It's a wonder we're here now!
> > > > > Looking back; it's hard to believe that we have
> > > > > lived as long as we have.
> > > > >
> > > > > My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and
> > > > > spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same
> > > > > knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get
> > > > > food poisoning.
> > > > >
> > > > > My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter
> > > > > AND I used to eat it raw sometimes too, but I can't
> > > > > remember getting E-coli.
> > > > >
> > > > > 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. Our
> > > > baby cribs, toys and rooms were painted with bright
> > > > colored lead based paint. We often chewed on the crib,
> > > > ingesting the paint.
> > > > >
> > > > > We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
> > > > > doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had
> > > > no helmets.
> > > > >
> > > > > We drank water from the garden hose and not
> > > > > from a bottle. 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. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would
> > > > really hurt.
> > > > >
> > > > > We played with toy guns, cowboys and Indians, army,
> > > > cops and robbers, and used our fingers to simulate
> > > > guns when the toy ones or my BB gun was not available.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar
> > > soda, but we were never overweight; we were always
> > > > outside playing.
> > > > >
> > > > > Little League had tryouts 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 or didn't work hard so they failed a grade and
> > > > were held back to repeat the same grade.
> > > > >
> > > > > That generation produced some of the greatest
> > > > risk-takers and problem solvers.
> > > > >
> > > > > We had the freedom, failure, success and
> > > > responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it
> > > > all.
> > > > >
> > > > > Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson
> > > > by running in the halls with leather soles on linoleum
> > > > tile and hitting the wet spot.
> > > > >
> > > > > How much better off would we be today if we only knew
> > > > we could have sued the school system.
> > > > >
> > > > > Speaking of school, we all said prayers and the
> > > > pledge and staying in detention after school caught
> > > > all sorts of negative
> > > > > attention for the next two weeks. We must have had
> > > > horribly damaged psyches.
> > > > >
> > > > > I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year
> > > > olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known
> > > > what either
> > > > > was anyway) but they did give us a couple of baby
> > > > aspirin and cough syrup if we started getting the
> > > > sniffles. What an archaic health system we had then.
> > > > >
> > > > > Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and
> > > > everything.
> > > > >
> > > > > I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something
> > > > before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just
> > > > can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play
> > > > Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable
> > > > stations.
> > > > >
> > > > > I must be repressing that memory as I try to
> > > > rationalize through the denial of the dangers could
> > > > have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a
> > > > mile down the road to some guy's vacant 20, built
> > > > forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made
> > > > trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger.
> > > > What was that property owner thinking, letting
> > > > > us play on that lot? He should have been locked up
> > > > for not putting up a fence around the property,
> > > > complete with a self-closing gate and an infrared
> > > > intruder alarm.
> > > > >
> > > > > Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and
> > > > sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could
> > > > have been killed!
> > > > >
> > > > > We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on
> > > > vacant construction sites and when we got hurt, Mom
> > > > pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome and
> > > > then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the
> > > > emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49
> > > > bottle of antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney
> > > > to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious
> > > > pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
> > > > >
> > > > > We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either!
> > > > because if we did, we got our butt spanked (physical
> > > > abuse) there ... and then we got butt spanked again
> > > > when we got home.
> > > > >
> > > > > Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for
> > > > coffee, kids choked down the dust from the gravel
> > > > driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (remember why
> > > > Tonka trucks were made tough...it wasn't so that they
> > > > could take the rough Berber in the family room), and
> > > > Dad drove a car with leaded gas.
> > > > >
> > > > > Our music had to be left inside when we went out to
> > > > play and I am sure that I nearly exhausted my
> > > > imagination a couple of times when we went on two week
> > > > vacations.
> > > > >
> > > > > I should probably sue the folks now for the danger
> > > > they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the
> > > > family tent.
> > > > >
> > > > > Summers were spent behind the push lawnmower and I
> > > > didn't even know that mowers came with motors until I
> > > > was 13 and we got one without an automatic blade-stop
> > > > or an auto-drive.
> > > > >
> > > > > How sick were my parents?
> > > > >
> > > > > Of course my parents weren't the only psychos.
> > > > > I recall Donny Reynolds from next-door coming over
> > > > and doing his tricks on the front stoop just before he
> > > > fell off.
> > > > > Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our
> > > > house? Instead she picked him up and swatted him for
> > > > being such a goof.
> > > > >
> > > > > It was a neighborhood run amuck.
> > > > >
> > > > To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever
> > > > been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
> > > > How could we possibly have known that we needed to get
> > > > into group therapy and anger management classes?
> > > > >
> > > > > We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills,
> > > > that we didn't even notice that the entire country
> > > > wasn't taking Prozac!
> > > > >
> > > > > Looking back; it's hard to believe that we have
> > > > > lived as long as we have.
> > > > >
> > > > > My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and
> > > > > spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same
> > > > > knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get
> > > > > food poisoning.
> > > > >
> > > > > My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter
> > > > > AND I used to eat it raw sometimes too, but I can't
> > > > > remember getting E-coli.
> > > > >
> > > > > 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. Our
> > > > baby cribs, toys and rooms were painted with bright
> > > > colored lead based paint. We often chewed on the crib,
> > > > ingesting the paint.
> > > > >
> > > > > We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
> > > > > doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes we had
> > > > no helmets.
> > > > >
> > > > > We drank water from the garden hose and not
> > > > > from a bottle. 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. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would
> > > > really hurt.
> > > > >
> > > > > We played with toy guns, cowboys and Indians, army,
> > > > cops and robbers, and used our fingers to simulate
> > > > guns when the toy ones or my BB gun was not available.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar
> > > soda, but we were never overweight; we were always
> > > > outside playing.
> > > > >
> > > > > Little League had tryouts 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 or didn't work hard so they failed a grade and
> > > > were held back to repeat the same grade.
> > > > >
> > > > > That generation produced some of the greatest
> > > > risk-takers and problem solvers.
> > > > >
> > > > > We had the freedom, failure, success and
> > > > responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it
> > > > all.
> > > > >
> > > > > Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson
> > > > by running in the halls with leather soles on linoleum
> > > > tile and hitting the wet spot.
> > > > >
> > > > > How much better off would we be today if we only knew
> > > > we could have sued the school system.
> > > > >
> > > > > Speaking of school, we all said prayers and the
> > > > pledge and staying in detention after school caught
> > > > all sorts of negative
> > > > > attention for the next two weeks. We must have had
> > > > horribly damaged psyches.
> > > > >
> > > > > I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year
> > > > olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known
> > > > what either
> > > > > was anyway) but they did give us a couple of baby
> > > > aspirin and cough syrup if we started getting the
> > > > sniffles. What an archaic health system we had then.
> > > > >
> > > > > Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and
> > > > everything.
> > > > >
> > > > > I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something
> > > > before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just
> > > > can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play
> > > > Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable
> > > > stations.
> > > > >
> > > > > I must be repressing that memory as I try to
> > > > rationalize through the denial of the dangers could
> > > > have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a
> > > > mile down the road to some guy's vacant 20, built
> > > > forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made
> > > > trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger.
> > > > What was that property owner thinking, letting
> > > > > us play on that lot? He should have been locked up
> > > > for not putting up a fence around the property,
> > > > complete with a self-closing gate and an infrared
> > > > intruder alarm.
> > > > >
> > > > > Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and
> > > > sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could
> > > > have been killed!
> > > > >
> > > > > We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on
> > > > vacant construction sites and when we got hurt, Mom
> > > > pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome and
> > > > then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the
> > > > emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49
> > > > bottle of antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney
> > > > to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious
> > > > pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
> > > > >
> > > > > We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either!
> > > > because if we did, we got our butt spanked (physical
> > > > abuse) there ... and then we got butt spanked again
> > > > when we got home.
> > > > >
> > > > > Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for
> > > > coffee, kids choked down the dust from the gravel
> > > > driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (remember why
> > > > Tonka trucks were made tough...it wasn't so that they
> > > > could take the rough Berber in the family room), and
> > > > Dad drove a car with leaded gas.
> > > > >
> > > > > Our music had to be left inside when we went out to
> > > > play and I am sure that I nearly exhausted my
> > > > imagination a couple of times when we went on two week
> > > > vacations.
> > > > >
> > > > > I should probably sue the folks now for the danger
> > > > they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the
> > > > family tent.
> > > > >
> > > > > Summers were spent behind the push lawnmower and I
> > > > didn't even know that mowers came with motors until I
> > > > was 13 and we got one without an automatic blade-stop
> > > > or an auto-drive.
> > > > >
> > > > > How sick were my parents?
> > > > >
> > > > > Of course my parents weren't the only psychos.
> > > > > I recall Donny Reynolds from next-door coming over
> > > > and doing his tricks on the front stoop just before he
> > > > fell off.
> > > > > Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our
> > > > house? Instead she picked him up and swatted him for
> > > > being such a goof.
> > > > >
> > > > > It was a neighborhood run amuck.
> > > > >
> > > > To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever
> > > > been told that they were from a dysfunctional family.
> > > > How could we possibly have known that we needed to get
> > > > into group therapy and anger management classes?
> > > > >
> > > > > We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills,
> > > > that we didn't even notice that the entire country
> > > > wasn't taking Prozac!
> > > > >
