THOSE BORN 1920-1979

THOSE BORN  1920-1979
First,  we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were  pregnant.
They  took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get  tested for diabetes.
Then  after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs  covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
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  infants &    children,  we would ride in cars with Rumbel seats no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding  in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We  drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We  shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and  NO  ONE  actually died from this.
We  ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with  sugar, but we weren’t overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE  PLAYING!
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.And we were OK.
We    would  spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ridedown 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    did  not have Playstations, Nintendo’s,  X-boxes, no video games at all,no 150 channels on cable, no video movies  or DVD’s, no surround-sound    or  CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or  chatrooms……. And guess what, we were not bored!
WE HAD FRIENDS  and we went outside and found them!
We  fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no  lawsuits from these accidents. But then, we only had 10% of the lawyers we  have today.
We  ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us  forever.
We    were given BB  guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with  sticks    and  tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did  not    poke  out very many eyes.
We  rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house 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. Imagine that!! There were honest to  goodness, real disappointments.
The  idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They  actually sided with the law!
These  generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers  and inventors ever!
The  past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. Some of  the more recent liberal ideas have set us way back.
We had freedom,  failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT  ALL!
If  YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind  of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

~ by Kitt Gagnon on January 8, 2009.

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