To all the kids who survived the 30′s, 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and 70′s:
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and or drank while they were pregnant.
They took asprin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
After that truma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets on our heads.
As infants and childresm we would ride in cars with no seat belts, no booster seats, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank from the garden hose, and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon, we drank kool-aid made with real white sugar, and we wern’t overwieght. Why?
Because we were always outside playing… that’s Why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day long, as long as we were back home when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day long, and we were OK.
We would spen hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running in the bushes several times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have playstations, nintendos, or x-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video tapes or DVD’s, no surround sound, or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, and no Internet or chat rooms.
We had FRIENDS, and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cuts, broke bones, knocked out teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from real dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB-guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friends house, and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little league has tryouts, and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with the disappointment. Imagine that!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of… They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best rick-takers, 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.
If 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 so much of our lives, for our own good.
While you are at it, share it with your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?
With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to the other, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?
Jay Leno
