A shared Letter

Dear Harpo Producers / Oprah / O Magazine

This was a letter to Harpo Productions sharing my thoughts on topics expressed on their current magazines and TV programming during (2/25 to 2/29).  After each show there was something more I wanted to say as I could connect with all of the people featured. So that left me wondering how do I now want to write this letter? Since Oprah’s mission is to put people on the path of their ‘Best Life Yet’, I will just write about my life and how it was, is, and hopefully changing.

Several years ago I started to keep a journal, but I don’t write in it every day or very often. I do now keep on online Blog where I will write my beliefs, open thinking, and analogies, hoping that the reader can decipher what each is and hopefully help them with their thinking and life.
http://booksofbob.blogspot.com/

If you were to go examine my writings, you will see that the first three posts have to deal with motivation, confidence and success; all of which is what Oprah is about. You will notice that there is a quote I picked out from an online source from Sally Field whom Oprah interviewed lately.

“It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes”. ~ Sally Field

The first blog is about Clint Eastwood where I comment on an interview about him from a Readers Digest Issue that resonated with me. How he struggled early on to where he found success. And that relates to an earlier guest in the show you had this week, Henry Winkler. Henry also struggled in school, as did I, he had some learning disability but never knew it. They didn’t have testing forty or more years ago. You were just an achiever or a lazy slacker or just dumb. “Why can’t you do better?! Why cant you be more like your brother or sister?!” Screaming and punishment were the methods to try and get results. My grades were horrible. I should have been held back twice in grade school, my English and Reading were Abysmal and my SAT score was probably a joke. A score of 2000 is needed to get into Harvard. I think I was 800 or something like that.

Besides writing, I also started to shoot and record video of life. Along with this letter you will find some short video clips, my first ones ever, so they are amateur and unpolished but they start to paint a picture.

I went to a Catholic school as a child in a very small village. Across the street was a Lutheran church and school. We rode the bus with these kids whose student body was even smaller than ours. Where ours was roughly 100 first through eighth grade, they were probably half that. In the summer all kids played baseball. And whether it was on the bus or at the park, we had questions about the various religious traditions. Where it was a sin for us if we didn’t do these acts, the Lutherans didn’t believe in this. So of course we would ask about sin and religious practice, burning in hell for the lack there of. So I will be saved through the sacraments and my Lutheran friends will perish? Well of course the policy became “don’t ask don’t tell” because it will confuse you and cause arguments. So it is not until years later to where I would discover Martin Luther and the story of his life and how the Lutheran came to be. Not that I converted or anything, just was amazed by this man, his thoughts, what happened and how he stood for his beliefs even though he could of easily been tortured or executed for them.

Now, Forty years later in my life, where is religion in this world? How is scripture used to control people and abuse the writings to conquer, hate, and destroy? I lost my Faith a long time ago. I am not sure I even believe there is a God. When I had a TV, the only two channels I really cared for was the History Channel and Discovery. I was watching episodes of Science vs. God. The discoveries Einstein made, and the scientists who followed in his footsteps on the Big Bang theory. How the universe is expanding and not contracting. How Einstein himself had a hard time believing his own discovery because it is so very hard to conceive that all the things that are, there HAS to be a God.

I know several people of different Faiths who are really into the writings of their scripture and leave everything up to God and whatever happens it must be His will. I now think more like Ben Franklin or Mark Twain. “God helps those who help themselves”. I look into history at some of the most devout religious people and how they died horrible deaths. Why would God allow this? His will, we cannot possibly understand His wisdom and plan. Okay, but if God is willing to allow those religious people to die or lives be full of suffering, whose to say he wont allow mine to be that way or yours? Ah, the old, ‘You got to have Faith’. I would rather have determination and fighting spirit thank you.

Where do people get their ideas, beliefs and spirit? Childhood conditioning, Culture, Religion, Philosophical writings, other books, other media…

As I continued to age, I started to understand why literature was taken away in years past and present. Why groups of people chose to seclude themselves from others. Why cultures seek to destroy those writings and those people. Why Elders seek to plant their seeds of knowledge into the youth who are still pliable. The old saying, “It’s all in your head.” That is where our sane or insane Worlds are. What do you let seep in? Where do you throw up your invisible force field to block out the incoming so as to not disrupt your path?

Examples: An Oprah magazine or show vs. Maxim Magazine July 2007 issue page 115 which teaches guys how to twist where a woman is getting her ideas from. To page 118 and “Dr” Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, the Anti-Christ millionaire, multiple wives, preacher. To Time’s magazine issue of “God wants you to be Rich” taking a look at the resurgence of TV evangelists “Dr” Joyce Meyers and others. Who is getting Rich? Who is having the good life? The Sheep, or the Shepherds? Republicans, Democrats, 16 major Religions, the American dream, Health, Wealth, Beauty, Sex, Sexy, and Relationships, and Celebrity Gossip 1000 fold! It comes at you from all sides, in all kinds of media, every day! Where does one run or hide? If they even can.

Yesterday’s show was about the “Miracle of Aging”. How as we get older, we sage or become wiser and the acts of others or our culture become less of a grief. Are these teaching something new? No. Whether one gets there from following Marianne’s writings or Ben Franklin’s
“At 20 years of age the Will reigns, at 30 the Wit, and at 40 the Judgment.”
Or whether if one wants to follow the advice of a Martha Beck ‘North Star’ book, or the writings of ‘Mark Twain’s Helpful Hints for Good Living.’
Or to go as far back as the Greeks and the birth of Western Philosophy where they ask, “Which is best for people to pursue: Pleasure, Power or Prudence?” They felt it was Prudence.

In the March issue there is an article on Happiness. You feature the scientist from the University of Wisconsin who was also on the 20/20 episode of ‘How to Happiness”. Where some educators go on to say that 50% is hereditary, 40% is up to the individual and ONLY TEN PERCENT is job, materialism, etc. Now I have a tough time believing those percentages, but there is truth to this, ‘its all in your head business’.

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent”. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Yesterday’s show tells us to not look back. To not say, if only I was a seeker of knowledge and answers when I was a youth. If only I would have done ABC then, I wouldn’t be in the mess I am in now. So I am to live in the now.

“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to”. ~Kahlil Gibran

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." ~Author Unknown

But lets go back in efforts to perhaps be able to focus more on where to go forward. To have one’s “Best Life Yet”, trying to figure out just how ‘good’ can it possible get with what one has going, then telling the brain it is okay and the spirit to fly.

Childhood short version. Youngest of three, born in 1966. Parents divorce by age 5. Father moves to live in California for the next 17 years. Mother is single and struggling to raise and afford three children. She becomes a lesbian and struggles with her own pursuit of happiness, life and “how to” based upon her mindset. Best way to describe my life then? Like a leaf on the wind I guess. Drifting around not caring where I was going, how I was going to get there, or what lied ahead. I was very emotional, sensitive, easy to distract and upset. I can vaguely remember saying something to a sixth grade teacher to a question, I am not sure was; but the answer was something that perhaps I should step out in front of traffic on my way home from school.

I had problems, issues, issues that went unattended other than some disciplinary action or a shake of the head and a walk away. High school wasn’t much better. Mainly I was looking for companionship all those years and not an education. I was looking for prestige and recognition. I wasn’t getting either, so I wallowed in my sorrow rather than use education and study as a distraction and focus on a better life ahead. I couldn’t wait to graduate, move some distance away and get away from dominance and the control of others.

I was unprepared for the cost of living and how the system works for who gets a job and why. I am making minimum wage at any place that would give me a job. And there weren’t many places. I thought about joining the Army after high school. But I decided not too because I injured my knee badly playing football just before my senior year. I haven’t been able to run or play anything physical since. My walk is a hobble, not a stride.

I am confused by the man you had on your show once. He was from another country and he fled through the desert to escape his turmoil. Stowed away on vessel that got him here to America. Went college, and now with his education has a great job and a great life. Keep in mind the whole concept of “How to Happiness”, its all in your head, its not what you have or where you are, its how you think – yet his happiness came externally before internally. Would he be happy if he still were in the land he came from? Or the man to be featured on today’s show and this weekend, Sheg. He comes again, from another country and arrives here with but a duffle bag. I do not understand how foreigners are able to get here with “nothing” and get an education and have the means to life, let alone get into the United States to begin with (Visa, Green Card, etc). When Americans need an elaborate financial plan to save for college.

Where did these people get the money, a place to stay and a job? That is what my mind is asking. Because I was working for minimum wage at places like Burger King and IHOP, and found it very hard to come up with rent, cost of living and college expenses. Financial Aid? Yes I received financial aid to pay for schooling. They had some weird red tape for being accepted. I never would fully receive the money I would ask for. They would tell me that a good chunk of the money was to come from parental contribution. And I had to explain that my parents don’t contribute a nickel. Yet they told me that it doesn’t matter, we still consider they do and only give you so much and they are expected to give the rest. And I would be steaming in my head saying, BUT HEY DON’T! Then an advisor said, don’t worry, your 23 now, and the law is that at age 24, you are considered completely independent and will receive all the money you apply for. I was relieved yet asking in my head, “WTF kind of system is this?” Had I known that is how the system works, I would have waited till 24 to go to college. I should have had the mindset of getting away from all bad influences and worked two jobs then. Saved money and got a clue of what I wanted to do than have gone to college.

Of course at age 19, your name is in the system and credit card offers come in the mail. They still do daily and annoyingly. Maybe I will add later about the top ten consumer complaints that aired yesterday on the news for Americans and Marketing. But I was kid with no money, no savings, barely making it and now I have credit cards to buy now pay later for. Well by my mid 20s, I was in debt way over to what was coming in and it’s hard to say I hit rock bottom because when haven’t I been at rock bottom?

College was very frustrating as there was only one school I felt that was affordable and would give me some kind of recognition worthy of attending when applying for jobs after. But classes were seldom available. They were always full and you had to beg and get up at 4 am to get in lines to try and be in the top 3 sign-ups that the professors might take. Only once did I get a class that way. I would get warnings from financial aid that if I don’t obtain at least 12 credits and take the money, disciplinary action will follow.

I would attend on an off depending if I had some money, well where at least the minimum payments of everything didn’t tie up every dime. A real trying year should have been my junior year, but the State law was that a student needs to pass a written English proficiency exam in order to be considered junior status. If you fail, your status remains a sophomore (last priority when it comes to getting classes). You don’t know the subject until it is handed out at test time. If you have no idea what the current event is on, how can you write about it? Plus, English, my worst subject: grammar, comprehension, and vocabulary). I failed the first time and had to wait a year before I could take it again. So again, last priority, two classes if I was lucky towards my major. I passed the exam the following year. The year after that, I went back for my senior year, all was fine. I got my remaining credits and attended classes. One class, the internship, didn’t meet for two weeks to begin with because of the holiday. When that day came, I was called to the front after the class along with a transfer student. We were asked why didn’t you come see me (the professor) 6 weeks prior to the year beginning? ‘Didn’t know I had to” was my response. He insisted it was in the course curriculum book. I insisted it was not. He told me I could not be in the class as I could not be placed at a job now, it was too late and I have no portfolio. I went home, found the course book and I was right it was NOT there. I went to the Dean who replied, “hmm, must have been in the spring book and not the fall book”. So I withdrew from college and sent back the unspent money to financial aid and decided to return the following semester and work on that portfolio.

I sent the money back as I would not have had 12 credits, only 9. I received a letter a few months later saying I violated financial aid again by not obtaining the required credits and that no further financial aid will be given to me. I called, furious and with questions because I sent the money back! They responded, “Sorry, you spent $55 of the money did you not?” Yes was my reply as I needed books and some supplies for other classes that met two week prior to one. Well since I spent a part of the money received, even if it was a dollar, I needed to have x amount of credits. THAT’S IT! I HAVE HAD IT! I AM DONE WITH THIS! That was my attitude about the system, college know it all professors, traveling, parking, the whole bit I couldn’t stand. I was also not very good in my chosen field.

So back out into the system I went with $14,000 in school loan debt and $4000 in credit cards with max interest rates. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re only making competitive wage and trying to pay for everything else, the money isn’t there. Angry, bitter, depressed, spiritually beaten, I didn’t care anymore. The system had won and never showed any mercy. My community and connections could care less for my woes and say it was my fault. Life would constantly repeat itself that no help would come from anywhere but myself. Who gets help and why? Who rises to the top and gets opportunities? Is the system fair? Unbiased? Who gets what jobs and why? What kind of people end up working third shift? Who gets all the modeling and acting jobs? How much do those jobs pay? Are they all that hard? Why is Rachel Ray on every box and not Paula Dean? Would an ugly investigative reporter be in Lisa Ling’s job? Does happiness come from "within" and salary, attention, and environment mean so little?

You had the 42-year-old female stripper and asked her why does she strip for a living.  I dont believe this is a Man's World, I believe this is a Woman's World.  If you have a body, and money up the wazoo is there for the making - why not?  What about morals and what you have to go through? Compared to work ethics; morals of CEOs and what conditions some factory workers go through. Hell yeah if I was a woman with a body and needed a way out, why not?  Hmm I can make $75,000/yr or $21,000, which do I chose?

I should mention that after my father’s death last year, I heard a story from one of my uncles. We knew my father had this kind of unofficial godchild. A woman who came to work for him in his restaurant, which my uncle had given him. Her name was Kelly and she told us my father was a Godsend. My father told her she couldn’t have a job because she wasn’t 16. She put on an apron and went to work any ways and kept doing things until my father would hire her. She came from a dysfunctional family. A family with major problems. She turned her life around. She enjoys her life in California and she credits my father for being the person who made a difference. My uncle told me a story of when my dad left the restaurant given to him to go into the priesthood. The waitresses were wondering where my Dad had gone? So my uncle told them he left and the girls were upset because apparently my dad told them he was going to pay for their college tuition! Well that explained to my uncle where all the money had gone from this moneymaking cash cow.

My father did start to send us some money from California to Wisconsin when I was around 15 I think it was. $50 a month, which was a lot of money back then. I took some of the money and bought a Walkman. A prestigious item for a teenager back in our days. I kept it hidden from my mother, as she would want to know where I got the money. Well my older brother wanted to get me in trouble one thing lead to another and she wanted to start charging us rent – what a coincidence, $50 a month. So I wrote my father and said don’t send the money, mother will just take it.

But now think if my father had put that $50 into bank accounts for us for college when the time came? And here I am back questioning the philosophy, it is not others who are responsible for you, only you are responsible for you and you quality of life and happiness. Others have no impact or can be relied upon in Life. Still struggle with that one now and again.

So what kind of jobs could I get and still can only get? “How fast can you move” jobs. There is no thinking, there is no talking, you monitor your station and you MOVE or else. So despite what Tori Johnson and all other job satisfaction gurus write, old school is still a very much part of our culture. Where corporate thinking is, your not here to make friends, bosses aren’t to be nice, make the message loud and clear. They say Safety, Quality and Production are policy in that order, but only when someone gets hurt or items come back for poor quality. Nine times out of ten its, “Lets go lets go lets go! This order has to get done and out the door!” We need you to work this weekend, do as I say not as I do, blah, blah, blah and with your latest O magazine article, yep, what happens when you say “No” to management. They want yes men only, blind obedience. People are spent, burnt, gloom hangs on their faces and they get on each others nerves about how to do things, how you’re suppose to do things, but don’t you tell me when I am slacking or wrong.

When you make your rounds around work or around town. Do you ever observe people’s faces? Where they hide outside the building to get away from everything. Have a cigarette and just have this, “can’t wait to get out of here” look?

How do you get out? Gurus say to surround yourself with positive people. People who believe in you or your dreams. People who will support your efforts to be a better person. Where are these people? I can find virtual ones in magazines, long dead writers who wrote books, and online web sources. I wrote in a blog once how Valerie Bertinelli was a virtual hero after I saw an interview with her lashing out at magazines to “stop messing with our minds!”. But in real life, here around me, among my acquaintances? Over the years I have come to wonder what good are people? What good are the people I know? I have only met a rare few in my 40 years. But I cannot go to them, for they are married and have family. To seek their council would mean I am not working at my station, and
after work is out of the question, they are of the opposite sex and people would read other meanings into it.

Four people who enrich my spirit are, have been:
1) Kris. She was a crew supervisor at my first job at Burger King. I was asked to work a double shift to which I agreed. But you can’t work 16 straight hours, you have to have a break in-between. So I was sitting in back in the break room. Some time later Kris walked back there and asked what the hell am I still doing there. I told her I don’t have a ride and home is seven miles way. She took out the keys to her car and said, “Here, take my car.” Doesn’t seem like much, it was even a ford pinto, but no one had ever trusted me or would do such a thing for me. She was cool. She was the kind of person my social click would never have hanged out with in high school. Leather jackets, cigarette smoker, what we nicknamed as ‘burnouts’, and degenerates to society. She was one of the coolest people I have ever known and always had a smile. She stayed at Burger King, went on to be head manager. Than, 20 years later, management let her go. The two stores in the city struggled for cash and they cut all the major expenses. Near as anyone can figure, she was one of them (the expenses). She went to work for McDonalds and I didn’t get to stop in like when she worked at Burger King over the years to say, “hey”, as she was being constantly moved. I saw her at the local library one day, she had a book on “how to write a resume”, things apparently were not going well and she needed to look for a new job for her family and for herself.
2) Jill. I met her while I was a janitor for a Senior home. She was a registered nurse working in one of the wings of the establishment. I would go to her for her smile and her advice on dating. On the weekends the nursing staff would always be short handed for feeding the residents and she would ask for my help. I couldn’t resist that face. They gave me the easy ones. One of my favorites was Leonard. He couldn’t speak, and would slowly move his head and mumble with his jaw. In there somewhere was a conversation and a thank you. I knew I would get in trouble on Monday as someone would complain about a floor in another part of the building was only cleaned once but was suppose to get cleaned twice (after each meal).
3) Traci and Lori. My current supervisors. They didn’t like me at first. Here I was, a temp for what would be, I think I am going on my 35th job? Yeah I will get to that. But I needed a new job and yep back into the same ole same ole system. Same old waste of time interview questions, same old spiel, yeah, yeah can we just get to the monkey see monkey do job already. That might be a subject you want to do one day if you haven’t already. Temp agencies, why they are, how good are they and how do temps get treated in society by employees and by culture. Two years later here, I am still a temp, half by choice, half by not. Traci was the first supervisor in a long time to have personality. She was also one of the only few who would allow me to have an opinion, a very vocal one, and be able to take it and sometimes work a compromise and sometimes not. She now works in another part of the building and is not my supervisor anymore, but we get in our verbal fun in passing. Lori did not like me when I started. I recently learned she grew up on a small farm when she was kid out in a 'barely aware of' area much like I grew up in. Out in the town of Rubicon, Nabob area. She had no extra curricular activities. Before school as a child she had to do barn chores, than ready for school, than go straight home for more farm chores. “Gundrums was your name”, I asked. You and I might be cousins. Turns out we were not but she is still cool nonetheless. What makes Lori cool? Her work ethics, her convictions, her willpower, and she is the only person I know, or maybe it has just been so long, who encourages me to keep trying. Whether it is the lottery or some hair brained scheme I have in my head, keep trying, one day you will succeed.

I once counted all the jobs I worked at, either for a day, a week or a year or more. I know it is over 30. So now I know, there is something wrong with me right? Bells and alarms are going off, this guy has a problem. Well I would dare you to go back to all the jobs I have been at, and see the turnover ratio at these jobs. Who stays there and why? Are the management people related or married? What do the employees earn and what benefits do they get? What do the people there like to do outside of work, and in some cases, while at work? What are the conditions of these places? Is that company still in business or is it an empty building now? Speaking of benefits, I have been to the dentist 2 times in twenty years. Oh my God! What? Well enclosed are my earnings over the years and most employers don’t provide benefits anymore. Read articles about how companies go overseas and try to cut out all the benefits for employees as possible - yet the CEO lives large. Plus check out the latest polls and stats on the issues for this year’s Presidency and one being health and insurance issues. Or read some of the national magazine articles of the past few years. Topics such as, “I can’t afford to be sick”.

There have been other possible turning points in my life where I made mistakes or something could have gone my way. One being the time I tripled my income earnings and got a job that actually paid a little. But then I went and got my first ever brand new car because I was tired of how others perceived me in my junkers. You always want the money back after finding out it wasn’t worth it. Now I have a used van and I can get four tires compared to the cost of one Camaro high performance tire. I could have paid off my debt, maybe went back to college?

When one place I worked at closed they offered to pay for schooling. But you had to go in a certain time frame – immediately! Or the money wouldn’t be available any more. I applied to a college, got accepted, got my orientation letter. Went to orientation and saw a counselor who told me I was set and to go down to the registration desk. Stood in line, and when I gave them my slip – all classes were full! How could this be? She said I should have signed up weeks ago. How could I have? The letter said today was my orientation/registration day? So the time frame was blown.

I have always wanted to be my own boss but trying to start a business without knowing how to write a proposal plus no financial backing is impossible. I read a lot of articles how people start their dream jobs, but I have had no luck. I have found trying to hire others for their skills is too expensive and unreliable. I tried T-shirts; I tried some watch designs to Harley Davidson and Star Trek (Paramount). Got an interesting response form Harley Davidson and Majel Roddenberry for the Star Trek watches. But in the end, they weren’t interested. The most recent scheme was to try and start my own social network. Cost quotes were outrageous and I researched for over a year. Seeking help and information from people was rarely useful and in the end I hired a small firm for roughly $1400. But I didn’t like any of their work from the first Artwork return and asked for revisions which they refused and said they did what I asked, works done and time allocated is used up. Well I got the local contact TV help to get involved and low and behold if they didn’t change their tune and I didn’t have to pay the full amount. Still lost out on $700 but…

Last year I wanted to just get out of here. I put everything I had into a $20 a month storage unit and drove to California. I took in the sites as I drove and got to see a lot of things I never saw before. I attended a Deal or No Deal audition but I was not show material. I traveled around a little bit more and lived out of my van for near three months. Yes, it’s amazing what you can do with so little money and put your mind to work creatively finding things to use. But eventually I settled back into a State I dislike, a community that interests me little and a job that is unfulfilling. I reside 4 blocks away so I can walk to work and pay little for gas (prices). I live in an efficiency, as I don’t own much. Even what little I own, there is enough hobby stuff there to last me ten years if I want to work on it. So my bills are minimal and I keep a journal now. I waste a lot of money on snacks and boredom items. I buy things thinking I will use them or find them entertaining but I do not.

My debt should be fully and finally paid off by June. But what to do then? I haven’t been to a doctor in ages. My body has many ailments. I do need to see a dentist. But what about after all that, if the doctor bills don’t take it all away. How many years do I have left? I am not that old but my body hinders me a lot (my knee and my back).

What is my inner voice saying? It is telling me I still want to get away. Away from all the unhappy people. All the people that are too busy. The community that only cares for certain people, a country that is not united except when it needs votes, sales, donations and viewers. Something is just screaming get out and go live somewhere else.

I do try to make a difference. How much effort do I put into that? Some. When I go into low wage places where I am a regular customer, I will eventually try to get a person’s name. They are afraid and want to know why and I will say that it is better than “hey you, how are doing?” And for a while it works and one can make their day better as I am sure most just drive through get what they want and drive off. Its amazing when you treat these workers at these places like people instead of rejects how their faces change. I try to make people smile at work but it don’t usually work (stress prevails). And when you are on the last rung of the ladder, no one fears your position or sees you as much of anything.

But I have researched and I can’t get out based on what sources say. To relocate would be costly, which makes me even more confused with the two gentlemen who left their countries with nothing, got here, educated, a great job and a great life. All of which doesn’t count as happiness is all in your head and your mindset, not what is around you or what you have right? I have no passion to create because an idea without a plan or money is just an idea. What possible idea could I skillfully and financially do on my own? To increase my income would require higher learning, but what do I want to learn? How long would it take? Who would hire a 40+ year old vs. a fresh good-looking college kid? How much living is there yet to do? What is the best possible life with what I have, got or can do?

Hopefully, in time, something, someone or some thought will come to mind again and be the thing that makes me feel fulfilled. Where would Mary J. Blige be if she didn’t meet the people she did (good and bad)? What if she never had made it? Would she be just as happy, full of joy and at peace? Or Chris Rock. What if Eddie Murphy just walked through and never asked the managers to put him up on stage? I accidentally came across a web site today called TMZ. If anyone wants fame and fortune, I would have to think this site would make them think twice. It’s insane.

My Income Sheet
1985 $1,898
1986 $6,296
1987 $5,442
1988 $6,258
1989 $5,442
1990 $7,075
1991 $4,934
1992 $4,761
1993 $7,604
1994 $5,368
1995 $5,739
1996 $7,423
1997 $20,223
1998 $27,645
1999 $24,000
2000 $14,320
2001 $6,417
2002 $20,047
2003 $23,668
2004 $23,000
2005 $21,526

In 1966, the year I was born, the average household income was roughly $7,000. Homes, cars, gas were very inexpensive compared to now. One can research all that and find the information. You can also research household incomes through

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/incomestats.html
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h03ar.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States