THE PAST IS ANOTHER PLACE ALRIGHT

I arrived in Oz in the penultimate year of the sixties

at a time when man was exploring our galaxy, landing on the moon

a time when people were physically involved in their world

where virtual reality was unreal or unheard of

but the past is another place ....

This was a time when Australians were still Australians

rather than merely Americans 

who happen to have been born on the wrong side of the Pacific

and therefore have all their faults without any of their virtues

but the past is another place ....

It was a time for truth rather than ephemisms

before our vocabulary was hijacked by the artistry of wank-words

and acronyms spewed forth from mouths in vile bureaucratese

which defeated the purpose of the message being delivered to the people

it was a time when people spoke civilly to each other

acknowledged and respected one another as the young did then

but the past is another place ....

on your birthday or at Christmas you received a few treasured gifts

and when 12 years of schooling finally ended you didn't do 'schoolies'

instead you looked forward to finding a job or university

and saved like mad for a car or for an overseas holiday

lived at home until you earned enough dough to get a place of your own

or shared a place with others like-minded, enjoying your individuality

but the past is another place ....

A celebration meant something then, now we even 'celebrate' death

everything's 'win-win', even the 7 year old who came last gets an award

what are we celebrating? Mediocrity? Self-centredness?

today tenants have more rights than landlords who provided them a place to live

but that's "cewl"as the young would vacuously exclaim today

middle-class welfare? Hell, you were on the dole or on compo if you couldn't work

we were more of an egalitarian society then

there was a small rich class and the rest of us packed a work ethic in our lunchbox ...

when we set off for work 

but the past is another place ...

Give the financial lenders their due then, you got bugger-all credit

and only after the most stringent checks that tested your capacity to pay

you didn't spend more than you earned, a simple rule of thumb

simple basic tenets that paid dividends in life, much later

But the past is another place ....

Now current generations despise us, envy us and cry 'you had it easy'

without taking the mote or three out of their eyes

instead of perhaps thanking us for our foresight, our caution, our prescience

unequivocally, I declare that I do not hanker for it

but the past is another place and they do things differently there