Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[ElwoodBlues1]

were the battlers then earning 80k a year wage (seeing only about 50 in their pocket) spending half of that on rent and the rest buying the basics with minimal hope of saving for a home?

I'm a migrant child.  They fled civil war and lack of opportunity and came with not much.  Often working as taxi drivers, dish washers and yes they struggled but not like the young folk who are 15 years old today are going to.  As far as having no idea I reckon I've got a bit more than you think. There was a better sense of community back then too. 

A lot of families lived in housing commission homes where I was brought up or if they had a home it was via a war service home loan courtesy of one of the parents having served in world war2 which was usually a small weatherboard dwelling with just the basics. We lived in outer Box Hill where the milk was delivered with a horse and cart, and bread came via a small van where you waited outside your home to purchase. The local Primary had kids with no shoes, old smelly clothes and you walked to school on your own at a young age, no mums or dads in their shiny SUV's waiting in a neat line at pickup time.
Most kids left school around Year9(Form3) through to Leaving Certificate(Year11)......HSC(VCE) was for wealthy kids going to Uni, which were few and far between most of the kids went to apprenticeships or worked in factories.
I went to a local technical school where we had a lot of foster kids, kids from tough backgrounds and ones who had just come out of juvenile correctional facilities, no one would play us in sport due to the fights that would be a regular event in games and the fact we had 18 -19 year olds who had missed so many years of schooling they had been kept down or were repeating.
Kids of today wouldnt last 5 minutes in the environment where teachers spent more time strapping kids than teaching them...
There were no counsellors, bullying laws, Psychologists or welfare help other than the Salvo's, it was a case of toughen up Princess and work harder to make ends meet.
I think every generation tries to improve the standard of living for the next, I know my father did it tough in the Depression years but you dont appreciate what those folk did to build a country of opportunity better than most until you are older and I think kids of today need to get off the mobile phone and work out that life is tough and Google, Chat GPS dont have all the answers and your parents cant hold your hand for ever.