Monday, May 05, 2008

We should all be dead by now

This little homage to an earlier, less precious, less PC, less uber-sucky 'nanny state' comes via Laughing Wolf's blog. It originated with Jay Leno. I've seen it before, but it's worth repeating. I found it amusing that this province, which reaps huge revenues from tobacco sales has carried its oozing preciousness to the idea of banning smoking in cars carrying children. I want to know how they plan to enforce yet another encroachment on personal freedom. This is not to say that parents who smoke while kiddies are in the car shouldn't be horsewhipped, but I wonder what happened with those of us who grew up with parents smoking in the car with the windows rolled up? How come we're still alive?

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s!

First, we survived being born to motherswho 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.

After that trauma, we were put to sleep,on our tummies, in baby cribs covered with bright, colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,locks on doors, drawers or cabinets...and when we rode our bikes,we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads.

As infants and children,we would ride in cars with no car seats,booster seats, 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,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, real butter... and bacon.

We drank Kool-aid, made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight.

WHY?Because we were always outside, playing...that's why! We would leave home in the morning,and play all day, as long as we were backwhen the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us, all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-cartsout of scraps... and then ride down the hill,only to find out we forgot about brakes.

After running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve that problem.We did not have Playstations, Nintendos or Xboxes.

There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,no videos or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs,no cell phones, no personal computers,no Internet... and no 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 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 could happen,we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house,knocked on the door or rang the bell,or just walked in... and talked with 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!

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.We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility,and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them...
CONGRATULATIONS!!!


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12 Comments:

Blogger Big Brother said...

Yes that is how it was, we left the house at 8 am and returned at sunset, except for a half hour for lunch and supper. Played pickup baseball for hours at a time, rode our bikes over North Mountain to the Bay of Fundy, jumped off the cliffs into the pool at the bottom of Crystal Falls... and yes we're still alive, don't know how but it was a great time...

6:17 PM  
Blogger jmb said...

It's amazing any child survives to adulthood, then or now. Often completely the luck of the draw.

7:19 PM  
Blogger Dreaming again said...

And yet my son won't make it to his high school graduation (which is thursday) if he doesn't pay for his car insurance!!!

7:37 PM  
Blogger Janice Thomson said...

I love this post - you've really hit the nail on the head! Today's overweight children wouldn't have a clue how to make a go-cart - they are too busy with computer games and text messaging in between the rides they get to school.

7:56 PM  
Blogger heiresschild said...

you could leave your doors unlocked, ride your bikes for miles without being mugged for the bike, and play outside with no fears of being raped or kidnapped. aahhh, gone are the good ol' days!

9:01 PM  
Blogger geewits said...

What a great post. Now I want to go out in the woods and build a fort!

10:44 PM  
Blogger laughingwolf said...

thx for the plug, ian....

4:35 AM  
Blogger Tai said...

Even the eighties were like that...at least in Cumberland. LOL!

8:13 AM  
Blogger Jazz said...

And when we were wrongly accused in school and had detention, our parents STILL sided with the teacher and we learned that life isn't fair and to just get on with it already.

8:16 AM  
Blogger kimber said...

I miss playing until twilight, building forts, wandering in the woods, riding bikes, climbing trees -- how else will my little Z learn to play like that, unless I show her?

9:11 AM  
Blogger Dr. Deb said...

So true, so true!

11:14 AM  
Blogger Leslie Hawes said...

Recently, I was listening to the TV and heard that a new "miracle" antibiotic component had been discovered in of all places ... soil.

Yep. Good ol' dirty dirt. Who knew?

4:54 PM  

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