You are hereHow did we survive?
How did we survive?
To All The Kids Who Survived The 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
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 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, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, 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 O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride 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 did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...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.
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 in us forever.
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!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has 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.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!
And you are one of them! Congratulations!
Syndicate
There's nothing wrong with it - the past gives things an appealing sheen (or is it more of a sepiatone texture?), but nostalgia takes firmest root when civilization seems to be declining and society doesn't want to take responsibility.
When we couldn't wait to leave home so that we could be our own person. Now kids stay at home into their 20s and 30s. When interacting with a policeman, you said yes sir and no sir. When the crime rate was less than half of what it is now.
Now the emphasis is on the individual, rather than societies needs. "I have rights" is the mantra, but no responisiblities. If it feels good, do it, don't worry about consequences. I deserve health care, free food, and a job that pays $100,000 a year. I will not work for minimum wage and I will not work at a job that is dirty or hard.
Back then teachers and government workers were low paid and no one took those jobs unless they had to. Now these are some of the highest paid (non)workers and people line up to get one of these jobs. And incidently they were better workers in those days. Now you can't fire a government worker unless they are criminal. Work is not a requirement.
Now if you are a businessman, an oil field worker or miner, you are evil. If you are are a fisherman, just slimey. Government workers and university professors are pure and untainted by that awful search for profit. The fact that many are incompetent is immaterial. If you make your living from a non-profit, you are the highest of the high, the best of the best, someone who acts from the purist of motives, but wouldn't know how to make a buck if their life depended on it.