People over 30 should be dead!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
kids in the 50's, 60's, or the early 70'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 rarely 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, email,
MSN 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!
Our 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.
Baby-Boomers have had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,
and we learned how to deal with it all.
And you're one of them!
Congratulations.
Anon