biggus
13-03-2004, 22:26
Subject: Children of 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's
> According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
> kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have
> survived. Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based
> paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids
> on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine
> to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just
> flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
> As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. riding
> in the passenger seat was a treat.
> We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - tasted the
> same.
> We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy
> pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always
> outside playing.
> We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one
> actually died from this.
> We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top
> speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running
> into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
> We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
> back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one
> minded.
> We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No
> 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
> phones, no personal computers, and no Internet chat rooms. We had friends
> we went outside and found them.
> We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really
> hurt.
> We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no
> lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.
> We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned
> to get over it.
> We walked to friend's homes.
> We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and
> although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out,
> nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
> We rode bikes in marauding packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
> 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 generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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.
> And you're one of them. Congratulations!
> Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real
> kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
> According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
> kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have
> survived. Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based
> paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids
> on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine
> to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just
> flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
> As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. riding
> in the passenger seat was a treat.
> We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - tasted the
> same.
> We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy
> pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always
> outside playing.
> We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one
> actually died from this.
> We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top
> speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running
> into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
> We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
> back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one
> minded.
> We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No
> 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
> phones, no personal computers, and no Internet chat rooms. We had friends
> we went outside and found them.
> We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really
> hurt.
> We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no
> lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.
> We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned
> to get over it.
> We walked to friend's homes.
> We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and
> although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out,
> nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
> We rode bikes in marauding packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
> 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 generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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.
> And you're one of them. Congratulations!
> Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real
> kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.