Some people say that life before was far more secure whereas others say that it had way less life opportunities

I think that life that time had a lot of opportunities as well. First of all, if you studied well, you could choose any profession you liked and get good education. Second, you could work on any field you chose without being sorted out by the amount of money you had, only your personal qualities mattered. You could also express yourself in many different ways and have a lot of things for free that supported your opportunities.

At the same time there are people who say you could not have your own business. You could not travel abroad.

In my opinion these people have a point. People could not run their own business and travel abroad like they do it now. Nevertheless, they traveled inside of the country a lot. They found the opportunities to express themselves on government services.

In conclusion, I'd like to say that life that time was definitely safer, people had enough for their basic needs had no reasons to commit crimes. Considering opportunities, people had fewer of them but not that much as it is talked now.