the good old days.

i was just having a conversation with my husband about life as we know it versus life as it was.  specifically- did model T cars have locks?  did they need them?  did people back then worry about their belongings being stolen out of their own property?
as a kid, i can remember walking through a parking lot with my father.  if a car had its lights left on, my dad would just open the door, switch the lights off, and we'd keep on walking.  i thought about this the other day, when i saw a car with its lights on in the parking lot at the grocery store.  i did not even attempt to open the door to flip the lights for the owner.  in today's day and age, i'd end up getting arrested for trying to do the right thing.


so, what's changed?  why did people back then- even just back in the sixties/seventies/eighties feel okay leaving their doors unlocked.  why do we now feel like we have to secure ourselves against the world?  as a victim of past break-ins (both car and home), i feel a false sense of security each and every time i click the gears into place of my own locks.  i know that a petty thief won't waste time "breaking" in, but will gladly take everything if the doors are readily open.  i know that even locked (and dead-bolted) doors are no match for a determined thief, even if they break the TV in the process of removing it, therefore rendering their loot useless in the end.


this is an inane post, really.  which means that nothing crazy is happening in my world (horray!)  but i do get to thinking sometimes about what has changed between now and then.  whether it's the sense of security versus the actual secure life.  whether locks keep the bad people out, or just keep us mentally locked away from the communities we share.  i don't know.  i will probably never know.  but i'll continue to lock my house and cars, and walk a few more inches away from cars for fear their security system might report me for breathing too close.  that's just what we do in the 21st century.  i wonder how much further it will be taken in the 22nd century?