The not-so-good old days

The not-so-good old days

There are those who want to go back to the good old days, like “Little House On The Prairie.” A time when the doctor took a chicken in payment and we had no health care. Some want to do this by using their Second Amendment rights.

I say, let’s go back to those good old days. You went to the doc with a chicken (I don’t know what city dwellers did), and he put a couple of leaches on you or let some blood then sent you home. Of course what you had may have been a heart attack. Doctors at the time were not licensed and anyone could set up shop. If you wanted an operation for an appendicitis, you went to the barber. Only about one person out of 10 lived through a appendix operation. One out of four women died giving birth and those were the ones with doctors. Back in the good old days when they just died waiting for the doctor to come in his buggy on the dirt road. Your neighbor in those days couldn’t help because this was before that hateful government passed laws giving people the rights to have unions, an eight hour work day, a minimum wages and all the other protections we take for granted.

You go back to the good old days: I’ll stay here in this awful world where no one dies of an appendix operation, where I personally know of no woman dying from giving birth, and the life expectancy is 80 years, Where those in poverty get some help from that hated government.

Also people who are always talking about the coming revolution or Second Amendment remedies seem to forget how many people will die while they are forcing their will on all the rest of us. They also forget that their side may not win. In fact no one will win. They’ll be looking back at the good old days when we had the that awful government elected by the people. The problem is not the government, it’s the people who elected the people who run the government — us.

Paul D Shanabarger, New Springfield

Tired of all the negativity

Every time I read an arti cle about how bad nursing homes are I get angry. Anybody who ever worked in one, knows, there are good and caring people working to take care of their loved ones.

Sure, you read about abuse in some, but that is not the norm. You don’t read about the good things people do. Like taking shirts home and sewing buttons on. Or buying crayons and coloring books (out of their own pocket) or bringing treats for them on holidays.

I worked in nine nursing homes for 18 years as a housekeeper and always enjoyed the people who call the “nursing home” their home. God bless all you good people.

Shirley Griffiths, Youngstown