Congratulations! You've Made It!

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored, lead-based paint. We had no child-proof 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 rode 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 leave home in the morning and play all day as long as were back home when the lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day long. No cell phones!

Unthinkable!!! We didn't have PlayStations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games, no 99-channel cable TV, videotape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, no personal computers or internet chat rooms. We had friends!!! We went outside and found them.

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! We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

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. Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors!!!!

School tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were out own. Consequences were expected. 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 risktakers 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 to deal with it all. Makes a person wonder what happened to society!!!!




My mom sent this to me a few years back.
Written by Dick Peer who is a retired editor of "The Leader" (1961-1987)