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Posted: 8/18/2003 4:30:13 AM EDT
I am in the group big time I guess. I have done all of the things listed below and more, I do not know how I survived!!

Tony G



According to today's regulators and bureaucrats,

those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even the 70's

probably shouldn't have survived.


Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or

cabinets, 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 pickup truck 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 and butter,
and drank soda pop with sugar in it,
but we were never 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 would spend 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 had learned how to solve the problem.


We would leave home in the morning and play all day,

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,

no video games at all,
no 99 channels on cable,
video tape movies,

surround sound,

personal cell phones,
personal computers,
or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends!

We went outside and found them.


We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.



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

No one was to blame but us.
Remember accidents?


We had fights and punched each other, got black and blue,
and learned to get over it.




We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and

although we were told it would happen,
we did not put  out very many eyes with that stick,
nor did the worms live inside us forever.


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 had try outs 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.
Horrors!


Tests were notadjusted 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 unheard of.


They actually sided with the law.
Imagine that!




This over 35 generation has produced some of the best

risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, in history.

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.
And you're one of them!

Congratulations.


Link Posted: 8/18/2003 4:51:47 AM EDT
[#1]
........we use to stare at the nice asbestos glowing in our gas stoves.

.........in school we made little balls in our hands out of mercury.


.......carbon tetrachoride was a great way to clean your hands.

........raw sewage was dumped in the rivers and streams we got our drinking water from.

.......our moms used baby powder on our cloth diapers.  The horror.

........small pox vaccinations were required to get into school.
Link Posted: 8/18/2003 12:54:25 PM EDT
[#2]

Quoted:
 

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.




Who had a crib?

I grew up on a redneck farm in Cullman County and didn't know we were poor folks until I was a grown man, cause all the neighbors were in the same boat.

--------------We swam and fished in the same pond the cows drank from and probably crapped in! We somehow lived.

--------------We grew cotton on the farm and poisoned the insects with DDT, we somehow lived, and didn't have the tick & mosquito problem we have today.  


--------------At the ripe old age of 10, I was allowed to go "hunting" with a 22 and a full box of shorts!  I somehow lived through that as well.

--------------I didn't dare give my teachers at school any trouble cause not only were they my teachers, they were also my neighbors, and 1 even taught Sunday School at our Church!

--------------We didn't lock our doors cause Dad lost the key right after the locks were installed.  Really didn't need to anyway cause we rarely went anywhere.

--------------Got a scar on my right foot from hitting it with a chopping axe while cutting wood for the cookstove.  Didn't get any stitches, didn't even go to the Doc.  Somehow I lived.  

Rick


Link Posted: 8/18/2003 1:23:11 PM EDT
[#3]
I was SCARED to death of my teachers and my parents....(if you're still in school don't laugh)
Link Posted: 8/18/2003 1:24:54 PM EDT
[#4]
heck i'm 18 and i should be dead too i guess.
Link Posted: 8/18/2003 4:47:58 PM EDT
[#5]
damn i miss those days.

mike
Link Posted: 8/18/2003 8:04:35 PM EDT
[#6]
I'm only 31, but somehow I managed to survive everything in the original post.

How times change.  For our JR/SR prom (I graduated in 90), we sold magazine subscriptions and the top seller won a nice prize.  My best friend throughout high school was the top seller and his prize was...

[drumroll]An AR-15 clone that was chambered in .22!!!

He even got to keep it in his locker until school was out that day.  Think that would happen nowadays???
Link Posted: 8/19/2003 6:18:25 AM EDT
[#7]
I graduated high school in 1963, grew up in the 50's. We used to take iron pipe and put a cap on the end and drill a hole for a fuse. Fill the chamber with match heads (from stick matches) and insert a small CO2 tube, insert a fuse taken from firecrackers and light it off. Things would really travel some distance, we later moved to black powder. Used to build ramps from boards and jump with our bilkes, bent a lot of wheels and blew tires that way. When I was eight years old, I would take my .22 rifle and walk into town, buy ammo and then walk west of town to my cousins house so we could go hunting. I knew not to get into trouble as I would get my bottom spanked by whomever witnessed the infraction, and then get it again when I got home!! We used to climb small trees, very tall but small in diameter, all the way to the top. We would then hang on tight, make the tree sway and ride it to the ground. That was fun to do over a cliff edge, you would then get back to solid ground by going hand over hand on the tree trunk. OH yea, sometimes the tree roots came out and down the cliff face you went into the creek. We would get the chrome strips from cars at a body shop, pound them into swords and fight for days with them, they put one hell of a welt on your body. We would fill wine bottles with gas and make a molotov cocktail, light it and drop it from the RR bridge onto the rocks below. Did that once with a gallon jug and got my legs scorched, learned a lesson! AHHHHHH the good old days!

Tony G
Link Posted: 8/19/2003 3:09:35 PM EDT
[#8]

Quoted:
   We used to climb small trees, very tall but small in diameter, all the way to the top. We would then hang on tight, make the tree sway and ride it to the ground.  



Wasn't that called "Skinning the Cat"?  Been there, done that.                        

We would empty the powder fron firecrackers, and maybe a shotshell, to pour down the pipe.  My Dad gave us some old primer cord and we used that as our fuse.  Rocks were stuffed down the pipe to serve as projectiles.  Worked pretty good until we decided to stuff some pieces of rag down on top of the powder.  Reckon the wadding cause too much pressure and the pipe blew!  That ended our cannon shooting!  

When you look back on it, how the heck did we survive?

We'll discuss Saturday night Frog Gigging another time:)  

Rick
Link Posted: 8/20/2003 4:53:06 AM EDT
[#9]
Let's not forget:

Skateboards / Roller Skates.  Who actually wore a helmet or knee/elbow pads?

Bottle Rocket Wars.  We used to do this going down the river in canoes (ahh, the old Boy Scout days) where you really can't exactly jump out of the way.  And speaking of which....

Canoeing.  Without life vests.  How did we not drown?

Nitric Acid.  I used to take nitric acid in a dropper and write stuff on the palms of my hands.  It turns yellow and peels a layer or 2 of skin off.  Oh yea, I was doing this in Chemistry class in school.  Speaking of school...

Walking to school or to the bus stop.  I used to have to walk a mile to go to school.  Or ride a bike (yes, withOUT a helmet).  These days the bus can't get out of 2nd gear before hitting the next bus stop.  Why is that?

Sigh......  And to think I never got a broken bone or abducted...
Link Posted: 8/22/2003 6:35:31 PM EDT
[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
 

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.




Who had a crib?

I grew up on a redneck farm in Cullman County and didn't know we were poor folks until I was a grown man, cause all the neighbors were in the same boat.

--------------We swam and fished in the same pond the cows drank from and probably crapped in! We somehow lived.

--------------We grew cotton on the farm and poisoned the insects with DDT, we somehow lived, and didn't have the tick & mosquito problem we have today.  


--------------At the ripe old age of 10, I was allowed to go "hunting" with a 22 and a full box of shorts!  I somehow lived through that as well.

--------------I didn't dare give my teachers at school any trouble cause not only were they my teachers, they were also my neighbors, and 1 even taught Sunday School at our Church!

--------------We didn't lock our doors cause Dad lost the key right after the locks were installed.  Really didn't need to anyway cause we rarely went anywhere.

--------------Got a scar on my right foot from hitting it with a chopping axe while cutting wood for the cookstove.  Didn't get any stitches, didn't even go to the Doc.  Somehow I lived.  

Rick





Rick,

No matter how bad you try to make this out, you had one great childhood that many wish they had.  Brought back many memories of my early days.

Thanks,

Tj
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