Friday, February 11, 2011

Today’s segment is not an original…although I wish it were because it echoes the sentiments of many of us who grew up and did things which today may seem shocking. It’s aimed at those born when times were simpler and while today’s young people may disagree in this case “the good old days really were.”

• We survived being born to mothers who may have 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 in baby cribs covered with brightly colored lead-based paints. We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors 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 seat belts, booster seats or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
• We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soda with four friends from one bottle and no one got sick or died. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar and we were NOT overweight. WHY?
• Because we were always outside playing. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, often until it got dark. Mom or Dad could not reach us but that was okay. We would spend hours building things and playing games. We did not have Play Station, Nintendo and X-Box. There were no video games, no 300 TV channels to choose from, no videos or DVD’s, no surround sound or CD’s, 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 those accidents. We would get spanked or hit from time to time and nobody called child services to report abuse.
• We were given BB guns as birthday presents, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and didn’t have to keep score. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell or just walked in. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who did not learned what being disappointed was all about.
• Those born from the 1930’s to the 1970’s turned out to be 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 all.
• Most of us wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything…. Not even an I Phone.