According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
Were kids in the 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have
survived, because 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 toplay with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no
helmets, just flip-flops (or wooden Scholls) and fluorescent 'spokey
dokey's' on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags -
riding in the passenger seat was a treat. We drank water from the
garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same. We ate chips,
bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice 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 could play all day,
as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us
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, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played elastics and
rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees,
got cut and broke bones but there were no law suits. We had full on
fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played
chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us.
We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school;
we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just
round the corner. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode
bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a
parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...They actually
sided with the law. 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! Pass this on to others who
have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated
our lives, for our own good. For those of you who aren't old enough thought
you might like to read about us. This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......
and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities
today were born In 1986........They are called youth. They have never heard of
we are the World, We are the children, and the Uptown Girl they know is by
Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama,
Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle. For them, there has always been only one
Germany and one Vietnam. AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have
existed since they were born. Michael Jackson has always been white. To them
John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this
fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission
Impossible are films from last year. They can never imagine life before computers.
They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five.
They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You. They can't
believe a black and white television ever existed. And they will never understand
how we could leave the house without a mobile phone. Now let's check if we're
getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.
3. Your friends are getting married/already married.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with
computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
6. You remember watching Dirty Den in East Enders the first time around.
7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good Old days,
repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.
8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other
friends because you think they will like it too... Yes, you're getting old -
but what the heck -we've had fun!!
;D
