Why people over 40 should
be dead.
If
today's regulators and bureaucrats are correct, those of us who were
kids in the 50's,
60's, or even the early 70's probably shouldn't still be living.
With all the dangers we faced, how could we have possibly survived?
Let's
start out at the beginning: our
baby
cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. They had
lots of
space between the slats that we could get our heads caught in and
strangle us
to death.
We had no childproof lids on
medicine bottles, doors or cabinets.
When
we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
As
children,
we rode in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup on a warm day was always a
special
treat. We drank water from the garden
hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We
ate
cupcakes, bread with real butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it. Despite this, we were rarely overweight
because we were always outside playing. We
shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one
actually
died from this.
We
spent
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.
Our parents were o.k. with this, as long as we were back when
the street
lights came on. No one was able to reach
us all day. No cell phones. (Unthinkable!)
We
did not
have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, Gameboys or video games at all. There were maybe 7 channels on TV (1/2 on
UHF), and a lot less if you “lived in the country.”
Video tape movies, surround sound, pagers,
personal computers, and Internet chat rooms did not exist.
We
did have
friends! We went outside and found
them. We played pick up baseball,
football, basketball, tag, and a host of other children's games
including dodge
ball and kick the can. Sometimes, the
ball would really hurt, or you would cut yourself badly on the can. Unless you had to go to the emergency room
(which did sometimes happen) you got over it, got up, and kept on
playing.
We
fell out
of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth.
There
were no
lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. (Remember accidents?)
Sometimes
we had fights (with our friends!) and punched each other and got black
and
blue. We learned to handle these
situations,
as well as the value of saying “I am sorry,” and making up.
We
made up
games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms. Although
we were told it would happen, we did
not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. (At least we don't think so.)
We
rode
bikes (or walked) to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang
the bell,
or just walked in and talked to them. Little
League and Basketball teams had tryouts.
Not everyone made the team. Those
who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment (even Michael
Jordan did
once). If you did not show up for
practice, you did not play in the game.
You dealt with that, too.
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. The idea of a parent bailing
us out
if we broke a law was almost unheard of.
They actually sided with the law.
Imagine that!
Despite
these
“handicaps,” these 40+ folks have arguably 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.
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