Posted on 11.16.2018

Mom and Pop - Soapbox Rewind

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a soapbox rewind from 2009. - TeamCDB/BW

I guess it may be a sign of my advancing age or a healthy case of nostalgia in fond remembrance of a simpler time in my life, but sometimes I find my thoughts wandering back to a time and place in my young life when my responsibilities consisted making sure the wood box was full and keeping my grades above the passing line.

It was a time when we left our windows open all night long in a fruitless effort to deflect the humid, oppressive, Carolina summer heat.

The front door was hardly ever locked and a man who didn't keep his word or wouldn't take care of his family was not considered a man at all, unwed teenage pregnancy was a truly rare thing and same-sex marriage totally unheard of.

The schools I went to didn't have discipline problems because they just didn't put up with bad behavior or even arrogance. If a student insisted on being a problem that couldn't be handled by corporeal punishment they would be sent home for their parents to deal with. They weren't allowed to stay around and disrupt the rest of the class.

You could drink the water straight from a free-flowing branch and pick blackberries and take them home for momma to make a cobbler out of.

Few men were abed when the sun came up, a farmer's day started early and ended late. There were no 401Ks, unions or government programs to pick up the slack if a man was kicked by a mule or the crops failed. There was only God and the man's neighbors, but that was enough.

Momma and Daddy's word was law and I would have no more thought of sassing them than I would have of lying down on a red ant hill.

Almost every boy I knew carried a pocketknife and it was seldom out of his possession, even at school, but they were never used for anything more aggressive than cutting a fishing line or skinning a squirrel.

Owning a gun was a passage of age and I got my first one when I was about twelve. Of course, by then I had been shooting for years and the first thing I was taught was not to point the business end of a gun at anything you didn't want to kill, whether you perceived it to be loaded or empty.

In the pre-Walmart days of my youth, there were neighborhood markets and corner drug stores and there were more than just logos and brand names. The "Mom and Pop" businesses had faces, and if your medical prescription wasn't filled properly Dr. Hanson would make it right and if you got a less than fresh piece of beef, Mr. Herrin would make sure it was replaced.

People knew the postman and the people in town could have milk delivered right to their front door every weekday.

Enemies of America were clearly identified, and everybody in America knew what Adolph Hitler looked like and nobody had any delusions about what he wanted to do and everybody right down to little boys in short pants were vowed and determined that he wasn't going to do it.

There was a time when I had never met anybody who didn't believe in God.

Hollywood stars were real men who fought in the war and made movies that celebrated the wonder of the American dream and the bad guy never won.

There was no such thing known as home invasion, if you invaded a man's home there was a better than midline chance that he or one of his sons would grab a shotgun and blow a hole the size of a frying pan in your sorry hide and nobody but your momma would grieve for you.

We're well over a half century and a million miles away from those days, times and trends are in an ever-accelerating race with survival and the old ways are just that, old ways.

Of course, all was not perfect, there were some terrible things as well. People died from simple diseases and there was the abomination of segregation and the Jim Crow laws.

I know its only wishful thinking but I wish we could have done away with the bad and kept the good.

I'd sure like to have a drink of water out of a gurgling little branch.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

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Check out "Mudcat" from Beau Weevils - 'Songs in the Key of E'

Comments

Article
Good words, brother. America was great in those days. Not perfect, but great, nontheless.
Posted by Bert
Amen Charlie
All I can say to your narrative above Charlie is Amen.
Posted by Lane
Memory Lane
I really hope you write a book comparing yesterday to today. Life then was beautiful compared to today. Your analysis was quite accurate !! I shall look for the book!!!!!
Posted by Patricia
Wonderful Bygone Days
Good Evening Mr.Charlie Daniel's.I have been a fan since I was a kid.I am now almost 45 yrs young and I still get excited and smile huge when I am The Laser Light Show at Stone Mountain and The Devil went down to Georgia comes on...just a little kid..haha.Well I found your Twitter years back and I look everyday for the Joy I get.I get to share in a Wonderful Prayer for the day and Wise words to motivate me for the day.And I am Gladly reminded of Benghazi and Vets taking their lives daily.My Stepdad who is My Amazing Dad really is a Vietnam Vet.Oh the respect I have learned from his is priceless.I miss the days of playing in the woods acres away and exploring and making huts in gullies.Snapping peas with My Grandmother MaMyrtle.She had us pick worms from a compost heap almost daily for my older cousins to go fishing or for My Uncle's.I got to help her get the hen eggs daily out of the Chicken coop and then bug her to death about when the tea would be ready that was sitting in the sun for hours in a large glass jar.We had reunions in her front yard under giant iak trees and groups would play badminton..acoustic guitars ...softball and all the food you could handle.Winows open all night and door too open just screen door and unlocked.This small town is now a Hollywood of the South.Covington Georgia.Still Wonderful Beautiful Souled People there...a whole lot of liberal changes too.I Miss those days so much.I smiled through the whole page Mr.Daniels.Thank You for that and May God Continue Your Blessings and Your Beautiful Wife's and Family.
Posted by Sheena
Good Old Days
Amen, Amen & Amen Charlie I sure don't like getting old but I would hate to be starting out in the world today, no disrespect to the young uns that are. Thank God for President Trump and his efforts to cut regulation and red tape but everything from safety, to the EPA drives me bonkers. In Indiana you can ride your motorcycle without a helmet (good) but because of the feds you must wear your seatbelt when driving you pick-up (crazy). We need to return to our roots and every man needs to man up, step up to the plate and teach children manners and respect. The Bible tells us Proverbs 13:24 King James Version 24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. And we find Proverbs 23:13 King James Version 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Before all the naysayers jump on here I am not promoting child abuse, or breaking their spirit, just correction so that they may grow up to be productive and self-sustaining members of society. The south is gonna do it again, God Bless Plowboy
Posted by Plowboy
Days of old
What a awesome read I truly hope you write a book one day. I love your music because you grab people's hearts with your words. A book would be the same. Thank you for staying true. I think there is a lot more of folks like us left, but a lot have given up because they've been forced to by the situation of America. This is still the greatest country in the world! I can not imagine living anywhere else. Mr. Daniels, you painted a beautiful picture with your words. *NOTE* Charlie has written several books, including his memoir, "Never Look At The Empty Seats," which was released last year, and his current book, "Let's All Make The Day Count: The Everyday Wisdom of Charlie Daniels." - TeamCDB
Posted by Brian
Waxing Nostalgia
You did it again, Charlie. Your writing cuts across so many areas the way very few writers can. That's a rare thing to find. Too often those days are lumped in as "the old days" when there was a lot more golden oldie to them. Some kids today might wonder what it was like without the internet. A hard drive had a whole different meaning then. Not everything from bygone days has to be laced in bad. It is a shame that all can even be called a bygone era. The trade up was not a fair trade off. Why everyone seems to concentrate on the negative so much, I don't know? ~NIMOC
Posted by Jeff