What do you think?
Sometimes you read something that just strikes a cord with you, something that just seems to speak on so many levels, this is just such a piece. This is an excerp from a book called Down Town Chic, a great book on its own, this page however seemed to stand alone.
Please comment if you agree.
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even the early 80s, probably shouldn’t have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead based paint. We had no childproof lids on the 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 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 our friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of wood scraps and fruit crates and them rode them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running them 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 by cell phone. Unthinkable! We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no ninety-nine channels on cable, videotape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or internet chat rooms. We had neighborhood friends! We played dodge ball, and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We played other games such as Kick the Can and Capture the flag. We fell out of the 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.
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 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 we just walked in. Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Some of us weren’t as smart as others, so we failed a grade and we were help back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected, no one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the 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!-Anonymous
