Good Old Days?

I have never been one of those "give me the good old days" kind of people. At least once a week we receive an email that takes you back through those Baby Boomer years of the fifties and early sixties and reminds us of some really great memories of five cent Cokes and watching the Lone Ranger on a tiny black and white TV. I enjoy those, but I truly don't agree with the usual attached comments about "better times," "happier days," and "wish we could go back." I would take 2009 over any year I've experiences since my birth in 1951. 2009 is the best year in all of history and it's the best of all times to be living.
Part of that opinion comes from the fact that I also remember how not-so-good much of those "good old days" were. Give me AC over window fans any day and my 42 inch HD TV makes our old 200 pound, 15 inch black and white look like something from the Stone Age. I could go on with comparisons until the Great Blog Timer shuts me down, but the real reason I treasure 2009, and in particular, September 10th, is because it's the day my Father has given to me. It's an incredible gift that must not be wasted on nostalgia or obsessive planning for the future. If He gives me tomorrow, it's another day to praise Him and draw closer to Him. If this is it, the last day I spend on planet Earth, then I get to praise Him and draw closer to Him for eternity. It's a win - win proposition - all made possible by the grace of God.
Having said all that, I do wish we, as a nation, could return to the days of respect for our President, civility in our disagreements, and wanting national good over party politics. I know that there were plenty of exceptions to the rule "back then," like McCarthy or the always scandalous politicians who were caught being immoral in a country that cared about things like that. It just seems to me that we are becoming more and more unkind, polarized, derogatory, distrustful, and even hateful, just to name a few. I was appalled by how people ridiculed, demeaned, and were malicious towards President Bush. I even heard Christians talking about him as if their disagreement with his policies somehow justified being un-Christ-like. I was very disturbed and disappointed with many people in our country during all that. It's clearly not just a malady that affects one political party, because we are hearing even more hateful and extremist language from those unhappy with our new President than we did with Bush. This isn't about comparing, it's about common courtesy, civility, and respectfulness. I didn't agree with everything President Bush did, and I don't agree with everything that President Obama is doing, but that does not mean that I need to be ugly, fear driven, or destructive to my country's image in the world.
No - I don't want the "good old days," but I wouldn't mind a little bit of the good old ways.