HOW TRUE
My childhood friend in Buffalo sent me this via e-mail. Nostalgia is good for the soul once in a while...looking back to measure how far We've come. The following is from someone who remembers life before world war 2: I don't know who wrote it. I've made adjustments to the original.
If you lived as a child in the 40s, 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 truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
Our beds were painted with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, and we rode our bikes with no helmets.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building go-carts and forts and play in the empty lot on our block. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back home when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No mobile phones.
We got cut and broke bones from falling out of trees . There were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us and our stupidity.
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it and learned to get along with each other. We played games in the street, drew with chalk on the sidewalk, played hide and seek, mother may I, red light green light.
We are a lot of sugar, bread and butter, and drank soda drinks filled with artificial coloring, but were never overweight because We were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We bought a bottle of pop from the corner store. It came in a glass bottle, not plastic. At the fair, dad bought us an all day sucker. We licked it all day, guaranteeing that our teeth was exposed to sugar for 18 hours straight.
We did not have Playstations, nintendo, X-Boxes, video games, mobile phones, personal computers, internet chat rooms. We had friends, use of the public library, the swimming pool in the park and our bikes.
We went outside and found our friends. We rode bikes together, or roller skated with clamp on skates or just walked. At the friend's home, We knocked on the door, rung the bell, or just walked in. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! No arranged play date. By ourselves. Out there in the cold cruel world. Without a guardian.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and junk in the vacant lot.
Ball games 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 so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. There was no social promotion and self esteem wasn't even a concept. We learned the times tables by drilling and drilling. We studied geography and handwriting, current events and history. We practiced writing and our spelling was corrected. We memorized stuff that was required to be recited aloud in front of the class. We dressed neatly in school.Girls wore dresses. Lunch came to school with us in a brown paper bag. Respect and politeness was required in dealing with authority.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we did something wrong, was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. My parents told me that if I did anything wrong and was punished at school, when I got home, I would get it again.
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. I am so sorry for the current crop of kids. They missed the real fun.