If you lived as a child in the
40's, 50's, 60's or 70's.
Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we
have...
As children, we would ride in cars
with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on
a warm day was always a special treat.
Our baby cribs were covered with
bright colored lead based paint.
We had no childproof lids on
medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we
had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young
kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose
and not from a bottle. Horrors.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode
down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After
running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.
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.
We even camped in the wilderness as
Boy Scouts with no adults to tell us what to do or protect us
from.....No cell phones. Unthinkable.
We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.
We got cut and broke bones and
broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They
were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each
other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter,
and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight...we were always
outside playing.
We shared one grape soda with four
friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games
at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound,
personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we
had friends. We went outside and found them.
We rode bikes or walked to a
friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked
in and talked to them.
We had parties in our homes
where the first cheek to cheek was always heavenly.
We danced like our lives depended
on it, and we played charades or other healthy games trying
always to call attention to somebody we cared for. Can you believe it?
No material objects were needed to get noticed by loved ones. Imagine
such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the
cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?
We made up games with sticks and
tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen,
we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us
forever.
Little League had tryouts and not
everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with
disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they
failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors.
Tests were not adjusted for any
reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to
hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was
unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has 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're one
of them. Congratulations!
We are sending this to friends we
grew uap with and who have had the luck to grow up as kids,
before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
