Da Blogs Da Thang: I don't usually do this...

I don't usually do this...

Published Monday, March 27, 2006 by lecram sinun | E-mail this post

... but a friend sent this to me via EMAIL... and I thought I'd share it.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN 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 carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

* Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-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 children, we would ride in cars with no 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 soda 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 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 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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 put 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 yelled for 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!

* 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, forward 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?!

7 Responses to “I don't usually do this...”

Unknown on March 27, 2006 10:01 AM

I agree with that, with the obvious caveat, it is a rosy view of the past. I certainly think seat belts, for example, represent a concrete and definite improvement in life.

Mostly, I wonder what the digi-kids will be criticizing their children for in 50 years time?

Judas Penrose
Poetry Politics and Piracy
Unknown on March 27, 2006 10:35 AM

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

I used to go play in the stream across the street and perform Worm Rescue. I didn't want them to drown. And we would sit by the creek and wait for the crawfish (there was just the one) to come out and we'd watch him...crawfish around..and there'd be ducks swimming...I used to take my older brother's dirt bike (BMX of course) and ride the bike trail in the woods alone. Now such a thing would be like trailing a neon sign like PEDOPHILE MURDERERS COME HERE! but not back then.

though my mom didn't drink or smoke. In fact she even gave up Tab for me.

And if you frelled up at school, your parents heard about it, made sure you neverforgot it, and didn't sue the school. You had to actually try to make the honor roll, and yeah, I made the softball team and other girls didn't. I was just better with a bat....
lime on March 27, 2006 5:48 PM

applauds this. and grabs my scissors to start running.....
Unknown on March 27, 2006 5:51 PM

Very good!! and every bit of it true. How did we survive? :P
lecram sinun on March 27, 2006 6:03 PM

Judas - yeah, there is a little irony that it was transmitted via email and posted here. LOL!

foxy - thanks for sharing... the celebration of "simpler times"... at least remembering them is always good for the soul. :)

lime - LMAO... that image is too funny!

dusty - glad we did though. :)
The Village Idiot on March 28, 2006 7:56 AM

Finally, someone with common sense.

However, having crashed on the bike more than once I can say that I think lil expanded polystyrene hats are a good thing.

Of course when I was a kid I was not screaming down a mtn on a footpath at 25 mph.

As far as risk takers, talk to my 8 yr old who thinks he should be able to jump off the roof as long as he lands on the grass because, the grass is softer than the concrete patio!
Anonymous on March 28, 2006 1:09 PM

yah...average age of death in the 30's? wayyyyy below now.

and when I was a kid, we had a paperboy friend of mine kidnapped and assaulted and killed, so that's not a modern trend (remember John Wayne Gacy? Just 45 minutes from my house).

I think we're over-regulated, sure, but it's all in the name of longevity.

But who the hell wants to live that long, really??? I'll be good to go in about 20 years, tops...