I enjoyed reading Michael Ray Dillier's letter Jan. 4 concerning his look back at 1962. It was a time when life was much simpler and with better things about it.

For one thing, you could leave your TV set on and not have to worry about what your small children saw, no matter what channel the TV was on.

I used to hitchhike in numerous places in this area with no worries. Usually, rides were not very hard to obtain.

Kids did not bring guns to schools. Also, there was more respect in classrooms for teachers.

There was far less commercialization and urbanization in this area. Shiloh then was more like a small country town.

Belleville was a much cleaner city and with far less crime. Today it is a mess due primarily to influx from the metro-east.

Jobs were plentiful in this area then. Better yet, there were no minority group quotas to bring about reverse discrimination.

Cars were far less complicated and easier to maintain. Also, stick shifts (manual shift transmissions) were much in demand, especially by young people.

Vietnam had not yet become a forefront issue. There were no hippies and peaceniks; that scumbag element was not even conceived of yet. Also, drug abuse (as accompanied Vietnam and protest movements) was not rampant then.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was in October 1962, which was the most dangerous crisis of the entire Cold War. We can be thankful that we had a president like John F. Kennedy, who skillfully led us through that most perilous time.

In the last sentence of his letter, Dillier asks: What happened to this world? I will respond by answering: It did not get any better.

Frank B. Austin

O'Fallon