Longing for "Happy Days"

Considering the tragedies this past week in both Boston and West Texas, it is difficult to comprehend the sorrow that has accompanied these events.  Because of these events,  I thought I would write today about society’s desire to look back at history through a nostalgic lens, hoping to recapture happier, less stressful, times.  This is especially true when we remember the 1950s.  They are often remembered as the “Nifty Fifties.”  In fact, there was a successful television sitcom, now found often in syndication, called Happy Days which brings that nostalgic look at life in the fifties onto our television screens cementing that desire for a simpler life.  

Happy Days was one of my favorites when it first aired in the 1970s, and it has become a classic in our household even today.  1970s tended to remember the 1950s in that nostalgic light.  But, we have to remember that Happy Days is a situation comedy, devised for television.  It is NOT reality.  As much as we long for simpler days of yesteryear, our memories are selective.  The 1950s had its own set of baggage especially in relation to the Cold War.  It was the height of the nuclear age with the duck and cover drills, bomb shelters, and fears of communist infiltration, especially through the fear of covert spies.  But these anxieties are often overlooked when we think of the 1950s.  We prefer to remember the soda jerks, the drive-in restaurants and movie theaters, the be-bop rock-n-roll, and Elvis.  It is nice that we remember the good, the fun, and the carefree, but that is not the whole picture.  Times are tough now, but they were tough then.  Our parents and grandparents had their own set of anxieties.  We must remember that every generation has its own set of problems and no generation is completely carefree.  That said, let us pray for happier days ahead and an end to the string of recent tragedies.