Farm equipment and technologies have improved yields and saved topsoil and improved water quality. Beef production per carcass is many pounds improved from five decades ago. Hogs have improved, as have chicken growth efficiencies. Of course, drastically fewer people farm, and some say that's not all bad, either.

Today's cars and trucks last many more miles and do more with less fuel and maintenance. People live much longer on the average; milk is virtually fat-free; exposures to some toxic substances like lead and DDT are way down; air conditioning is better and nearly everyone uses it.

Consolidations in some sectors such as retail merchandising and fast food may have ended small-town businesses, but it resulted in uniform quality and lower prices and a chance to shop anonymously.

Family farms for many meant poverty, less education, poor health practices, poor or bad diets, and grave social illnesses like alcoholism and incest, which were chronic backdrops in many rural families.

Schools often were tyrannical and abusive and were therefore unhappy places for many who were not outstanding athletes or scholars.

Two-lane highways were killers. The billboards were ugly distractions, and that friendly service station guy could cut your fan belt, puncture your tire or rig the gas pump.

Personal computers and the Internet have increased dramatically our access to each other and to information that before would not have been available. You may still turn the TV off if you don't like what's on.

There's more food variety today, and modern grocery stores are cleaner and offer a variety of other services and goods.

Each summer in America beloved friends and neighbors were struck down by polio. When we lined up finally for Dr. Jonas Salk's vaccine, we didn't whine about the slight dangers from vaccines. We were happy to receive. Smallpox vaccinations meant disease lurked as well.

We had great floods and terrible droughts and few manmade lakes in which to fish, swim and water ski.

Utter annihilation of our cities and way of life were real possibilities each minute for more than 40 years during the Cold War after World War II. Talk about terror in our domestic lives. We had it then, too, in spades. I dislike today's version, but flat-out total destruction was what we faced then.

Corn couldn't stand extreme heat very well 50 years ago. Soybeans were just coming into play and were not the key crop they are now. Wheat yields were much lower. There weren't any herbicides to speak of and insecticides often were overly dangerous to people and the environment. Tillage practices released too much valuable moisture to the air and dirt to the waters.

There often are two or more sides to every story, and I don't blame anyone for choosing one. Often, there's lots of substance in each position. When one is young, or remembers having been young, one feels better, perhaps. Joints don't ache as much. Eyes see. Muscles respond. Hormones rush. You feel immortal. Of course things were better then. A now deceased Native American friend of mine used to preface his wonderful recollections with: "In the days of my time..."

Jim Suber is a freelance writer. He formerly was a business and agriculture writer for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He and his wife live near Maple Hill.