How fast time flies. How the world has changed in just my lifetime. 1957 onward so far :)

I have not been on this earth too long, some may say I have. But I am amazed at times to think how much this world has changed. How our feelings and attitudes have changed and how much of what is around now has changed. It is frightening that the world is nothing like it was just 55 years ago. In reality that is not too long ago at all.

All you have to do to start this off is look at a penny. In 1957 the Lincoln penny had wheat ears on its back.
A half dollar was a Franklin
And silver dollars were all over.
There were silver certificates and all silver coins were...silver.

There were 48 states in the USA
There was terrible racism
The USSR was our enemy to east and everyone was afraid of them
In 1957 for the first time in history more people flew in planes across the ocean, than in ocean liners
The first satellite was put into space on Oct 4 by the USSR.
Eisenhower was president
There were 96 members of the US Senate
It was the tail end of the war of the record speeds
The first super highways were being built
Cars had fins
The greatest passenger planes around were the Lockheed Constellation and the DC 7.
News programs on TV were 15 minutes
Just about everything was broadcast on TV in black and white
Candy bars were 6 cents
Hamburgers at McDonald's were 15 cents
If you had two dollars in a toy store you could buy a lot.
All cheap crap that was sold in stores came from Japan
Gas was 20 cents a gallon
A long distance call was amazing
Everyone was in awe of technology
Color film and TV were just things few people had
 Wars had just been fought in Korea and China. We were always told to clean our plates for children were starving there. These were mysterious places in the east. I never quite understood that. As Allen Sherman once quipped "They starved and I got fat"
There were no sear belts
If you went out for dinner you dressed up
If you traveled in a plane you dressed up
Teachers were always right
Wagons were always such fun and you could roll down hills in them
Taking baseball cards and close-pinning them to the spokes on your bicycle wheels would make your bike sound like a motorcycle. That was always very neat and soon to be groovy
A cars dashboard was made of metal ..if you hit it you were a mess.
No one thought of trouble if you went out at night
Trick or treating was fine and kids when out alone
1957 was the first year of the new world order. It was the year we first went to space and when we first had fears of what could happen to us from space.
Starting that year space became a big thing and no kid was without dreams of going into space  In those days being on line was being at a check out lane at a super market...What fun we had.
TV dinners were an exciting adventure

There was no mass media, we read, we talked, we drank out of garden hoses, we played ..I kind of feel sorry for kids today...I am glad I was born when I was.