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A kid got hurt on his bicycle and his parents are suing the property owner for big bucks ... so I thought I would post this which was e-mailed to me about the very same news story > I Can't Believe We Made It !
> If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's,
> 60's or 70's.
>
> 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. Our parents knew that all the neighbors
> would watch out for all the kids.
>
> 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 cell 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..... The teams
> actually kept score and the winning team was
> allowed to be excited and the losing team learned
> to be good sports about it and learned that, in
> life - sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
>
> 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.
>
> Almost no one went to "pre-school" and
> when we graduated high school we all knew
> how to read, use proper grammar and do basic math.
> We all learned how to count out change without
> a calculator to tell us the amount.
>
> The worst problems in school were tardiness
> and chewing gum in class.
>
> 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!
>
> If you misbehaved - your parents spanked you
> and no one arrested them for doing that! We
> also learned that when a parent said "No" - they
> actually meant that and our lives would not be
> ruined forever by being denied every little
> thing we wanted at any given moment.
>
> New toys were received on birthdays and
> holidays..... not on every trip to the store.
> Parents gave us gifts out of love....
> not out of guilt.
>
> 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!
>
>
Luke Pavlick 
Items in the mirror appear ... TO BE LOSING
I want to die peacefully in my sleep ... just like Gramps
not screaming and terrified like the
people in his car at the time |
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