'SURVIVORS'


The following is really how it was, and should be...
But, Sadly enough, it isn't ..

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED, the .....
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !! 

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. 

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs had widely spaced bars covered with bright colored lead-based paints without safety latches.

We had bunk-beds without guardrails and used Mom/Dad's bed as a trampoline.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets; we just drummed on the pots and pans; and 

when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. 

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. 

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. 

We drank water from the garden hose and 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 and real butter and drank sugary soda pop with pop-rocks, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! 

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. And we were O.K. 

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride 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 did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no reality tv, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! 

We built treehouses from scrapwood with rusty nails, up really high rickety ladders, fell out of trees, skateboarded in empty pools, skied out-of-bounds, jumped fences, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents and we took tetanus shots with pride!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. 

The kid on the corner sold lemonade from a make-shift refrigerator box stand and soy non-fat latte's didn't even exist.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. 

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

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

If we got out of line, our parents scolded us... if we really were bad, we got spanked.

Afterdark, we climbed out windows, sneaked a beer, toilet-papered a house, and the idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of; they actually sided with the law!



This generation has 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 reading this, then YOU are probably one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! 



You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. 

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. 



Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!