which were always considered mandatory. In total, leisure time in medieval England took up probably about one-third of the year.

The U.S. is the only advanced country with no national vacation policy.

Vacation days around the world by employee contract.

But since the Reagan era, the security of long-term employment has steadily declined.

Our generation has become accustomed to hopping from job to job and adding a part-time gig on top as to combat the fears of a fluctuation economy. With a Great Recession ingrained in our psyche, vacations seem like a luxury.

The United States is the only first-world country without a national vacation policy, after all. Millions work on public holidays and don’t use their vacation days for fear of retribution. With a horrific lack of standardized, easily accessible healthcare — sick days and vacation days often blend together.

According to the World Economic Forum, the Greeks have the longest work week in the European Union (EU). Granted, they’ve struggled with a terrible economy in recent years which could explain the additional effort.

However, Germany is second to last in the EU when it comes to annual hours worked and has a generous work model in place. It is, nonetheless, an economic behemoth. An average German works 1,363 hours per year which goes to show that vacation days might actually improve a nation’s GDP.

The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1567 or 1568. The Medieval calendar set aside vacations for saints’ days, weddings, church holidays, rest days, and more. — *The Peasant Wedding* by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1567 or 1568. The Medieval calendar set aside vacations for saints’ days, weddings, church holidays, rest days, and more.

Indeed, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, which conducted a nine-year experiment, the frequency of annual vacations is directly “associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality” and concluded that “vacationing may be good for your health.”

Paid vacations and paid holidays in different nations.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the United States Congress is getting more vacation days than the average American citizen. According to Thought Co., its members make a base salary of $174,000 and work fewer than half of the days in a year — and this is perhaps not even to mention this years shut down.

Congressmen, and Senators in Washington DC live lavish lifestyles and lord over Americans like Kings over peasants.

Now…

You would think that any “red blooded” American man would say “take this job and shove it” to their employer for not giving them vacation and sick time, and having to wait a full one year to take it. But that never happens.

American’s don’t do that.

Because…

Most Americans Are Up To Their Eyeballs In Debt

In the United States, it has been common to pay via credit card for almost anything, but the use of credit cards hasn’t been as widely accepted in other places around the world.

A decade ago, you couldn’t pay for much in Germany with them, and the same is true of many European and Asian nations, though they are growing in popularity.

For Americans, credit and debt are simply a way of life.

A large part of American culture is capitalist consumer-driven markets, which means, Americans like to buy stuff, and they often do so via some form of credit. Why wait to buy a new computer when you can pay it off with some interest over the next five years?

The main reason it’s not a great idea has to do with an accumulation of debt.

Americans buy one thing, then another, and another, and before they know what they’ve done, they owe an average of $38,000 in debt, and the trend is showing an increase.

$38K is already a huge number for most people, but if you add it up, it shows just how deep the nation is in debt.

Americans cannot get the lifestyle they deserve because they are chained to dept, like indentured serfs working on a plantation.

When you take that average and factor in the population and demographic information, the nation as a whole owes $4,000,000,000,000 in all forms of consumer debt.

That number includes credit card debt, which has an average interest rate of 17.41%. The bottom line: Americans are drowning in debt, and the problem is worsening.

Americans cannot get the lifestyle they deserve because they are chained to dept, like indentured serfs working on a plantation.

Being indentured slaves is problematic. It creates a situation whereas you have a stratification of society.

Indentured slaves work for the ruling class.
Ruling class lives a life of ease and comfort.
If you do not fit into either of those two classes, you become homeless.

Thus, in America…

Homelessness And Wealth Distribution Is A Serious Problem

Homelessness is a problem all over the world, and while you can find it in developed nations like the UK and France, the United States has far more in contrast to other developed Western nations – with the exception of the other oligarchy; the UK.

Global homelessness. — Selected nations and their homelessness compared.

As of 2018, about 0.17% of the American population was living on the streets, and while that doesn’t seem like a lot, it amounts to more than 553,000 people.

The states with the most homeless people are California, New York, Florida, Washington, Oregon, and Texas; coincidentally, most of these states have higher amounts of population density, but they also have some of the wealthiest people in the country.

Homelessness is a serious problem, and fortunately, there are people and organizations working to help provide temporary and permanent housing to displaced Americans.

The most obvious question is if the United States is the wealthiest nation in the world, why are so many people homeless?

The complicated economics of the States doesn’t offer a simple answer, but there is an obvious disparity between the wealthiest people and the folks who have nothing.

Because the number of Americans who are insanely wealthy remains low, the top 1% of wealthy Americans hold 40% of the total national wealth.

America is stratified into the Ruler class (Kings) and serfs. Those that do not fit within those two classes are social outcasts and homeless.

Now, all of this high concentration of wealth into the hand of a few means that the rest of the people make do with less. Less money is available for repair. Less money is available for healthcare. Less money is available for maintenance, and less money is available for new things.

You can this how the money disappears when you witness the absence of proper resource allocation…

The United States Has A Crumbling Infrastructure

If it took a long time for this page to load and get to the article, you may be somewhere in the United States.

Despite being the country chiefly responsible for inventing what became the Internet, the US languishes behind many other nations in terms of download speeds.

The United States ranks 38th out of 141 nations on the Speed-test Global Index. The country falls just below Portugal and sits on top of Spain. The main reason the US has poor Internet is due to the cost of overhauling the telecommunications infrastructure, but that’s not the only part of American infrastructure that’s lacking; the roads, bridges, dams, water, and power systems are all falling apart, and nobody wants to pay to have them fixed.

The politicians talk about fixing infrastructure all the time, but nothing has come out of it.

Meanwhile, 47,000 bridges are in serious need of repair with the possibility of a catastrophic failure should a rather large pigeon fire some droppings on the wrong platform.

HK-China bridge. The Chinese have invested heavily on their infrastructure.

Roads are also a serious problem, and the effect is noticeable if you drive down any major highway in the United States. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation determined that 42,000 road deaths were the result of potholes and other road maintenance issues.

A lack of healthy infrastructure is a “sure fire” sign of a ruler-serf government.

What other indicators are there?

Well, the ruler-serf arrangement is not stable – historically speaking. So efforts are made to control the bulk of the population using laws, rules and strong policing efforts. Laws are made to prevent the people from overthrowing the government. Not to improve the lives of the people.

The way that you can judge the degree of ruler-serf control is…

…is to look at the size of the prison / jail / parole population.

Thus…

The US Has The Largest Prison Population In The World

Americans have the greatest chance of being incarcerated than anyone else in the entire world.

This statistic is widely known, but it’s likely most Americans aren’t aware of just how bad the penal system in the country is.

The United States has more imprisoned people than any other nation on the planet.

For every 100,000 citizens, 724 are in prison, and when you see that number, it may not look large, but for China, their number is only 118 out of 100K.

The number becomes an even bigger problem when accounting for the total population of prisoners in the States, which is around 2.2 million, and the jail occupancy rate is at 107.6%, meaning they are overcrowded and insufficient to house what amounts to the equivalent population of Macedonia.

The rest of the world will not arrest you for having a lemonade stand in your front yard, jay walking, or riding in a car without a seatbelt. They will not demand you report your earnings and expenses every year to them. They will permit you to live your life.

Overcrowding is just one of the many problems facing incarcerated Americans; another major concern revolves around the fact that more than 21% of incarcerated people haven’t been sentenced with a crime. Doing so usually takes a long time.

You see, if a person can’t afford bail, they have to remain in prison until they’re sentenced, even if they are ultimately acquitted of a crime. This essentially means that because everyone is innocent until proven guilty, the United States has more than 460,000 innocent people in jail.

Conclusion

Being a serf in the middle ages, for most Americans, would be an improvement over their lives today.

The pleasures of spending time with family and loved ones, a slower pace, and good food and drink are not appreciated by Americans today.

Both situations; serfhood under a modern progressive oligarchy, or serfhood under a King, are similar. The differences lie in technology and lifestyle.

While life in the middle ages didn’t have all the modern inventions and advancements that we take for granted, their pace of life, lifestyle and easy-going happy-go-lucky life had advantages that Americans today can only dream about.

We are not machines. Toss away that progressive modern Marxist ideal. It has no place within your life.

Now, here’s a chuckle…

Buzzfeed Chimes in…

13 Reasons Why Living In Medieval Times Was Better Than Modern Times. Once you got past that whole “plague” thing, life in the middle ages was pretty darn sweet. Adventure back to an epic age hidden from the history books.

You could settle every argument by jousting.
Animals could be put on trial for any wrongdoings.
Immaculately painted portraits > Facebook selfies.
No silverware? No problem.
Beer was flowing like water. Literally.
Words were just cooler back then.
You could live in castles, cottages, towers, and manors.
Medieval fashion was the best fashion.
You could own as many swords as you want and nobody would bat an eyelash.
You could get away with bathing once a month and nobody would call you out on it.
The live entertainment was second to none.
“Knight” was a completely viable career option.
And, yes, because there were still cats.

If you enjoyed this post, fell free to check out some similar posts on my SHTF index…

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What Chinese Apartment Houses are Like

This article was written in response to a discussion that I had with a friend of mine. He made the statement, “You wouldn’t be able to believe how these (Chinese) people lived! You and I could never live like that!” Turns out that he saw some propaganda from the UK and was convinced that the Chinese lived in windowless hovels. Not so. Not by a long shot.

Over the last thirty years, China has experienced a period of enormous growth. It began in the 1990’s. It started when the progressive socialist policies of Mr. Mao were replaced with the Free-Market Conservative policies of Mr. Deng. The result was predictable and resulted in an explosion in the overall quality of life for all Chinese people. A period of exceptional growth ensued and a middle class appeared. Here, we talk about the direct result of that change. We discuss the Apartment Houses that Chinese middle class live in.

Typically, most Chinese live in apartment complexes. There is a percentage, of course, that have their own houses. There are those that share, what we in the West refer to as “Townhouses”. There are those that occupy (rent-free) ancient dilapidated old complexes that can still be seen everywhere. (Why not? They might be old and ugly, but living in them is free!!!!) Not to mention, the others that live on farms, villages, and in the hinder-land.

Let’s talk about the Chinese apartment houses.

Chinese Apartments

In China, the apartment complex consists of an area that is surrounded with a fence and is guarded by guards (24-7) with video cameras and gates. Within that complex are the buildings that make up the complex. Now, in China, you might have a building that has three towers. Each tower would have it’s own set of elevators and access keys. The Chinese refer to these towers as “buildings”, so it can get a little confusing.

Apartment map — Here is an example of how a Chinese apartment complex works. Image is from Baidu which is sort of the Chinese equivalent of Google. Shown is the apartment complex whole, plus the various buildings and towers.

Above is a typical apartment complex. It is within an Apartment area and contains numerous large buildings. In the United States, we call these buildings “skyscrapers”. There are three towers in the example above. They share the foundations and the first three floors. They also share the underground garage. There are also other buildings. In China, when you work the employer must be able to provide you food and housing. Though you can opt out if you prefer.

The Gate

Every apartment complex is surrounded by a fence and a main gate. At the gate is a little guard house, a gate and biometrics. To enter any housing complex you need to show that you are a resident. Further, as a resident you will be given an electronic card-key or fob that will enable you to enter the apartment area. As is common in China today, everyone is monitored by CC Cameras, and recorded in the event that some crime is committed and there is a need to identify the perp. The gates are always manned 24-7.

Parking

Typically, most apartments have interior parking and exterior parking. The exterior parking is for short term parking. At my apartment complex, the fee is 10 RMB/hour if you park outside.

When you enter the front gate the license plate reader scans your car and records your entry time. Then when you leave you will need to pay the guard (BaoAn) the amount you owe. You can pay electronically, as most do. Typically people use Alipay or WeChat to pay. They just scan the QR code using their cell phone when the guard comes to the door.

Underground parking is reserved for residents. Typically there is a monthly fee that everyone needs to pay. I have heard different rates, but here in Zhuhai the rate is around 300 RMB/month.

The parking garages are unlike that which you will find in the USA. They are not dingy, grimy, dusty or anything like that. They are not at all dim or poorly it. They tend to be very clean, almost like you could eat off the floor in them. They are also spacious and well lit. Here is a Chinese chick in a micro-video in an underground parking garage. It’s pretty typical.

Anyways, the point here is that the parking garages are treated quite differently than they are in the United States. There is a staff that monitors them, cleans them, and makes sure that they are well lit and well taken cared for. Additionally, the care and concern for a given parking garage is a reflection of the owner of the apartment house in the building. As a result, many apartment underground parking garages are very nice and well maintained in China.

Building Access

Once you enter the apartment complex, you will typically need to walk through a park, or park-like area. The Chinese are very big on natural spaces in their apartment complexes. This area will have paths, exercise equipment, a few outside games like basketball or ping-pong, and an abundance of shrubs and trees. Even if the park area is on the third floor (typical in many cities).

Some parks share space with outside parking, while others are for pedestrians and doggies only. All of the parks have lighting, trashcans, places to sit, sleep, and have fun. Many have fountains (though whether or not they work, is hit or miss), and some have pools. Like the underground garage, you will have to pay to swim in the pool in your building. Typically it is 30 to 50 yuan per person per year. (From $5 to $10 USD.)

Here is a Chinese gal dancing on an apartment complex park. It looks like the third floor. As you can see, there are large areas to dance and exercise in (a very important thing in China as everyone loves to dance) and areas of grass and trees.

The pools tend to be shallow. With the deepest section rarely over 1.5 meters deep (about five feet). They are always tended and cared for, just like swimming pools are in the USA. However, they generally do not have life guards. The residents are expected to take care of themselves and to watch the younger kids and children.

Once you walk through this park-like area you will make your way to your building entry. If you are in an apartment that has, say five towers with one shared foundation, then you would enter the entrance directly associated with your tower. There are some buildings that have one central access point, while others have different access points depending on which tower you live in.

You will need an access key or FOB to get into the building. So, in case you are wondering, yes you need two keys to enter your building in China. One key is to the apartment complex, a second key to enter your apartment tower.

Elevator

Once you enter the building you will pass through a large open area that will hold mailboxes and some sofas and chairs for guests to wait for you. These are typically well lit and with marble or stone floors and walls.

You will pass through this area and go to the elevator area. In towers that are over 25 floors there are typically multiple elevators that run to pre-specified floors. For instance, one elevator might go from 1 – 25th floor, while another might run from 1, then 26th to the 50th floor. Some apartment buildings have elevators that run to only odd floors, while others run to even floors. All, in all, it cuts down on the waiting time in tall buildings.

Like what is common in many hotels in China, you will also need your apartment key or FOB to run the elevator. The elevator will not work (in many cases) unless you have a residence FOB.

Front Door to the Apartment

The front door will more than likely have “good luck” symbols on the door. These will be red designs with gold or black trim. This will consist of the symbol for “fortune”, either right side up or upside down and certain lucky sayings. It is a tradition to get new door decorations at the start of each Chinese New Year (CNY).

The doors will use a key that has nothing in common with American keys. American keys tend to be a flat bar of metal that has slots cut into it. Chinese keys come in different cross sections, including rectangular, triangular, circular, half-moon, and all with certain different kinds of security protections. Back twenty years ago, say around 2000, crime was rampant and people were constantly getting broken into. These different key types each come with their own unique blanks and procedures to open and replace. Indeed, you have to be a key-smith expert to be able to break into any Chinese houses today.

Key blank — Triangular shaped key blank. Here, you can make different key patterns for FOUR elements of the key. This particular blank is available on Alibaba. Not available in the USA, if not outright banned. (After all, how can the police, FBI, NSA, CIA, DHS, and IRS be able to come in if you are not cooperative?)

Most homes built in the last ten years all have biometrics. You need either a finger print or retinal scan to enter. Alternatively there is typically a key pad that is available if you want to be a little “old school” about home security.

Once inside – the apartment

Most Chinese apartments are much, much smaller than their American counterparts. they range in size from very tiny 40 square yard affairs, to 70 square yard, 120 square yard, 300 square yard, and up to 500 square yard apartments. Most Chinese people that I know own their house. They paid for it in cash. They live in a 70 to 120 square yard house.

The 40 square yard apartment is very tiny. It’s just big enough for a bed, a bathroom, and a refrigerator. Many that are being made now are called “lofts”. They fit an upstairs in this tiny space so that you can sleep above a very cozy living room.

The 70 square yard apartment is still small, but it is big enough for one (or two) bedrooms, a nice bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. There is always a porch and a washing area. Many young professionals and first time home owners select this size of house to live in.

The 120 square yard apartment is pretty much ideal for the expanding family. It consists of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a living room. Of course there is a porch and laundry area.

Many Chinese families have the parents living with them. This is a long standing Chinese tradition where the parents of the oldest sun moves in with the family. They then take care of the new children of the family. The 200 to 300 square yard layout is perfect for this larger family. There will be three or four bedrooms, two bathrooms, large living room and dining room, and a very spacious kitchen.

There are many kinds of apartments in China, however we can distill most of them into the following format and understanding…

Attributes of a Chinese Apartment

Firstly, notice that there are no rugs or carpeting. The Chinese prefer solid stone flooring. This flooring is typically white or off-white. In just about every apartment that I have been to, liven in or visited, the floor was solid stone slab.

Secondly, note that the walls are not plain. There are adornments. The Chinese hire interior decorators to render the walls “comfortable” and suitable for a household. The walls are either painted white, tiled in sheet stone or marble, or tiled in white tile. It seems like the videos are of a mansion, but nope, it’s a real honest-to-goodness middle class house.

Sometimes the houses have a wooden or FRS decking floor. This is a rather recent innovation. Those apartments that have this wooden floor typically use it for the bedrooms, or other “soft” areas.

One of the first things you notice when you get into a Chinese house is that there is a rack of shoes near the door. It is typical in most Asian countries to take off your outside shoes and wear house slippers inside. You can see this in this next video. Here’s a chick in her apartment being cute…

Another thing about living in these towers is that they are really, really high up. Falling off the balcony is not an option when you are on the 36 floor. With that said, you often are able to get really, really outstanding views.

Now, if you are in the middle of a city, like downtown Shenzhen or Shanghai, you might find (much to your dismay) that your view is blocked and all that you can see is the apartment tower across the street. That really sucks. However, just moving to a different apartment on the same floor might provide you with an amazingly different view. Some, heck most, are just stunning.

Conclusion

I think that by looking at how other people live in distant parts of the globe, we can see our similarities and our differences in a new light. I believe that that knowledge is very important. It shows us our place on this planet and where we exist in the universe.

Rather than buying into the constant drum roll towards endless wars against some kind of cardboard cut out of what our “enemies” are, we can make the judgements ourselves. We no longer need to be blindly led towards more outrageously expensive and heart-rendering wars. War, mind you at only benefits the 0.01% of global elite.

I am tired of it. It’s a non-stop onslaught of war! war! war! propaganda. It’s all about getting YOU (yes, you) to buy into the notion that there must be a war to be fought. Whether it is against some tiny banana republic or a huge nation like China or Russia.

People are people. We eat. We sleep. We work. We have families. There are more things in common with each other, than our disagreements. That is the truth. All you need to do is step outside the USA bubble and look around a bit. Open your eyes.

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What it was like Growing Up in 1960’s and 1970’s America

Here, I would like to relate a little about what it was like growing up as a boy in Pennsylvania. For, I am a native born American who lived through the 1960’s and through the 1970’s. I am pretty typical for my generation. The 1970’s was the decade of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. It ended on a whimper with Jimmy Carter at the helm. Here we talk about the 1960’s and 1970’s and what it was like growing up at that time.

School

I attended elementary school. First I attended a private Catholic school in Connecticut, and then when my father was promoted we moved and I attended a public school in Western Pennsylvania.

Allowance

Before I started work, I was permitted an allowance. My sisters both received an allowance with no strings attached. Mine was contingent upon my successful completion of my chores, and usually meant that I would get “paid” after I mowed the grass on Saturday (shoveled the drive in the Winter).

Mowing Grass — We had a push lawn mower. My job was to push it. We had apple trees in the back yard, and I would gleefully mow right over those suckers, making apples sauce of many of them. The hornets did love those apples, though. You had to mow quickly or suffer the consequences. Yikes! The picture depicts a boy and girl working on the lawn. Nice picture, but my sisters never helped with my chores. I was taught that they were the “weaker” sex, and that I was the one that had to work.

As a kid, my allowance of $1.00 per week was given to me every Saturday afternoon after the grass was successfully mowed. The hardest part was deciding how to spend it and get the very most out of every penny. Of course, a trip to the corner store for candy always figured into the picture!

One of my favorite treats was Dubble Bubble – a hard piece of pink bubble gum that included a tiny printed comic tucked between the gum and the outer wrapper, all for just a penny. I remember my first experience with inflation – the day when the cost of a piece of my beloved gum increased to 2¢.

Oh, the tragedy!

Another treat was Dixie Cups. These were little plastic containers of vanilla ice cream accompanied by a small, flat, wooden spoon. They had a flat circular cardboard lid that I would pull off and lick the inside top off. They were available at the local candy store (an old soda fountain that was re-purposed as a kind of local Quickie-mart) called Swede’s. They were tiny – not more than a few bites, really – but we loved them.

The store was small. It had two counters. One, the main counter was were the 1950’s soda fountain was. It was all covered in canvas and unused. At least for maybe ten years. There was an old manual cash register there, and he sold cigarettes, and sundries there at the glass-topped counter.

On the other side was a long counter that resembled the kind of glass counters that you see today at butcher shops. There were shelves and shelves of candy there. We would go and point out this candy, and that candy. He would dutifully get then item, and put it in a small brown paper bag. Then he would carry it to the other counter and ring it up for us.

I will admit that the first thing that we did when we walked out the door was open up that little bag and start eating the candy inside. Heck, by the time we managed the walk home (from the store) most of the candy would be gone. Ha!

Toys & Sports

In the summer we would play softball on the side street (the traffic was really sparse in our town), and tackle football in any one of our many back yards. Basketball was also pretty popular, though I couldn’t dribble for the life of me. Sigh! We had a few class mates that had a hoop in their driveway. We would go there and play.

When I wasn’t playing sports, or “goofing off”, I liked to play “Spaceman” or “Army” with my other friends. I had a plastic “tommygun” that I would “shoot” the other kids with. We also had numerous toys that we would play with. Does anyone remember Spirograph, Silly Putty, Etch-A-Sketch, Doodle Art, Lite-Brite, Tinkertoys, or Magic Slate? How about Sorry!, Battleship, Clue, or Payday?

I used to play with Clackers (Klackers), but they were banned because they broke your wrist. I also used to play with Jarts, but they were banned because some kids got hurt with them. I used to play with Slinky, but they never lasted more than a few days as we would eventually twist and turn them into unusable junk.

Klackers came on the market in the late 60s and lasted into the early 70s.

They were constructed of two acrylic balls on a string with a ring or small handle in the middle.

The point was to get the two balls clicking against each other. If you got really good you could do fancy tricks with them, like build up momentum until they were hitting on the top and bottom in an arc . . . and make a hugely annoying racket.

Kids loved them and they became THE craze of the summer of 1971. But doctors and teachers weren’t so impressed after a frightening succession of serious Klacker accidents.

Unfortunately they allegedly had a nasty habit of shattering or exploding in a shrapnel-like shower and were promptly banned from every school in the western world – but kids all knew it was really a conspiracy from grown-ups because they hated the sound they made!

The similarity between this supremely popular toy and a South American hunting weapon called a bolo did not escape most teenage boys. In this capacity they proved extremely effective. After a nation outbreak of badly bruised arms and black eyes they were pretty much withdrawn from sale. – Nostalgia Central

Hair Styles

My mother sported large “bee hive” style hair, as did just about every mother. I was always trying to wear my hair long. You know, “Beatles” style. But, my father would have none of that. As a result my middle school popularity had it’s highs and lows determined by whenever my father hauled me off to get a haircut. When my hair was long, and thus fashionable, I was popular. When my hair was short, and thus unfashionable, I was ignored.

I once mentioned this to my uncle who made fun of me and my cousins. Saying that we (snort!) would only care if the girls thought we were cute or not. Well, at our age, it really was important.

In Pittsburgh, where there was a population of negro folk, the hair was in various types of “Afros”. These tended to look like huge balls. Some were quite enormous. I always thought that it was pretty cool to have. They liked to drive these HUGE cars, Lincolns or other high-end vehicles, and would take extra care not to mess up their hair as they went inside the car. LOL.

Bottle Collecting

My favorite thing to do when I was around eight or nine would be to go “bottle collecting”. Here I would go into the local “woods” to dig for “old bottles” (in long disused trash dumps, often 100 years old) that I would then clean and collect.

We had a couple of “dumps” that we frequented. One of the best, with the most impressive bottles, was near the river next to an old railroad spur. It was the home of many a “whittle marked” bottle, old time bitters, and about a hundred thousand Lydia Pinkham bottles. (I guess that the local woman folk must have had a lot of “womanly” problems.)

Our parents let us kids go out and play.

“I used to puzzle over a particular statistic that routinely comes up in articles about time use: even though women work vastly more hours now than they did in the 1970s, mothers—and fathers—of all income levels spend much more time with their children than they used to. 

This seemed impossible to me until recently, when I began to think about my own life. 

My mother didn’t work all that much when I was younger, but she didn’t spend vast amounts of time with me, either. She didn’t arrange my playdates or drive me to swimming lessons or introduce me to cool music she liked. On weekdays after school she just expected me to show up for dinner; on weekends I barely saw her at all. 

I, on the other hand, might easily spend every waking Saturday hour with one if not all three of my children, taking one to a soccer game, the second to a theater program, the third to a friend’s house, or just hanging out with them at home. 

When my daughter was about 10, my husband suddenly realized that in her whole life, she had probably not spent more than 10 minutes unsupervised by an adult. Not 10 minutes in 10 years.”-The Overprotected Kid

As a kid, I would collect all kinds of junk. Not just bottles but all sorts of things.

Ah. My bedroom was a collection of old colorful bottles, scale models of tanks on shelves (and planes hanging from strings from the ceiling), as well as a quite a large collection of paperback books and comics. I had stacks and stacks of magazines. Magazines included “Lost Treasure magazine”, “Men’s Adventure”, “The Good Old Days”, “Mechanics Illustrated”, “Popular Science”, “Popular Mechanics”, “Mad Magazine” and “Analog”. In fact, the upstairs bathroom had a closet, and the bottom two shelves were devoted to all sorts of magazines and comic books.

Money and Costs

Things were cheaper then.

In fact, most things could be paid for using coins. If you ate at a restaurant, you would rarely need to use any bills. Just a handful of coins (from a coin purse) was all you would need. Indeed, my father carried a coin purse and a money clip. Wallets didn’t really become popular until the 1970’s. (When inflation had jacked up food prices to obscene levels.)

Slumber party — Another picture from my graduation year. This is a group of strangers, but they could have well been from my High School. The photo was taken in October of 1977. Mid October in Pennsylvania was a breath taking environment. All the trees were changing color and the weather was perfect.

Clothing

I wore bell-bottom slacks and (butterfly collar) polyester shirts in very 1970’s colors. I also had a couple of striped v-neck velour shirts. Every September, at the start of the new school year, my folks would troop us kids into the car and we would get new clothes for school. My mother wanted us to have the most fashionable clothes. My father, being very conservative, wanted traditional and practical clothing.

My sister wore “Gypsy” skirts (brown cheesecloth with crocheted lace at the bottom), Maxi skirts, those jeans with two front zippers, elephant bells, and had both hats and purses made out of recycled jeans. She was a big fan of Donny Osmond as well as David Cassidy and the Partridge family.

Spring 1975 — Here is a more or less typical scene at a High School in the middle 1970’s. The only difference from this picture and my memories is that our school buses were yellow.

Polyester was the material of choice and bright colors were everywhere. Everyone in my class were wearing very tight fitting pants and platform shoes. By the time my senior year in High School rolled around in 1977, I was walking around I in a pair of rock-star high-heeled (side zip-up) stage boots.

Meanwhile, most of the girls wore these white high cut boots and low cut (hip hugger) pants. I did absolutely love the hip hugger jeans and the tight, tight, tight fit. This was, of course before the invention (or better yet) popularity of spandex.

High School GIrls. — Here is a photo of some High School girls taken in 1975. They are very typical. The photo was by their teacher who recorded school life during that time period.

By the time I graduated, in 1977, most of my teachers were sporting leisure suit and track suit attire. In pale greens, oranges and yellow flavors, of course. This fashion continued while I continued attending university.

I had a professor of the course “Man and the Natural Environment” who always wore the same light lime green leisure suit, day after day. It was a great class. We discussed how man is using up all the resources this planet has, and that unless we get control of our actions, a world-wide global cooling would result. Yikes! I, for one, did not want to spend my future life in the middle 1980’s inside a giant snow-cone. Burrrrr!

While the more “fashionable” and liberal professors were sporting trendy clothes, my Engineering Professors sported more traditional attire, with wide striped ties and polyester slacks.

Keg party — The movie “Dazed and confused” accurately depicted what life was for the class of 1977 at the end of the Junior year in 1976. The clothing, styles and behaviors were spot on accurate.

Sandals were starting to be popular. Though my father refused to allow us to wear them unless we wore them with socks. I was constantly belittled for this. As all of my socks were white. So at the first opportunity, I got my self a pair of “earth shoes” and didn’t look back.

A lot of men were sporting large sideburns. I tried to grow some, but it looked terrible on my 15 year old face.

Clothing styles — Fashion of the 1970’s. Here the girls wore a great variety of clothes from tight fitting jeans to long billowy dresses.

Mad Magazine

Perhaps one of the most notable aspects of my childhood was the Mad Magazines that I would collect. This was a satire magazine that I would absorb. It was filled with all kinds of articles, comics and things that would interest me (as a kid in the 1970’s). It contained things such as lick and glue stickers.

Who can forget the “Spy vs. Spy”, and the gap-toothed idiot mascot Alfred E. Neuman, who famously shrugs and asks “What—me worry?”

I was of the generation of pimply atomic-age readers, and yes they were almost all boys, as I recall, and we absolutely loved this magazine. We ate up everything this magazine put out. We lapped up the “Spicy Abridged Book Club,” with its highlighted editions of God’s Little Acre and Heidi alike.

We roared upon learning that Beetle Bailey wore his Ridgeway cap over his eyes to conceal GET OUT OF VIET NAM! scrawled on his forehead. And, being from Western Pennsylvania, we completely howled with laughter over “Some Really Dangerous Jobs for George Plimpton,” e.g., swimming Lake Erie, his body smothered not with grease but penicillin.

Hiking in the Woods & Bikes

At that time in my life I spent a lot of time hiking in the woods. I would often ride my bike all over town and up and down the back roads and railroad spur lines. In the Spring the air would be fresh with the smells of lush forest canopy. In the Fall, it would be a time of warm “Indian Summers” with red and yellow leaves that would blow in the light breezes.

Old road in the woods. — We would hike and explore the woods all around us. Often we would use railroad tracks, but any road would do. We would often use the old logging access roads where possible, and an occasional abandoned road that was no longer used.

We rode day and night. And, no, we did not wear head-gear, arm pads, knee pads or sunscreen. We were wild and free. If there was a loose board, we would prop it it up and race on the board so that we and our bikes would fly off into the sky. If there were any parents or adults nearby they would stand there and nod approvingly.

That’s how we were.

1970's bicycle — This style of bicycle was very popular with my generation. This is the “chopper” variant. Note the large rear tire, and the small front tire. Note the hand brakes, and the nice “monkey bar” handles.

I rode a gold Schwinn “banana seat” bike with “high bars” and a “drag strip” (non-tread) rear tire. Every one of my friends owned a bicycle. My sister had one with a white plastic basket in the front. My bike had these long streamers of plastic that plugged into the handles. I eventually tore those things off. But I would put a card (from a deck of cards) and attach it to the bicycle with a wooden clothes pin. That way my bicycle would make some “cool” sounds when I rode fast. It had a huge red circular red reflector on the back, right under the white “banana seat”. Like the GTO I would later drive when I was in High School, the bicycle was an orange color.

During the 1970s and 1960s all children rode bicycles. I had a banana seat bike that I rode. — We would all ride bicycles when we grew up. Which is different than kids today. Instead, today their parents drive them from event to event, instead of expecting them to get there on their own. *A 1970s childhood. (Image* *Source*)

My bike was a personal selection. When my father took me to a store to pick it out, I chose a really simple and rugged model. There were no front or rear brakes on the handlebars. To brake, you would just use the pedals. There also weren’t any gears. There was one gear only. It came with a rear view mirror, that soon broke off, and that was about it. My friends all had more complicated bicycles, and over the years, they were perpetually repairing their bikes and trying to fix them. For me, I never had that problem.

We would ride these bikes. Ride and ride them all day. If, in the event we did not have a canteen with us, we would stop and get a drink out of a nearby well or lawn hose.

It’s true, I often drank from a lawn hose in the summer when I was thirsty. It tasted like warm plastic.

If I was off away on a farm, or near a dirt road we would stop at a well and get a drink of spring water. At sometime in the 1960s all wells in Pennsylvania had to be covered up (so that no one would fall into them). Instead the placed these large iron hand-pumps (often painted red of green) that you could pump the water up and drink. The water was free to whomever needed it. Which is so unlike today where even common tap water is bottled by Walmart for a profit.

Loggin Roads. — All the hills around Pittsburgh, Pa. were mined for their coal, and iron ores. Additionally, the hills were treated as renewable resources and logged. Often, as a boy, I would ride the railroad tracks that would be used to transport coal up and down Western Pennsylvania. I would also hike and ride on the logging roads that existed all over Pennsylvania.

I was typical, and not a “bad boy” at all. When my friends started to smoke cigarettes, I refused. When I started to work, and was offered beer by the older boys, I drank and soon discovered that I was a “light weight” and numerous embarrassing events ensued. My friends chewed tobacco and often had a can of “chew” in the back pocket of their jeans (often creating a round circle of wear). I didn’t do this.

Cub Scouts

I was a cub scout up until I entered my teenage years. Every week we would attend meetings in the homes of one of the scout mothers (called “Den Mothers”), and they would help us work on our “badges”, and get ready for the various events. These events included picnics, hikes, plays and social get togethers.

We would proudly wear our uniform during parades, or on holidays like the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or Labor Day. We would salute the flag in school and lead the Pledge of Allegiance at school in the mornings. (Big change from today, when you have multi-millionaire NFL stars refusing to stand for the US Flag. I find it completely reprehensible and disgusting. But, then I am from the “old school”.)

One of the first things that I got when I joined the Cub Scouts was a blue uniform. I well remember my mother teaching me how to put on my yellow scarf. In addition, I got to have my very own hand axe. It was a Rite of Passage for me. Here at seven years old, I could carry a hand axe. I was taught how to use it to cut trees, and how to throw it (just in case I might come across some desperate Indians…).

Boys all had hand axes when they were growing up. It was a part of being a boy in the 1960s and 1970s.. — My first axe was given to me when I was a cub scout. I used it throughtout the 1960s and 1970s. I learned how to throw it, and how to use it. It was a rite of passage of all young boys. *A boy’s first axe. (Image* *Source*.)

While I went to elementary school in the 1960’s, it was my experiences during the 1970’s, which influenced my personality. Indeed, it is my feelings and experiences that reflect that period in time.

My Sister would Skip Rope

While I was doing all this, my sister would spend hours… and I do mean HOURS. Yes, hours, upon hours, upon HOURS were spent playing what Wikipedia calls Chinese jump rope but which my cohorts and I knew as Chinese skipping.

This was a game played mostly by girls – each of whom had their own set of elastics – though I do remember that every now and then some neighborhood boys might joining in on occasion.

Chinese skipping involved an elaborate set of routines and rules, some of which were made up as they went along (“tag, tag, no erasies!”). I could never figure out all the rules. Also, apparently the presence of “good elastics” (not too thick, not too thin, and just the right amount of tension) were highly coveted treasures.

Walking the Train Tracks

One of the big hobbies at that time was to follow the various spur-lines that snaked in and out of the hills. I grew up in the hills of Western Pennsylvania and there were rail lines all over the area to support the transport of iron, coal, and iron ore. Along each road was typically an access road.

Tunnel — We would often explore the surrounding countryside by riding our bikes or hiking in the woods. The easiest way to access the woods was to follow the train tracks.

The lines would typically follow the valleys and rivers of Western Pennsylvania. They would snake along the curves of the hills and dash in and out of tunnels that were cut in the many hillsides.

We would often place coins on the tracks and let the trains flatten them into a long oval.

Typically, we would hike with a branch that we had chopped using our trusty cub scout hatchet, or cut clean using our blue cub-scout knives. We would walk on the top of the rails and sometimes use the walking stick to support us. We’d kind of get attached to that hiking stick and bring it home with us. However, it was soon discarded and rarely used again.

Stand by me. — Scene from the movie “Stand by me”. It accurately depicted our boyhood adventures in the 1960’s and 1970’s. We would often explore the countryside by following the train tracks.

My one friend Dino always carried a boy scout canteen. It was a circular affair. It looked like two pie tins welded shut, with a black plastic cat at the top. It was typically draped over his shoulder and hung off his back. I, on the other hand, had a surplus World War II canteen. I got it at the local Army and Navy store. It was an aluminum canteen and it did leak. But it held a lot of water, and I certainly needed it. Drinking from the acid-laden streams wasn’t really an option.

Rail in Plum township — Rail line in Plum township near Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania. The rail lines all around my “stomping ground” looked much like this. The lines often followed the water.

Scale Models

One of my favorite hobbies was the building of plastic models. These were often of ships, airplanes and military hardware. I made a few models of cars, but my favorites were of military tanks and figurines.

I had a desk in my bedroom. It was an old desk inherited from my father with four drawers. I used a fold-up “card table” chair to sit at it with. On it was a 1940’s style desk lamp that my parents must have pulled out of the garbage at some time. I had books on the desk, a “multiband” radio where I could listen to FM radio, and a pencil holder made out of a decorated metal coffee cup tin.

At that desk, I would assemble, build and paint my models. It was an enjoyable pursuit. The desk faced the window in the bedroom, and I would often have the windows open, but the shade drawn down about half way. The shades were in the old 1960’s style and were meant to last. They had this kind of “life preserver” style ring hanging on a string that you could pull down to raise or lower the shade.

I needed the fresh air, as the odor from the glue was toxic and would tend to get me all flustered when I used it. I remember once, that my sister was watching her television show and they were really pushing the Rigley Chewing Gum-gum-gum… Rigley chewing gum-gum-gum commercial. It must have been running every ten minutes. I was about going out of my mind with the combination of the toxic glue odor and the subliminal programming of the chewing gum. Ugh!

The airplanes I would hang from the ceiling with string. I would display my collection of tanks and military equipment on shelves alongside my collection of centuries-old bottles. (I was an avoid junk collector and was always on the lookout for discarded bottles that I would collect from ancient trash dumps in the nearby forests.)

I collected Tamiya 1/35 scale military hardware models. I had quite a collection of German vehicles and tanks. At that time, the Japanese model maker Tamiya made the best quality models. They had an innovative introduction process that added new model to the collection every few months.

This is a model of the German Tiger I tank. I had numerous models of this massive beat in various scales. I even had one so complete that the interior was all detailed.

Alas, when I graduated from university I discovered that my mother had thrown away all of my models. She didn’t want all the clutter in the house. I guess one person’s treasure is another person’s trash.

Slang

Hanging out. — If you were fortunate you could get a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Mine always seemed to be at a different school district. Good thing…in hindsight. Here’s a groovy couple chillin’ out.

We used a lot of slang that has since become obsolete. The terms “groovy” was mostly used by kids only a few years older than us. As it was being phased out by the time I started to attend High School.

However, “Sock it to me”, and “You bet your sweet bippy! “, “
Verrry eenteresting… ” (both taken from the “Laugh-In” television show) and “My ding-a-ling” were all still pretty popular.

There was a tendency to say “you know” at the end of every sentence, and that just about drove my father off the wall.

Some examples are below…

Dig it – Means you really liked it. It was super groovy.
Groovy – Means very cool.
Cool – Means very nice.
Nice -Means very good.
Good – means “meh”.
Far Out – Means that you dig it and then some.
Outta Sight – Means that it was so far out that you couldn’t see it any more.
Zonked – Means that you are very tired.
Munchies – Means that you are very hungry.
Sock it to me! – Means give me some more.
Catch you on the flip side. – Means I will see you when I get back.
Bogart.‘Bogart’ meant to hold on to a joint too long without passing it– the origin comes from the actor, Humphrey Bogart, who had an iconic style of performing an entire scene with a cigarette dangling from his lower lip for an extraordinarily long time with ‘cool’ effect.

Bummer. – Something that is pretty bad.

There are loads of coolhttp://www.inthe70s.com/generated/terms.shtml slang from the 1970’s at THIS website. If you want to check them all out, please enjoy.

Goofing Around

It was a much simpler time. We were all permitted to spend time out of the house. In fact, it was expected. It was a rare person indeed that spent a lot of time at home with their parents. They not only encouraged us to “go out”, but expected it.

So, as a result, we ran a little loose and crazy. We did things that would give parents today heart-attacks, and would probably get people arrested. Those goofs in the movie “Dazed and Confused”, breaking mail boxes, or throwing bowling balls were all part and parcel of growing up. That’s how we rolled.

Goofing off — We were a very care free generation. We were not policed. We had a substantial amount of freedom compared with kids today. We just had fun, played around and got into trouble. That was what it was like.

I’d guess that it was pretty non-politically correct. However, we were just kids. We got into all sorts of trouble. Yet, it was just harmless fun. Today, things have ratcheted up to such a level that just being a white male can get you thrown in jail. Legions of BLM and SJW’s patrol the social media, and people are afraid to be themselves. I guess that is a progressive “paradise” for you.

Me, however, I just want to be left alone with my family. I want my cat on my lap and my dog by my side. I just want to eat my burger and drink my beer in peace.

Anyways… I am the direct result of my childhood. If you don’t like it, you can write a protest blog entry and post it up on Facebook so you and your metro-sexual friends can commiserate together.

Crusing in the truck — Scene from the movie “Dazed and confused”. This film took place in 1976 and described accurately the life in High School at that time. For I too, was a graduate of the class of 1977.

Our Idols

When I was younger, I followed the adventures of Man from Uncle, and watched Gilligan’s Island. As I got older, I started to find new interests in such role models as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. (Arnold Schwarzenegger did not become a movie personality until the 1980’s.)

Eventually, I started to get really interested in girls.

My bedroom was decorated as any boy of my my age would have. It was festooned with models and collections of brick-a-bract and posters on the wall.

I had a poster of Farah Faucett on my wall. She was smiling with this amazing smile, and her huge hair. We all had a crush on her. That as well as Loni Anderson and Rachael Welch . Look at her!

How can you not smile?

Farah Faucett was an attractive actress that was very popular in the 1970s. — Farah Faucett was every 1970s boy’s dream. Just about everyone had a poster of her on our wall or doors in our bedrooms. Farah Faucett was every boys’ dream. (Image Source.)

I had numerous posters on my wall. One was the mandatory “black light” poster on velvet. (It glowed under UV light.)

One was a picture of Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple) performing a guitar solo. (I had super imposed a F-14 on it for combined imagery. After all, space and high-performance aircraft and rock n’ roll was my dream.) I, at that time, was a big Robin Trower fan. I liked Traffic, Uriah Heep (come on! Someone must remember them) and Three-dog Night. Of course, Alice Cooper was the top star of my generation. The songs “18” and “School’s Out” ring a bell?

One was a Roger Dean poster (anyone remember the group “Yes”?).

Raquel Welch was a very popular 1960s and 1970s actress that made a big difference in the ideas of beauty and society during the 1960's and 1970's. — Raquel Welch was another popular actress that graced the bedrooms of many a boy during the 1960s and 1970s. (Image Source.)

Let’s not forget other television personalities. I had a real liking for Loni Anderson. She was the blonde haired secretary at the radio station WKRP in Cincinnati.

I became a fan of Loni Anderson in her role in the television sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”. I think many of my friends did as well. We loved her and watching her on the show was always a highlight. That and the clueless manager who ran the office.

The Cars

Eventually, I was able to drive. Oh baby, that was a turning point in my life, I’ll tell you what.

Bad Ass — This photo was taken in 1977 on High School property by Joseph Szabo. Obviously the guys had a special attachment to their cars.

This was at the age of 16. As such, I like many of my friends, would get a job. With a job came responsibilities and privileges. For instance, while the law said that I was too young to drink, my parents permitted me to do so. Because, once I obtained a job, I was a man.

Along with that benefit, I now obtained a paycheck. For me, along with many of my friends, took the paycheck and spent it on our car(s). (As well as a portion towards college, beer, and social-herbs…heh heh.) Ah, not to forget the gasoline for the car.

Gasoline prices were raising. It was so frustrating. While we were used to 25 cents for a gallon of gas, it soon climbed up to 30 cents, and then keep on raising. We were very upset about that. I well remember my father writing a letter to our Congressman to “do something” about it. (As if it would have made a difference.)

1970's car culture — My first car was a GTO. I spent all my money on it. My other friends had other vehicles. We would get tires, mufflers, carbs, and decorate the interior with shag carpeting, and a “kick ass” sound system.

Conclusion

This was just some stories about my life growing up. Unfortunately there are very few related stories on the internet. In contrast we can find all sorts of stories about the “hardships” of growing up in the 1960’s. We can read about the injustices against minorities, and about how the nation was broken and needed to move “left” to straighten it out.

It’s a comfortable narrative for the uneducated. However, it isn’t even remotely true. The true realty is something completely different. This is my story. Like it, or hate it. This is the way it was.

No, we didn’t wear helmets, and arm pads when we rode our bikes. yes, there were bruises and an occasional broken arm. Yes smoking was against the law if you were under 14 years old, but we did it anyways. We didn’t die from it, though many had to either quit or seek medical attention. It was our choice. We defined our life.

We defined our life. We did so on our terms. It was our bodies and our lives. We did not need someone to tell us how to behave or act. Though there were hawk nosed busybodies that tried. We made the decisions on our own lives. Not some elected overseer who told us what we could or could not do. And that, boys and girls , is the true lesson of this narrative.

Americans used to be free. It is in our nature. We deserve liberty and freedom. We are the generation that knows what freedom meant. Maybe, judging from the current state of affairs, the LAST generation that experienced it. And, this was our story.

Thank you.

Posts Regarding Life and Contentment

Here are some other similar posts on this venue. If you enjoyed this post, you might like these posts as well. These posts tend to discuss growing up in America. Often, I like to compare my life in America with the society within communist China. As there are some really stark differences between the two.

Stories that Inspired Me

Here are reprints in full text of stories that inspired me, but that are nearly impossible to find in China. I place them here as sort of a personal library that I can use for inspiration. The reader is welcome to come and enjoy a read or two as well.

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just clean up the mess and get on with life Yes. I love it. Great. -MM

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The numbers.

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Homelessness And Wealth Distribution Is A Serious Problem

The United States Has A Crumbling Infrastructure

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Conclusion

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Chinese Apartments

The Gate

Parking

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Elevator

Front Door to the Apartment

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Attributes of a Chinese Apartment

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School

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Money and Costs

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Mad Magazine

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Hiking in the Woods & Bikes

Cub Scouts

My Sister would Skip Rope

Walking the Train Tracks

Scale Models

Slang

Goofing Around

Our Idols

The Cars

Conclusion

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Stories that Inspired Me

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