Can't Believe We Made It!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats,
those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's,
probably shouldn't have survived.
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 the risks we took hitchhiking!
As kids we would be carted around in cars with no seat belts or
air bags and riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was
always a special treat.
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.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long
as we were back when the streetlights came on and no one was
able to reach us because cell phones hadn't been invented.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and
there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were
accidents. No one was to blame, but us...
We had fights and punched each other and got black
and blue and learned to get over it.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar cordial but
we were hardly ever overweight...because we were always
outside playing and although we shared one soft drink with four
friends, from one bottle, no one actually died.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video
games at all, 299 channels on cable, video taped movies,
surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers,
Internet chat rooms ...we had friends. We went outside and
found them.
We rode bikes, roller skated, or walked to their homes and
stood in front and yelled for them to come out to play, or
knocked on the door, rang the bell or just walked in to visit
them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By
ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! 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.
Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Some students
weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were
held back to repeat it. And the next time they usually passed.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected and
there was 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.
And despite ... or, perhaps, because of all this...this
generation has produced some of the most outstanding
risk-takers, problem solvers, innovators and inventors, ever.
The past 50 years has seen an explosion of advancement and
new ideas. Why? Because we were given freedom and
responsibility: the chance to succeed and to fail. And we
learned how to make the most of what we were given.
If you were one of us, congratulations!
If you weren't, too bad!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats,
those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's,
probably shouldn't have survived.
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 the risks we took hitchhiking!
As kids we would be carted around in cars with no seat belts or
air bags and riding in the back of a truck on a warm day was
always a special treat.
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.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long
as we were back when the streetlights came on and no one was
able to reach us because cell phones hadn't been invented.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and
there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were
accidents. No one was to blame, but us...
We had fights and punched each other and got black
and blue and learned to get over it.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar cordial but
we were hardly ever overweight...because we were always
outside playing and although we shared one soft drink with four
friends, from one bottle, no one actually died.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video
games at all, 299 channels on cable, video taped movies,
surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers,
Internet chat rooms ...we had friends. We went outside and
found them.
We rode bikes, roller skated, or walked to their homes and
stood in front and yelled for them to come out to play, or
knocked on the door, rang the bell or just walked in to visit
them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By
ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! 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.
Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Some students
weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were
held back to repeat it. And the next time they usually passed.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected and
there was 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.
And despite ... or, perhaps, because of all this...this
generation has produced some of the most outstanding
risk-takers, problem solvers, innovators and inventors, ever.
The past 50 years has seen an explosion of advancement and
new ideas. Why? Because we were given freedom and
responsibility: the chance to succeed and to fail. And we
learned how to make the most of what we were given.
If you were one of us, congratulations!
If you weren't, too bad!
|
|