Originally Posted by Botnst

She'll be 91 on 2/21. So my grandparents (to whome she refers below) were born in the 1880's, married in the 1810's and had children through teh 1820's. They were upper middle class by the standards of their day.

Bot

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That the maker of fine glassware and beautiful bone china ware (referring to the demise of Wedgewood) should need to close their doors is a commentary on where the middle class is. Time was when the middle class kept high standards-- tables set with linen cloths, sterling silver, bone china, and cut glass. Think "Grandmother" and you get the idea. Do it up beautifully and right.

Priorities have changed by pushing the middle class right down to the poor. Once it was the poor whose women had to go out to work in other people's houses, and take care of their upwardly bound display of beautiful home accessories. Now the best we can do is back yard barbecues and call it high fashion. I wonder that a magazine like VICTORIA can survive. Their advertisers try to sell the fine products, the best, things that can be afforded only by the rich. The rest of us have descended from sterling silver to plated silver to stainless down to plastic. Are we trying to better ourselves? Or just trying to survive by making the means of surviving look stylish. Who has time to do the ironing, polishing, washing, and so forth when there is no one at home, and it takes two incomes to keep a family going?

Even worse, our morals have descended. All around us we see the lowest sort of lifestyles and entertainment. Apparently so firmly is this sort of thing established that few are the voices raised against such things. Are we so overcome by a doomsday feeling in the world of blow ourselves up, smash by an asteroid, reversal of poles, global warming or ice age, that we just lie down and take it? Take all the money if you are in the right place, just give up if you aren't. I heard this morning that the government is now to look into what happened to money it handed out-- the question is: have executives of bailed out companies just given themselves big bonuses for being such fine leaders?

I am just echoing the eternal cry of old people....."the world has gone to the dogs."