June 22, 2005
Bush O Meter
I really need to find a place to put this perminantly on my blog...
Designed by georgedorn and provided by Positronic Design.
Grab your own copy here.
And this is a message to all the parents who coddle their children these days (you think they'd know better...):
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they
carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
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, 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 pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water 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 and real butter and drank soda pop 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. After running into the
bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no
99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell
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.
We ate worms and mud pies made from 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 friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with 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!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-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!
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.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
(thanks to S for e-mailing this to me)
Posted by Zoso at June 22, 2005 07:23 PMOh yes, yes it does.
"We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this."
WHY am I the only one these days who still maintains that? (being a baby of the late 80's)
"We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!"
I still have a mate who's all for "just knock for me!" rather than organising when to do things. I HATE having to organise when to go out.
I think I belong back in that time frame. I wish we could go back to that, really. Ah well. That whole thing is so true.
Posted by: DR at June 23, 2005 01:03 AM"We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!"
Hey, I take offense at that. Once more I am put off because I have no friends. [cries] :P
Lmao, seriously though...I'm 19, and one of the only times I wanted to go out was to go see a movie with a couple friends (who happened to be guys, albeit nerds...er, not that I really talk to them anymore), but ONOES it was past nine. =) Which meant, of course, that if I left the house, I would have immediately been beaten and raped. My dad also likes me to call right before I leave work and head home. Oi.
And am I the only one that doesn't like the porch light being left on when coming home in the dark? It seems to me like that's yelling, "HERE I AM, COME MUG ME!" I'd rather the thief and I had a mutual disadvantage. :\
Er, on that somewhat random note...happy birthday! [late] Birthdays always make me want to sit on the porch and yell at everyone that walks by, followed by spinning in circles around the front yard on a wheelchair (hence OLiECSiC--Old Lady In Electric [wheel]Chair Spinning In Circles). Yes, I often make myself sad, too...but I'm laughing while I do, so oh well.
Posted by: Sharon at June 25, 2005 11:56 PM"but ONOES it was past nine. =) Which meant, of course, that if I left the house, I would have immediately been beaten and raped."
Word on that (I sound American again... XD), my parents are the same. Mind you, apparently it was safer to be out and about at later times back in those days. *sigh* I'm nearly 18 but I want the 70's and 80's to come around again... although I didn't even exist during most of that. XD
Posted by: DR at June 26, 2005 07:22 AMThanks!
*laughs* I can still remember when my family got an "ATARI"! OMG! We all thought it was so cool, but it didn't glue us to the computer. I didn't get into gaming until 1994. I remember because I was at home, pregnant, nothing to do, so I started playing Zelda. I've been hooked since.
Yeah...sharing food, walking into peoples houses, staying out until it got dark...those were the days.
I like the porch light on myself, but that's just because I'm blind in the dark. *laughs* Besides, I've got a big ass scary dog that sleeps next to the door...I'm not too worried (until he runs away first)...
Times have changed. Oddly, my son has a Game Cube, but he doesn't spend all his time on it. He prefers being outside or drawing. Which is good. He is a CSI junkie though, and tearing him away from the TV during that time is nearly impossible...
Posted by: Zoso at June 26, 2005 12:36 PMYeah... I prefer to be doing my martial arts/sports although I do love playing videogames. I'm a rather double-edged person, aheh. And of course, writing! It's my constructive lazy thing to do! ^_^ I do think, however, that more and more people are spending a lot of time indoors or just lazing around. Such are the ways of the world.
At least biker dudes didn't die out in the 80's. ^___^
Posted by: DR at June 26, 2005 02:11 PM