Quote Originally Posted by Edwina's Secretary View Post
I was there too. Do you know the marginal tax rate for the highest earners was over 90% compared to 35% today. Capital gains tax was 25% compared to 15% today.

You mention minorities but what about women? It was legal - and very common to pay women less than men for the same job. And of course, women were not hired in many jobs. The only job Sandra Day O'Connor could get as a top graduate from Stanford Law School was as a legal secretary. Teachers had to leave the classroom when their pregnancy began to show and flight attendants had to be young, skinny and single - or they lost their job. Even when I was out of college - the newspapers advertised "help wanted - male" and "help wanted - female."

Polio was just beginning to be eliminated. I was six when the vaccine first came out. Just think of the medical advances since then!

It is easy to remember the good times when you look back - but there are many, many things that are better today!
I remember that Polio vaccine too. We had to take it in a sugar cube and it made me burp that flavor all day. My first experiance with heart burn. I also remember Ruby. An Afraican American girl who went to our grade school. I also remember the brace on her leg. She was about twice as tall as everyone else because she had missed a couple of years because she had had Polio.

Most of the kids wouldn't even talk to her or made fun of her. That was when I decided it was just plane stupid not to like someone because of their skin color or looks. I would sit with her and talk every chance I got.

I only felt discriminated against because of my sex one time. That was when mom made me start wearing a bra and my brother didn't have too. She had not had THAT talk with me yet and I thought it awfully unfair. She told me I needed one because the 'neighbors' were starting to talk. I told her they should mind their own business. I was 10 at the time.

I also remember having to duck and cover under our desks in case an atomic bomb was being dropped on us. I always wondered why they thought those flimsy wooden desks would protect us.

I also remember how us kids could walk every where in town and not have to be afraid someone was going to kidnap us or hurt us. All the adults I knew looked out for everyone's kids and had would be sure and tell our parents if we did anything we shouldn't. It was that way for me even through high school.

There were few drugs in high school. There were a few kids that smoked but no pot or stuff like that. School was a safer place for kids. If a kid bullied another one, both the teachers and the parents took care of the problem.

I was discriminated against so many other ways, I guess it didn't bother me if I was because of my sex. I was always too short, or too this or too that. (I did not play well with others even as an adult) I did think it was unfair that I had to pay more taxes because I was single. I did agree that women should be paid the same as men but for me that was just the way it was. I was not one to burn my bra and join picket lines. I never had the desire to do a "man's" job like work on highways and things.

I guess every time has both good and bad. I also know I'd rather dwell on the good than the bad.