Email Files
Had this in a folder...no idea who wrote it, but it's pertinent..
I Can't Believe You Made It" !
If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's,
60's or 70's.
Looking back, it's hard to believe that
we have lived as long as we have...
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.
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 hitchhiking to town as a
young kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose and
not from a bottle. Horrors.
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
streetlights came on. No one was able to reach
us all day.
No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball
and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We
got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and
there were no law suits 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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank
sugar soda but we were never overweight...we
were always outside playing. We shared one
grape soda with four friends, from one bottle
and no one died from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64,
X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on
cable, video tape movies, surround sound,
personal cell phones, Personal Computers,
Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We
went outside and found them. We rode bikes
or walked to a friend's home and knocked on
the door, or rung the bell or just walked in
and talked to them.
Imagine such a thing. Without asking a
parent! By ourselves! Out there in the
cold cruel world! Without a guardian.
How did we do 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.
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. No one to hide behind. 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 has been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom,
failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned how to deal with it all.
Had this in a folder...no idea who wrote it, but it's pertinent..
I Can't Believe You Made It" !
If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's,
60's or 70's.
Looking back, it's hard to believe that
we have lived as long as we have...
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.
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 hitchhiking to town as a
young kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose and
not from a bottle. Horrors.
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
streetlights came on. No one was able to reach
us all day.
No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball
and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We
got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and
there were no law suits 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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank
sugar soda but we were never overweight...we
were always outside playing. We shared one
grape soda with four friends, from one bottle
and no one died from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64,
X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on
cable, video tape movies, surround sound,
personal cell phones, Personal Computers,
Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We
went outside and found them. We rode bikes
or walked to a friend's home and knocked on
the door, or rung the bell or just walked in
and talked to them.
Imagine such a thing. Without asking a
parent! By ourselves! Out there in the
cold cruel world! Without a guardian.
How did we do 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.
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. No one to hide behind. 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 has been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom,
failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned how to deal with it all.
