Lanita, Makes me think back, too. A little further than I care to admit, but I guess we all survived because our folks did the best they could with what they knew. The rest they left to faith. Maybe that's it. N Lanita M wrote: > > This was just sent to me.. Makes me think back... How about you? > > HOW DID WE SURVIVE??? > > You are probably over forty if you get this or approaching it: You lived > as a child in the 50s or the 60s. Looking back, it's hard to believe > that we have lived as long as we have................. > > As children, we would ride 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. > > Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had > no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we > rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a > young kid!) > > We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors. We > would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 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. > No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball > would really hurt. > > We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth and there were no law suits > from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. > Remember accidents? > > We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned > to get over it. > > We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were > never overweight.... .....We were always outside playing. We shared one > grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this? > > We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at > all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal > cellular phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms, ............... > > We had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or > walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell > or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without > asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without > a guardian. How did we do it? > > 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 inside us forever. > > Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who > didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students > weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to > repeat the same grade.....Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any > reason. > > Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide > behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was > unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that! > > This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem > solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has 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're one > of them. > > Congratulations! > > Please pass this on to others that have had the luck to grow up as kids, > before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good?