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 were not tested for diabetes. After the trauma of birth , our baby cots 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 truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the tap and garden hose, 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 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 Play stations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on DSTV, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........We had real friends and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees together, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We injected 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!
Sport had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who did not have 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!
And that was before the lawyers, the politicians and the government regulated our lives for our own good............”The good old days!”
(Contributed)