Over 30? You're dead!
Shadowfax
910 Posts
Nothing original here, saw it and enjoyed it:
If you grew up in the 40s, 50s, 60s, even early 70s, you shouldn't have survived, here's why:
Our baby cribs were covered witgh bright colored lead-based paint.
No child proof lids on medicine, doors or cabinents, we rode our bikes w/o helmets, sometimes we actually hitchhiked.
We rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
A ride in the back of the pickup on a hot day was a real treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not a bottle.
WE spent hours building our go karts out of scrap wood, then rode them down the hill w/o a thought of how to stop them.
We left in the morning and played all day to be back before the street lights came on. Then, we played kick the can under the street lights, and hid in the dark bushes behind our neighbors homes.
We did not have playstations, nintendo, no video games or movies, 2, if lucky 3 channels on the tv.
We had friends. We went outside and played with them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes that ball really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cuts and broken bones and teeth and no one sued. These were accidents.
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and got over it. We played games with sticks and anything round we could find, and although we were warned we would put someone's eye out, it almost never happened.
We rode bikes or walked to friends homes, rang the bell, or just walked in. We talked to our friends and to their parents.
Little league tryouts meant not everyone made the team. We learned to deal with disappointment.
Some of us wern't as smart as others - we failed and got sent back to repeat a grade.
If a teacher or the law whacked us, Dad would add to the punishment when he found out, not bail us out. WE knew our actions were our own. We knew ther'd be consequences - and there were.
This group of dead people were some of the most prolific problem solvers and inventers ever. They are responsible for the explosion of technology and innovation. They experienced freedom, failure, responsibility and success. They learned how to deal with life by experiencing it directly and paying the consequences of screwing it up. They liberated the world - more than once.They were neither over regulated nor under appreciated. Their self esteem was earned, sometimes more than once. If they broke something, they fixed it or went without. If it belonged to someone else, you fixed it if you could, if you couldn't, you worked it off. You didn't pay to have someone else put holes in your jeans - they got that way from real toil.
I suppose each generation has said somethng similar about their contemporaries - so why should we get all politically correct. There are, however, some real truths in there!
If you grew up in the 40s, 50s, 60s, even early 70s, you shouldn't have survived, here's why:
Our baby cribs were covered witgh bright colored lead-based paint.
No child proof lids on medicine, doors or cabinents, we rode our bikes w/o helmets, sometimes we actually hitchhiked.
We rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
A ride in the back of the pickup on a hot day was a real treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not a bottle.
WE spent hours building our go karts out of scrap wood, then rode them down the hill w/o a thought of how to stop them.
We left in the morning and played all day to be back before the street lights came on. Then, we played kick the can under the street lights, and hid in the dark bushes behind our neighbors homes.
We did not have playstations, nintendo, no video games or movies, 2, if lucky 3 channels on the tv.
We had friends. We went outside and played with them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes that ball really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cuts and broken bones and teeth and no one sued. These were accidents.
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and got over it. We played games with sticks and anything round we could find, and although we were warned we would put someone's eye out, it almost never happened.
We rode bikes or walked to friends homes, rang the bell, or just walked in. We talked to our friends and to their parents.
Little league tryouts meant not everyone made the team. We learned to deal with disappointment.
Some of us wern't as smart as others - we failed and got sent back to repeat a grade.
If a teacher or the law whacked us, Dad would add to the punishment when he found out, not bail us out. WE knew our actions were our own. We knew ther'd be consequences - and there were.
This group of dead people were some of the most prolific problem solvers and inventers ever. They are responsible for the explosion of technology and innovation. They experienced freedom, failure, responsibility and success. They learned how to deal with life by experiencing it directly and paying the consequences of screwing it up. They liberated the world - more than once.They were neither over regulated nor under appreciated. Their self esteem was earned, sometimes more than once. If they broke something, they fixed it or went without. If it belonged to someone else, you fixed it if you could, if you couldn't, you worked it off. You didn't pay to have someone else put holes in your jeans - they got that way from real toil.
I suppose each generation has said somethng similar about their contemporaries - so why should we get all politically correct. There are, however, some real truths in there!
Comments
>back before the street lights came on. Then, we
>played kick the can under the street lights, and
>hid in the dark bushes behind our neighbors
>homes.
I remember all the neighborhood kids hanging out in the vacant lot, riding our bikes, buying popsicles from the ding-ding man, messing around all day, nobody checking up on us. At around dusk, we'd hear moms yelling "DINNER!" and it was time to go home.
We'd leave our bikes on the driveway at night, and they were still there in the morning.
We'd camp out under sheet-tents in the back yard, and mom and dad never had to check on us.
And seatbelts! We used to ride in the waaayyy back of the station wagon with the seats that faced each other or faced the back window, not belted in. On the other hand, those tanks were so big, it'd take a semi to do any damage to them.
>back of the station wagon with the seats that
>faced each other or faced the back window, not
>belted in. On the other hand, those tanks were
>so big, it'd take a semi to do any damage to
>them.
Boy did you just dredge up a lot of memories of my childhood, HRQ. I remember the seats that faced backwards. I also remember getting carsick from riding backwards! However, I think it prepared me for my commute today. Have no problems riding backwards on the train and reading at the same time, now.
How is it we didn't manage to get ourselves killed?
What should have killed me many a times was jumping off our neighbors upper deck with my umbrella pretending to be Mary Poppins.
A friend's mom used to drive a Vista Cruiser. Remember they had those window thingies on the roof? And I'm not talking about a sunroof. They were more like rectangular portholes.
Good memories.
We didn't stomp our feet and demand anything, but we had enough.
Now that makes me think. How in the world did Mom do it all without instant potatoes, no microwave, using a wringer washer, no dryer, and no prepared convenience foods?
The bad news is my mother cooked using Chicken Schmaltz (Chicken Schmaltz is the fat that has to be taken off chicken soup after it has cooled. The cholesterol is devastating.
As time marches on, we soon learn who our champions are. In the future, I would look for you under "a" in the dictionary, for asinine.
x;-) Wanna fight about it?
I even remeber one time when my father came to pick me up from the park, he had dropped us kids off to spend some time there, I was getting in a fight with another kid. My father stepped in and separated us, set the rules, & then let us at each other. I came out the worse in that fight. But those were the days.
Sounds like some people are still after it!