Hang around a bunch of older people for a while and someone will muse, however worded, “Ah, for the good old days.”

Good old days? Women, do you remember wearing girdles and nylons? And guys, how about those jock straps and starched collars? Do you long for the days when a woman couldn’t get a loan without the permission of her husband or father? Or when a business executive (always a man) referred to his secretary (always a woman) as “my girl?” Was America a better country when blacks were denied service at restaurants and few people questioned the presence of “colored only” drinking fountains in parts of the country? Was life better for all Americans when gays and lesbians couldn’t be open about who they were, let alone get married? Do you miss polluted rivers and smoke-clogged skies? Remember when your eyes smarted from cigarette smoke when you walked into a restaurant or almost anywhere else for that matter? Do today’s tax-cutting advocates know that the highest top marginal income tax rate during the Eisenhower era was 91 percent? Who misses the constant threat of getting a flat tire or, worse, a blowout? Do your taste buds pine for Velveeta Cheese and jello salad and white bread (the only choice, back then). In my family, we thought we’d gone gourmet when frozen TV dinners hit the scene.

In fairness, some things were better in days gone by, at least in this old guy’s opinion. Remember when you could afford a candy bar at a movie theater because it only cost a nickel? Today you can spend 10 bucks at a theater for a box of popcorn and a soda. (No thanks, I’ll smuggle homemade popcorn into the theater if I must have the stuff.) And who but the wealthiest Americans can afford to take their kids to a major league baseball game today? Remember when taking a flight was an exciting adventure and airline food seemed tasty? Today, airline passengers are treated like hardened criminals in the security line and pesky brats on the airplane. As a boy growing up in West Virginia in the 1950s, I had ample free time to go out and play with my friends without adult supervision. And as a college student in the early 1960s I talked to my parents on the phone only once every other week or so. Today’s hovering parents won’t let their kids be kids, and they seldom encourage risk-taking for fear of something bad happening. Remember when you never heard the phrases “Press One” or “Press Two” when you made a telephone call? And how about today’s music? Do you really think that nostalgic seniors will be playing treasured oldies by the likes of Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus 50 years from now?

Based on polls, most Americans of all political stripes can agree on one point: Today’s Congress is horrible, shameless, worthless. Remember the days when politicians actually tried to get something done on behalf of the citizens who elected them. Today it’s all about getting reelected, which means playing to the base back home, which means villainizing the other side at every turn. And then after leaving Congress, most politicians become lobbyists, an even lower form of reptile. Big money has totally corrupted the current political climate and the people who haven’t figured that out yet just aren’t paying attention. There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Today’s politicians, with very rare exceptions, don’t give a damn about working for the common good.

Now that I’ve gotten all worked up about today’s travesties, I’ll cool down by stating that I’m glad I live in today’s world, despite the inequities and injustices. After all, today is all I have. Yes, I wish some things were easier, simpler, less complicated, less chaotic. Maybe that’s just crankiness setting in, the passage of time taking its toll. But then I always try to remember the words of the sage who said, “The good old days they are no more and what’s more they never were.”

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David Treadwell is a writer. He lives in Brunswick and can be reached at dtreadw575@aol.com