THOSE BORN 1920-1979
READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR QUOTE OF THE MONTH BY JAY LENO. IF YOU DON'T READ ANYTHING ELSE---VERY WELL STATED
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored l ead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose 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 cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, 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 out we forgot 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer's, no Internet or chat rooms......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have 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!
If 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 so much of our lives for our own good .
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this ON!
© Copyright 2010
30 comments
makes you think- what kind of pussies are the coming generations gonna be?
Down the park during the summer holiday playing football (soccer), building a camp in a tree, "scrumping" apples from the gardens and getting belly-ache, having "war games" on building sites and getting chased off by the fuzz! Taking a net on a stick and jam jar down to the local river and coming home with frogs, newts and tadpoles (mum's favourite!), jumping in any train to anywhere trying to avoid the ticket inspectors, building a sled from whatever and sliding down the steep hill at the local golf course with the green keeper in hot pursuit...from sun up to sun down!
Wow...that brings back memories of some innocent and some fun times! Wouldn't trade it for all the games at Nintendo!
Nice post! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
When the power company was replacing the poles on our street, my dad asked what they were going to do with them. When he was told that they were going to throw them away, he asked for them and got them. He was going to use them for firewood that winter but all summer my friends and I played on the pile (criss-crossed like lincoln logs) which was about 5 feet tall. We'd jump off it all the time and never got hurt. Lol, the poles were covered with cresote also which meant that we'd come in pretty blackened. But we never died from it,lol. I also decided to test whether the neighbor's electric fence was on by touching it with a file. Never did that again,lol. And when the neighbor put up his hay, he'd use a big stakebed pick up truck. My friends and my job was to climb up on top of the hay and tromp it down so that more hay would fit. When he was finally ready to go to the barn the truck would be piled up about 8 to 10 feet high with us on top. It never occurred to us or him that we might fall off. When we got to the barn we slid off the side of it. Was great fun.
That's one reason we moved to Montana, so that our kids could experience the rural lifestyle that we once enjoyed. It wasn't quite the same but there was much that was. Including having chickens running loose so that you had to be careful not to step out the door barefoot. Never knew what you might step in.
i enjoyed all the stories and want to hear more..
I for one when i read this had goose bumps just thinking of how great things were even thought we were broke.....
thanks again for all the great memories you all shared it was a fun trip down memory lane.........................