Surviving In A Modern World!

[debris4spike]

A friend e-mailed me this over Christmas - so thought I would post it (... although some of my f-list were born in the 80's.  I am one of those born in the early 60's ... and I am still here!!)

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's !

 

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

 

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

 

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, 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 works van on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC  or Burger King.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Penny chews, Wilson 's Toffees, Bubble Gum and some Rip Raps to blow up frogs with.

 

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, 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. We built tree houses and den in a patch of trees and played in river beds with matchbox cars and paper boats.

 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on DSTV, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

 

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

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

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time.......no really!

We were given pellet guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays!!

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

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT AND NOT DUE TO BLACKMAIL, THREATS AND GUILT FROM THE PAST.....  strange but true!

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather staps and bully'salways ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

 They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like "Kiora" and "Blade" and "Ridge" and "Vanilla"

 

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

 

The past 70 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!

 

And YOU are 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.

 

Comments

[lilachigh.livejournal.com]

I love this! Laughed myself silly because it is all true! My parents both lived to see 90 and their diet consisted of white bread, meat, potatoes, fresh vegetables, fruit and endless cups of strong tea with sugar. Also cakes, custard, biscuits, pies and tarts. The nearest they got to pasta was tin of Heinz Spaghetti.

My mother never had a washing machine and only reluctantly when she was 80, a freezer. They never had heat in the bedroom at all! Slept with the window open otherwise the room got "fuggy".
I am a wimp in comparison.

[debris4spike]

WOW - your parents sound like mine ... One of my Grans moaned at my brothers wedding that there was nothing for her to eat ... well it was t-time, so it had to be a jam sandwich!! Mind you, she lived to be 93!

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

That's so funny. I can identify with most of those!

[debris4spike]

Yes - I think that is the scary bit about this list!!

[cordykitten]

I've got this once as a pdf file but written down is even better :) *adding to memories* Enjoyed the read

[debris4spike]

Some of these list are great - although it is usually you that finds them!

[cordykitten]

Correction: pps not pdf. I couldn't remember correctly. NOw when I wanted to answer your comment I remembered.
I haven't find a way to upload a working pps file to LJ... easier to share :)
I always try to find new stuff :)

[ukchrisp.livejournal.com]

All this is so true and I remember doing a lot of those things, I was telling my relatives over the holiday how I would slide down the muddy bank of the local stream with my little fishing net to catch minnows - no worries about the state of the water,or what I was going to catch by putting my mucky hands in my mouth after touching the water and fish.

I think a lot of the allergies today are caused by too much cleanliness - a bit of dirt on kids hands never did any harm.

[debris4spike]

Yes - my eldest nephew (at 12) is quite sickly - but let one atom of dirt hit him .. he is horrified ... The next 2 down are too busy playing in the garden to be ill!!

[classicanne01.livejournal.com]

Hahaha!
How true is this :-D
Child of the 70's here... just made it under the wire... hehehe :-D

I love it!
Thanks for reposting.

[debris4spike]

Scarey how true it is!

[winsomeone.livejournal.com]

I loved this! I remember riding my bike with no shoes and only coming home at dark, too. :-)

My mom grew up on a farm and they ate whatever was available, including butter, cream, bread and lots of meat. She's 78 and still going strong.

[debris4spike]

Yes one of my sets of grandparents loved the fat off the meat better than the lean ... Grandma died on her 90th birthday!

[aa-eve-aa.livejournal.com]

Ha, I'm still one of those. I was born in 1979 and almost lived a whole year in the seventies \o/ Ok my mom and dad (born 1960 and 1959) are even more that generation, but I still made it into the list :D

[debris4spike]

It is scary how true the statements are whatever our age though!

[louise39.livejournal.com]

I found myself nodding at each line.

I, too, remember those days of independence from adults - hours playing, negotiating, imagining and moving
.
Thanks for the smiles.

[debris4spike]

Glad you enjoyed it!