THOSE WERE THE DAYS, OH YES, THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND

I was reminiscing with Joe Snider, one of my Band of Brothers, this morning. (See my other blog One Way for explanation) We were talking about days gone by when:

We didn't lock our house. Well, we did at night. I remember a skeleton key always on the inside keyhole, but it was only locked after everyone was home for the night. For me in my teen years, that meant midnight on weekends. Well, at least most weekend nights.

Even more surprising, I never had a key to our house. Never. There was somebody home, or the house was unlocked, so why did I need a key? I don't think my brother ever had one either. And certainly no neighbors had a key in case we were locked out. People back then just respected others' houses and would never think of robbing or coming into someone's house without knocking. Except for one neighbor boy who felt so at home at our house (and other neighbors) that he would simply walk in. He would be under foot without announcing his presence, but he was the exception.

The same thing with another's property. We would park our bikes all day at the Little League Field. None I ever recall were stolen or even taken for a joyride. People just left your stuff alone. It was unwritten. Either that or there were some harsh penalties. Bicycle locks? Non-existent. Again, who needed them?

The first thefts I recall were in high school P. E.classes where we were issued gym baskets with combination locks on them. The smart thieves would put their locks on your basket and yours on theirs, but they wouldn't click theirs. Voila. They stole your wallet and you didn't know how. That was about the time Roy Orbison and Patty Duke were popular, so that shows how long ago that was.

And how times have changed. Yesterday I had a friend from out of state call and leave a message. I was errand running and missed him. He drove to my house, but the guard at the gate wouldn't let him in because I hadn't informed him that my friend was coming. When we made connections by phone later, I told him he was fortunate that he wasn't shot. That's the kind of security we have today. And still I and most all of our neighbors have security systems in our homes. Lock the doors. Yep, and all our doors are dead bolts. It even took a locksmith an hour to get into our house earlier this Summer when we temporarily misplaced our keys.

And Roy Orbison has given way to 50 Cent and Patty Duke to Hanna Montana. Oh we were young... we thought those days would never end.