> I remember the days when children addressed adults as
"Ma'am" and "Sir."

Heck, I still do that and I'm 48 .  My daughter does too.  She's 14.
Startled the heck out of my new backyard neighbor when she did it the first
time but he just grins and invites her over to play with his trio (hoping
some will rub off I think but they are pretty polite kids as it is).

 > I remember when telling the school bully to kiss my a$$ was an honorable
 > thing to do.

Today, he's apt to try it .

 > I remember the days when boys who wanted to date a girl respected the father
 > of that girl.  (Not because the father "earned" said
respect, but because
 > teenage boys ALWAYS respected a girl's father.)

That and his shotgun!

 > I remember when divorce was rare and far between, and a "broken
family" was
 > the tragedy of a soldier/husband/father (same person) dying in a war.

I remember growing up as the only kid with a divorced mother with kids an
there were no single mothers that I knew of except one and she was
practically a widow having given her financee a 'warriors send off' which my
Mom said was understandable and she was good people as well as her twins.

 > I remember when husbands were the breadwinner of the family....  and the
 > term "deadbeat dad" didn't exist.

I remember my Mom struggling to raise 3 kids on her own after driving 1,500
miles from NY to Florida when I was a little over 1 year old, after she got
me out of the hospital with a cracked skull.  Actually, I dont recall the
drive, but I do recall the house she bought with 25$ down, holding her last
25$ back for food and stuff.  Dad was to pay 51$ a month for all 3 of us but
we never got any money.

I remember a letter from Govenor Reagan saying we had to move to California to
get the back payments as it was doable across states then.
 
 > I remember when daughters called their father "daddy."  None of this
 > "stepdad" or "mommy's boyfriend" crap.

Smile, Charlotte calls Don 'Daddy' and me 'Mommy' when it's just us.  'Mom
and Dad' when others are here.  Many of her friends have divorced parents and
such and so they envy here with 2 of the same all her life and married now 23
years.

 > SO WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

The 'me' generation grew up.
        xxcarol
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