Not only does the decade of your beginnings influence your development and character, but also so does the place of birth and the laws that govern your state. I was born in Indiana. Sometimes it is difficult to comply with what one would consider normal and necessary laws mainly because there are so many of them. Laws are not written for criminals anyway because criminals do not comply with them—what would be the point?
In addition to essential regulations, there are laws on the books that seem pointless and only serve to question the sanity of the people of the state. These senseless decrees impact one’s temperament if not on one’s behavior. Their absurdity, however, do provide a degree of humor. One’s imagination runs amuck in pondering what circumstances and turn of events had to come together to force reasonable men to create such eccentric laws:
• Your body is no longer your property once your breath leaves you [probably enacted because your estate is taxed after your death like you owe the government something for dying]
• It is illegal to bathe during the winter months from October thru March [likely enacted because deodorant was not used widely and you smelled less during the winter than summer months]
• A resort area passed a law requiring all black cats to wear bells on Friday the 13th [probably enacted because cats ate the rabbits’ feet they were given]
• It is against the law for a barber to threaten to cut off a child’s ears [apparently enacted because some impatient barber did so]
• It is illegal to ride public transportation or attend the movie theater in one city within four hours of eating garlic [probably enacted with the increase of Italian immigrants]
• It is illegal to make a monkey smoke a cigarette [everybody knows that pipe smoking is the method of choice for apes]
• Liquor stores may not sell milk [likely enacted because children sent to buy milk spent their milk money on booze]
• You may not back into a parking spot because it prevents the police from viewing your license plate [likely really enacted because of the increase in auto accidents, as most people do poorly in backing up in confined spaces]
• Pedestrians crossing a street at night are prohibited from wearing taillights [likely enacted because it simply was not done in the fashion world]
• No one can catch a fish with his or her bare hands [probably enacted because something was fishy for those who did]
• Men are prohibited from standing in a bar [likely enacted because they couldn’t stand even if they wanted to]
• Drinks on the house are illegal [probably enacted because drinkers would fall in the gutters soon enough]
• State government officials who engage in private duels can be dismissed from their office [likely applied to the loser only]
• Mustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to kiss habitually other humans [probably enacted as a way to control running the bases]
• The value of Pi is 3.2, not 3.1415 [probably enacted by some rounder who wouldn’t know a good pie if he ate one]
• It is forbidden to eat watermelon in the park [likely enacted because of the increased assaults due to seed-rage]
• No one may spit on the sidewalk [likely enacted because somebody did and people who spat thought they could vomit for free too]
• No one may throw an old computer across the street at their neighbor [probably enacted after a frivolous lawsuit because nobody could pick up those heavy old computers let alone heave them]
The pressure to grow up normal and sane is harder than people think, but we were a generation of character and we generally did anyway.
So this was the backdrop of my developmental growing years. In addition to these events and decrees, family life was quite different in the 1950’s than in the 21st century. Families actually ate meals together—home cooked, non-microwaved meals by your mother. In our Italian family, that meant some variety of pasta 4 days a week with meat thrown in between for good measure. Meals were the center plate of the home attended by each and every one. After all, the first countertop microwave, which most families could not afford at the time, was not introduced until 1957. The first McDonalds was opened in California in 1948, but did not proliferate in the Midwest until the late 50’s and early 60’s. So, family members communicated and sat at the table patiently until excused. Yet, even with such bounty you did not readily gain weight, as children’s lifestyles were not terribly sedentary then as they are today. And you were not bombarded with television commercials for diet pills that boasted anecdotal histories of vast loss in weight followed by the ever present yet brief flash brought to you in minuscule, unreadable print: Results may not be typical—no kidding! What results?
Mealtimes, particularly the evening meal and on Sunday, were dominated with family sharing and conversation. Parents generally understood their children of the time and the children of the time generally knew something of their parents. Piercings were restricted to the ears of mature women. You did not worry if you could not remember that left is right and right is wrong. Two parent households were the norm rather than the exception. Few people were single at the time where single men and women occupied only 9% of homes, which today has risen to more than 25%. People married younger at the time where the median age for first marriage was 22 years for men and 20 years for women. Only 2.5 people per 1,000 were divorced in the 1950’s compared to the now nearly 5 people per 1,000. Divorce was uncommon at the time and carried a stigma for those who dared to venture outside of an unhappy marriage. Same-sex marriages were not thought of at all.
During my growing years, you felt safe, sheltered, and protected by your family. Childhood symptomatology associated with anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and other psychiatric ailments was uncommon even though in the latter part of the 20th century and now the 21st century almost every family has one or two such children with such ailments.
My family lived in a duplex designed by my father with my paternal grandmother living on the north side—in essence, two separate homes joined together in what was called a ‘double’ in those days. Long cement sidewalks curled from the street to their respective porches. Two brick columns and railings surrounded each cemented porch. Our families spent many evenings on these porches watching dusk turn to darkness, and neighbors going about their uncomplicated nightly lives. Two ordinary brick chimneystacks belied the ornamental marble fireplaces that were hidden inside each home. Perhaps they were just a facade anyway, as they were as marble white as the day they were built for neither side were ever lit for the warmth and ambience they could provide.
Our kitchen was white as snow, which balanced the black and white squares of the linoleum floor. Our home hosted three bedrooms. My brother and I shared the back bedroom with two windows, one facing toward the driveway and the other toward the backyard. Territorial wars were not uncommon between us, as our beds were only several feet apart. My sister had her own bedroom in the center of the hallway cattycorner from my parents’ bedroom. Interestingly, that would have been my bedroom if I had two sisters—ah, the fickled finger of fate! A single air conditioner protruded from our parent’s bedroom at the front of the house—not necessarily decorative, but frigidly functional. There was no central air-conditioning at the time. My sister, brother, and I often slept on our parents’ bedroom floor during those long hot summer nights. There was no relief in any other room