PEOPLE OVER FORTY SHOULD BE DEAD

EMail | 1/17/2004 | W. Toeppe

[JesseHousman]

People Over 40 Should Be Dead

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. 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 seatbelts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

NO CELL PHONES!!!!! Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms! . We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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. Some students weren't! as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

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.

How fortunate we were to grow up as kids before lawyers and burgeoning government regulated our lives, for our own good. How sorry I am for what those years of meddling have done to our children and grandchildren and even sorrier that we all allowed the government and politicians to get away with it!

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Unfortunately, my tagline is true......lol

[navygal]

I remember the milk man giving my brother and myself a ride around the block in his truck

[jaugust]

In my day it was the good players vs the not so good players. I always led the not so good players. One guy would designate himself captain and choose all athletically inclined. I would captain the other team of uncoordinated players. If it was baseball (99% of the time) my teams would get there butts wooped. If we were at bat everyone would strike out. After that (especially at recess or lunch) we wouldn't see another at bat. The other side would proceed to score run after run. As I grew older I became more athletic until, eventually I would be picked as one of the top players for a team. Nowadays, someting like what i descrbe would be judged "unfair". These were tough lessons to learn, but I don't ever remember anyone being traumatized by it.

[BSunday]

These days that guy would be arrested for attempting kidnapping, I'm certain.

[SLB]

This has been around sometime, but is still pretty good reading.

[SAMWolf]

Back when it was actually fun to grow up and we learned lessons that lasted the rest of our lives.

[navygal]

You are probably right.

[BSunday]

I know - that's why I laughed. But who can really blame them for their bad dispositions, the way the roads are tore up all the time.

[BSunday]

..which is a sad commentary on the evil that we have tolerated with internet porn, etc. etc....

[armyboy]

I wish that I could've grown up in those times.

[Mr. Lucky]

Each of us, individually, can attempt to insulate our own kids (even ever so slightly) from the popular culture and allow them the opportunity to conquer gradually more challenging spiritual. physical and intellectual challenges.

Probably the best Christmas present I ever bought for my son was when he was 5 or 6 ears old: some 2 x 4's, a hammer and a couple of pounds of nails.

[navygal]

Children are truly innocent

[jeremiah]

The best of times were when someone got ahold of an appliance box, and the grass was dry on the hills. Yeeeeeeeee haw, nothin like some summer sleddin'....or was it playing kick the can on summers evenings....or was it climbing trees, building forts, huntin crawdads, diggin tunnels, slingshot hunting squirrels.........now I am sad too.

[Mr. Lucky]

...we realized we had no brakes.

Wasn't anyone wearing a pair of US Keds?

[Petronski]

It was a very steep hill. LOL I don't know what we were thinking.

[Riley]

Wasn't anyone wearing a pair of US Keds?

Black and white, fine red stripe at the top of the sole, with the lozenge-shaped tread pattern. I must have gone through a dozen pairs of those.

[knak]

lol, probably so

[SeeRushToldU_So]

What if she is ugly like like her dad

[jeremiah]

It is OUR(everycottonpickinoneofus) fault that the world is not safe for kids to play openly. We sat by while the law took over our job of policing the society.

Child molesters are abundant, because they are allowed to go to jail, instead of being beaten to a pulp by attentive fathers.

Drug dealers cause mayhem, users lay around and waste O2, because we are afraid and prohibited from running them out of town on a rail, and we don't demand that govt get tough.

Decriminalize usage of MJ separate it from the others, death penalty (ok life) for dealers/manufacturers of Coke, Heroin, crank etc, mandatory treatment for users of same, with a two strike you are out policy for these people. First offense, treatment/jail time, and testing upon release... get caught twice, we will make sure you are clean for 10 years(mandatory sentencing)

One strike and you're out for molestors/pedophiles.....life in prison or the death penalty

We must remove those that are here illegaly. In case you haven't noticed, a high percentage of those in our prisons, are illegal aliens.(and I thought they all came here to work).

.... and last but not least, parents turn off the TV.

[depenzz]

Hey thats minor, did ya ever play "caddie"? cut a broom stick about 5 inches long, sharpen the ends and then everyone get broom sticks or something similar. Then two people start the game by paring (hit down on one end of the little broom stick) and that sucker would go flying off and then everybody took off after it and first one to reach it hit down on one end and away it would go on and on, that game took us all over our little town and through the woods and everywhere in between. Its a wonder someone didn't have an eye knocked out or other holes in their body somewhere.
Oh, we didn't eat the tar, just chewed it, didn't have chewing gum.