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The New CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 822
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 8:55 am: |     |
I got the following in an e-mail and thought I'd share.
HOW DID WE SURVIVE?
Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food
poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter, but I can't
remember getting E-coli.
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, toys and rooms were painted with bright colored lead based
paint. We, often chewed on the crib, ingesting the paint.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when
we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and
not from a
bottle. 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. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.
We played with toy guns, cowboys and Indians, army, cops and robbers, and
used our fingers to simulate guns when the toy ones or my BB gun was not
available.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never
overweight; we were always outside playing.
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 or didn't work hard so they failed a grade and were held back to
repeat the same grade. That generation produced some of the greatest
risk-takers and problem solvers. We had the freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a
pristine pool (talk about boring), the term cell phone would have conjured up
a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high
top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes
with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any
injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we
are now. Flunking gym was not an option ... even for stupid kids! I guess PE
must be much harder than gym.
Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson by running in the halls
with leather soles on linoleum tile and hitting the wet spot. How much better
off would we be today if we only knew we could have sued the school system.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and the pledge, and staying in
detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention for about the
next two weeks. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.
I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or
condoms (we wouldn't have known what either was anyway) but they did give us
a couple of baby aspirin and cough syrup if we started getting the
sniffles. What an archaic health system we had then.
Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything. I thought that I was
supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.
I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, PlayStation,
Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable stations.
I must be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize through the denial
of the dangers could have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a mile
down the road to some guy's vacant lot, built forts out of branches and
pieces of plywood, made trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone
Ranger.
What was that property owner thinking, letting us play on that lot. He should
have been locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete
with a self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm.
Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that
bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant construction
sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent bottle of
mercurochrome and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the
emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics and
then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly
vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our
butt spanked (physical abuse) here too ... and then we got our butt spanked
again when we got home.
Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for coffee, kids choked down the
dust from the gravel driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (remember why
Tonka trucks were made tough ... it wasn't so that they could take the rough
berber in the family room), and Dad drove a car with leaded gas.
Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I am sure that I
nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when we went on two week
vacations.
I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put us in when we all
slept in campgrounds in the family tent.
Summers were spent behind the push lawnmower and I didn't even know that
mowers came with motors until I was 13 and we got one without an automatic
blade-stop or an auto-drive.
How sick were my parents? Of course my parents weren't the only psychos. I
recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the
front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could
have owned our house. Instead she picked him up and swatted him for being
such a goof.
It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top it off, not a single person I knew
had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we
possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger
management classes?
We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even
notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
How did we survive?
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ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 628
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:04 am: | |
that's right, life was so much better in the "good old days."
I'm going out to take the child seats out of my car, throw away the bike helmets, and paint my kids' rooms with lead paint. And while I'm at it, I'm having the dealer remove all the air bags from my car.
woo-hoo!
question -- is the phrase "I got the following in an e-mail and thought I'd share" actually code for "you're about to read the most asinine piece of writing you'll see all week"?
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The New CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 823
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:11 am: | |
Hey, take it for what it's worth. Some may think life was better back then and some may not. I personally think that some of the things are true, and obviously some are not. |
ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 629
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:22 am: | |
It's the typical "old fogeyism" that every generation engages in. Boomers have now officially passed into fogeyhood when they start passing this stuff around and some of them actually nod nostagically and agree. Sorry, I'm not ready to be that old yet. My kids love when I tell them stories about the "olden days" before VCRs, color TV, etc., etc., but my memories aren't rose-colored enough to tell them that the good old days went out with polyester suit jackets. |
The New CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 824
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:25 am: | |
So, I am now in fogeyhood? Is that what it's called? I like that word.  |
ml1
Citizen
Username: Ml1
Post Number: 631
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:32 am: | |
I think so. maybe we should write an "Are You A Fogey Test?" and email it to everyone we know.
 |
The New CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 825
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 9:54 am: | |
That sounds like a good idea. We just need to come up with some good questions. |
sac
Citizen
Username: Sac
Post Number: 642
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 1:03 pm: | |
I can't remember where I heard this recently, but it opened my eyes and mind a bit on this type of issue ...
Whenever we review all of the things that we (or our parents) did or didn't do "back in the good old days" and then note the obvious - "we turned out OK, didn't we?" or " ... and we survived", we are failing to note that all of these things are statistical hazards. Many will escape their negative consequences (as did all of us, since we are here to discuss it.)
How would those children or parents who weren't so lucky respond to the question ... if they could?
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parkbench87
Citizen
Username: Parkbench87
Post Number: 231
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 1:11 pm: | |
How Did We Survive?
Some of us didn't!!!! |
Joan
Citizen
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 1364
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 5:26 pm: | |
parkbench87:
Exactly! Life expectancy has gone up markedly since the good old days. |
sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 310
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 11:30 am: | |
Actually I thought the post made some good points. Obviously some of the changes were for the better (car seats, saftey belts, bike helmets) others like the propensity for litigation, fat kids, protectings kid's psyche's, all that overblown feel good nonsense that we allow to go on is just plain making our kids grow up to be soft like Ml1. |
greenetree
Supporter
Username: Greenetree
Post Number: 1457
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 1:25 pm: | |
My friend's kids think I'm a facist. I don't let them ride in the front seat (too short for the belt to fit properly) & make them put on the belt in the back seat. Yet, when they are over at my house on a nice day, I make them go outside in the yard & play.
What does that make me ? |
Redsox
Citizen
Username: Redsox
Post Number: 182
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 9:32 am: | |
it's quite evident that M/1 suffered abuse at the hands of his peers when he was young.
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notehead
Citizen
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 427
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 4:08 pm: | |
It's quite evident that Redsox's parents never taught him not to be rude. |
curb
Citizen
Username: Curb
Post Number: 295
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 3:37 pm: | |
Since he`s a fan of the Boston Redsox, who would know better about being abused then Redsox? |
Redsox
Citizen
Username: Redsox
Post Number: 185
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 7:59 pm: | |
notey,
M/1 loves to dish it out, but can't take it -
curby,
jeter swallows |
curb
Citizen
Username: Curb
Post Number: 296
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 17, 2003 - 8:32 am: | |
So your speaking from first hand knowledge? |
Redsox
Citizen
Username: Redsox
Post Number: 186
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - 7:24 pm: | |
a hand is not applicable.
common knowledge in the Athens of America. |
curb
Citizen
Username: Curb
Post Number: 300
Registered: 1-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 5:14 pm: | |
So your saying you like it Greek? Dude, that`s a little more then I need to know about you. |
Redsox
Citizen
Username: Redsox
Post Number: 191
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 6:33 pm: | |
no,
i'm saying that in Boston(known as "the athens of america" for all of its grand educational and cultural institutions), it is the current goof on the yankees.
btw- i got beat up for using the term "dude" on MOL recently.
has anyone else noticed that dave has loosened the reigns a little bit.
i kinda dig it.
the personal attacks are on the upswing, while the complaints and censures are down.
is this a sign of the times?
or is dave doing a public service by letting us ventilate? |
The New CFA
Citizen
Username: Cfa
Post Number: 836
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 5:00 am: | |
Saying dude is acceptable (somewhat) if you're like 9 years old.
I don't think you'll ever hear Sbenois say dude. Follow his lead. |
barleyrooty
Citizen
Username: Barleyrooty
Post Number: 526
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Friday, February 21, 2003 - 6:39 am: | |
HOW DID WE SURVIVE?
Since we're here to read and answer this question, then naturally we did. I suspect many of our peers didn't.
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