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First,
we survived being born to mothers who smoke and/or drank while they
carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a
tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our
baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead based paints. We had
no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or catches on doors or
cabinets,when we rode our bikes we had no helmets, not to mention the
risks we took hitch hiking.
As
children we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or airbags. Riding
in the back of a van (loose) was great fun. We drank water from a
garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with
four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We
ate cakes, white bread and real butter, drank pop with sugar in it,
but we weren't overweight because........
WE
WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We
would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all
day, and we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out
of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find that we had
forgotten the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we
learned to solve the problem.
We
did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at
all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround
sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no
Internet or Internet Chat Rooms..........
WE
HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
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We
fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuit from these accidents. We played with worms and mud pies made
from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. Made up game
with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would
happen, we did not poke out any eyes. We rode our bikes or walked to
a friends house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just
yelled for them!
Local
teams had try outs and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment, imagine that!! The idea of
a parent baling us out if we broke the law was unheard of, they
actually sided with the law!
This
generation has produced some of the best-risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are
one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You
might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up
as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives
for our own good, and while you are at it, show it to your kids so
they will know how brave their parents were. Kind of makes you want
to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
PS-
The BIG type is because your eyes are shot at your age.
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