zeroalpha Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70'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 to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels. (I think you will find they were known as spokey dokeys - some old git wrote this) 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 pop 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 Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them. We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no lawsuits. We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played knock-down-ginger and were afraid of the owners catching us. We walked to friend's 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 up 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 1983........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 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 don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control. 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 EastEnders the first time around. 7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again all the funny stories 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 older!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamon Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 amen to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specter Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 AMEN, brother ! ! AMEN ! ! IF this generation had had the opportunities we had, or even made these opportunities for themselves(yes, it is possible), the world would be a much different, much better place ! ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakebite1967 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 i have to totaly agree, what has happened to life ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamon Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I must say i'm a young guy, but I grew up in a place much different from the USA where it was nice to have a tv with just 4 channels We had fun back then, different times I say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snared_gambit Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 AMEN, brother ! ! AMEN ! ! IF this generation had had the opportunities we had, or even made these opportunities for themselves(yes, it is possible), the world would be a much different, much better place ! ! *ahem* Which generation is currently running the world? And why would the world be better if those that do not run it grow up like those that do? Do we really want a repeat of the last thirty or so years? Reruns are boring anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruusher_AS Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Amen Brother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osokdfgr Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 (edited) though my "age" makes me one of those youths, my mom and my dad have made those good old days seem like part of me...and everytime i hear of them i almost cry... my spirt is with yester year tho my body is with today. boy oh boy i sure do love that Article thanks zeroalpha. Which generation is currently running the world? And why would the world be better if those that do not run it grow up like those that do? Do we really want a repeat of the last thirty or so years? Reruns are boring anyway. And they will never understand... Edited January 23, 2004 by osokdfgr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snared_gambit Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 though my "age" makes me one of those youths, my mom and my dad have made those good old days seem like part of me...and everytime i hear of them i almost cry... my spirt is with yester year tho my body is with today. boy oh boy i sure do love that Article thanks zeroalpha. Which generation is currently running the world? And why would the world be better if those that do not run it grow up like those that do? Do we really want a repeat of the last thirty or so years? Reruns are boring anyway. And they will never understand... hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnumkp Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 where it was nice to have a tv with just 4 channels I pity the americans on that point. Having 40+/60+/100+ channels must be a right pain in the ###### (I'm being serious). What do you guys talk about when you get into work/college/school? Quite often in our office you get the "Did you see.... last night" and you can guess someone did as we only have 4 1/2 channels (I can get 5, but only if the wind is in the right direction). Sadly we have new fangled sky boxes and free to air tv which is messing everything up. What fun is it listening to someone else talk about a tv show they watched? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specter Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 where it was nice to have a tv with just 4 channels I pity the americans on that point. Having 40+/60+/100+ channels must be a right pain in the ###### (I'm being serious). What do you guys talk about when you get into work/college/school? Quite often in our office you get the "Did you see.... last night" and you can guess someone did as we only have 4 1/2 channels (I can get 5, but only if the wind is in the right direction). Sadly we have new fangled sky boxes and free to air tv which is messing everything up. What fun is it listening to someone else talk about a tv show they watched? Frankly, I wouldn't know. It has literally been years since I watched TV. I rent or buy movies, but that is it. I haven't watched TV in years and years, and when I did years ago, it was just to watch Babylon 5 and DeepSpace 9. Though I have spent a ton of time on the PC the past ten years or so, that is because of my profession, and also a hobby. But it is still no substitute for having a life, and getting out and really experiencing things. Feeling things and doing things, and actually interacting with....well...with life. My better half and I were just discussing TV, in fact yesterday. Ya know that those 900 channels of crap costs between 50 and 90 US a month? And for what? So you can sit on the couch and get fat, get high blood pressure, cholesterol through the roof, and have a coronary and or a stroke and die at the ripe old age of 50 due to inactivity? That inactivity and dependence on the media, both TV and computer/internet is what is screwing this world up. Instead of actually experiencing anything, everyone sits at a desk or on a couch and takes someone's word for something instead of getting out there and finding out the truth, through experience. Without the experience, and adding the inactivity, does anyone really know the truth, since they arent bothering to get out there and find out? THe human race has gotten lazy and complacent, in large part due to the media and technology, and as humans, we count to much on our creations to do everything for us instead of us doing it ourselves. Until that happens, we are just going to keep screwing ourselves up. Hopefully, we will wake up and smell the coffeee before we do something really stupid, or, as the trend is going now, nothing at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamon Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Amen SOTOPhantm, amen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdnsniper Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 LOL! Umm, I know for a fact that where I come from being lazy is almost impossible. (I live on a cattle ranch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruin Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Maybe I can shed some light: So you can sit on the couch and get fat, get high blood pressure Believe it or not, this is also genetic. My father is 350+lbs and has very high blood pressure, my uncle is about 250lbs and has high blood pressure, I'm bound to the same fate thanks to genetics. Both were very athletic up into their thirties, running, wieght thraining etc... but you can't stop science. That inactivity and dependence on the media, both TV and computer/internet is what is screwing this world up. Instead of actually experiencing anything, everyone sits at a desk or on a couch and takes someone's word for something instead of getting out there and finding out the truth, through experience. I blame college admissions for this. Colleges want the best and brightest, not many care about the physically activive or the ones who have experienced life. Lol, seriously... not many of my classmates are physically active (some are) but not many; but these guys/gals can get accepted to UNC - Chapel Hill and even MIT. THe human race has gotten lazy and complacent Actually, American Society has, not the Human Race. I was most physically fit and active living outside of the US than I have been here. Interesting Anyway, an interesting read Alpha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabellum Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 I am officially an Old Fart . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budgie Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 That inactivity and dependence on the media, both TV and computer/internet is what is screwing this world up. Instead of actually experiencing anything, everyone sits at a desk or on a couch and takes someone's word for something instead of getting out there and finding out the truth, through experience. You mean like Fox? He He. I'm 30 and that's old enough to say, yes I had a more active and rewarding childhood than a lotta lazy moma's-boy kids today, but young enough to say the old buggers are still screwing up our future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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