The more things change, the more they stay the same

Since taking the responsibility of compiling the "Way it Was" section that truism has come to have new meaning. Societal problems that I believed to be fairly recent innovations have been around for quite a while.

Frivolous lawsuits are a plague upon our law system. People suing others because they spilled hot coffee in their laps is one that jumps right to mind. According to the Web site www.sickoflawsuits.org lawsuit costs passed on to consumers total nearly $809 per year for every person in the United States.

But it is not a new phenomenon. In the Sept. 28 "Way it Was" we saw that 100 years ago a Mrs. Mary Fanning sued the railroad on which she had been a passenger because a car jumped the track and she was "bruised and greatly shocked." She asked for almost $2,000 because the shock caused her to suffer heart trouble, she said. A hundred years ago, $2,000 would've been a lot of money.

Teen violence is another example. We hear a lot about it now-a-days. School shootings are top news nationwide. minutes after they occur. But it turns out that it's not all that new a thing. In the Oct. 29 "Way it Was" we learned that 100 years ago 14-year-old Fred Hughes was charged with assault with the intent to kill 10-year-old Willie Hyson. Hughes shot Hyson in the leg with a shotgun loaded with salt and pepper. Hyson happened to be picking persimmons on Hughes's grandfather's farm.

Even worse, in the Aug. 15 "Way it Was," we read a story from 100 years ago where 15-year-old Hugh Jones shot and killed his father. His father's crime? Refusing to let his son take the horse and buggy for a drive.

The item that surprised me the most is found in the Oct. 17 "Way it Was." Fifty years ago we read about the government warning farmers to be on the watch for biological warfare attacks. We have a similar story on page 11 of our Nov. 4, 2004, edition. Certainly folks weren't worried about that way back when? But they were.

While the scope of these types of problems has definitely increased along with our population, I'm fascinated by the fact that these people had many of the same problems. Reading through the archives of our paper and seeing history through the eyes of the people who were there has been and will continue to be a wonderful experience. And it has definitely reinforced the notion that there truly is nothing new under the sun.