The whole *world* was a better place when I was a child. That's because I was a *child*. Everything is better when you're a child. No worries, no responsibilies, playtime is all the time. A child has no real understanding of the troubles of the world because they're sheltered from it. So *of course* the country is going to be a better place during childhood. Kids only have a vauge sense, if any, of the world and its troubles. Anything outside of the bubble of "yay happy fun kid time" is foreign to most children. So the view we have to look back on is going to be rose-tinted pretty much no matter what.