I Can't Believe We Made It!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even the early 70's, probably shouldn't have survived......
Because,
We had no childproof lids or locks 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 pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the cistern and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, cocoa sandwiches, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
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 street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
We had friends! We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?
We swam in the Bayous and no one got sick or died from the bacteria in the water.
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put our eyes out.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
There was no Little League. If we wanted to play baseball we choose up sides and found an empty field somewhere to play. No Parents or other supervision. Egad!
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. The idea of parents bailing us out if we got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the school or the law. Imagine that!
And finally we felt it an honor to stand before class and recite the Pledge of Allegiance without fear that someone would take offense because of personal or religious differences.
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever.
We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility --- and we learned how to deal with it.
Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before Lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and government deadheads regulated our lives for our own good !!!
