Life Before the Pink & Fluffy Brigade
I Can't Believe We Made It!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.
Policemen could clip naughty children round the ear (and wouldn't be prosecuted for child abuse)
We were scared of Policemen and Teachers!
We got the cane at school - and soon mended our ways or got expelled.
Bad children were put into borstal - not sent on holdays as their feelings were probably hurt!
We saved up to buy things
Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
We had no child proof lids or locks 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 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 mobile phones. Unthinkable!
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo, 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 football, 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, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes.
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.
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 parents bailing us out if we got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the school or the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever.
We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility --- and we learned how to deal with it.
And you're one of them who have had the luck to grow up as kids before lawyers and government regulated our lives for our own good!!!
Congratulations!
One Thing That Adults Have Learned
1. Raising teenagers is like nailing Jelly to a tree.
2. There is always a lot to be thankful for if you take time to look for it. For example, I am sitting here thinking how nice it is that wrinkles don't hurt.
3. One reason to smile is that every seven minutes of every day, someone in an aerobics class pulls a hamstring.
4. The best way to keep kids at home is to make the home a pleasant atmosphere and let the air out of their tires.
5. Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly car payment is due.
6. Families are like fudge...mostly sweet with a few nuts.
7. Laughing helps. It's like jogging on the inside.
8. My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.
9. If you can remain calm, you just don't have all the facts.
10. You know you're getting old when you bend down to tie your shoes up and wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
A Smile
A smile costs nothing, but it creates much.
It enriches those who receive it,
without impoverishing those who give it.
It happens in a flash,
and the memory of it may last forever.
None are so rich that they can
get along without it,
and none so poor that they cannot
be richer for its benefits.
It creates happiness in the home,
fosters goodwill in a business,
and is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary,
daylight to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and nature's best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be begged, bought, borrowed,
or stolen, for it is something that is worth
nothing to anyone until it is given away.
Nobody needs a smile so much as
those who have none left to give.