: ICan'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, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't
have survived.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
lead-based paint. 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 pickup truck on a warm day was
always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not
from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, 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 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 ate worms, and although we were told it would
happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us
forever.
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.
Little
League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to
learn to deal with disappointment. 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 a parent bailing us out if we
broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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're one
of them! Congratulations.
Please pass this on to others who have had
the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our
lives, for our own good.
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