As I sit here tonight once again preparing for a Mayberry Presentation tomorrow I can't help but think about one very distinct difference between the lives of our beloved Mayberry folks and our lives here in 2011. I think one reason the folks of Mayberry were so happy and content was because they were not consumed by the enormous debts that families of today have. Folks in Mayberry paid for items they needed in one way. They used cash. It wasn't until 1986 and the movie "Return to Mayberry" did we ever see or hear anyone use a credit card in Mayberry. Barney put the dinner bill at the restaurant on his credit card in the movie. You may have noticed that I said people paid for things they "needed" with cash. Back in the days of TAGS people were not so materialistic minded. If they really needed something or wanted something, they waited until they saved the money. Barney used his entire nest egg to buy his first car. Even Otis took a second job to earn enough money to buy his car. I think the only time we saw anyone borrowing the money to buy something was when Goober went to the bank to get a loan to buy the gas station, and that was the way real estate is bought. Quite a few of the good citizens of Mayberry didn't even own a car. I recall many folks in our small town who likewise did not have cars. Their lives centered around the town in which they lived and all their needs were usually found right there. While there were those like Frank Myers and the Scobies who had financial difficulties, it was not due to their excessive debts because of unnecessary spending. How great for all those good folks in Mayberry to be able to go to bed at night without worrying about all those credit card payments that would be due at the end of the month.
-- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
