First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and
didn't get tested for diabetes.
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. Even
being pulled behind a car on a sled....
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, bread and 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, sometimes,
no T.V...........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 made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and dirt and
although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes,
nor did the worms live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, and just 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!
The generation of 30's, 40's, 50's & 60's 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!
|