Copy of an e-mail message I received..

We Made It!
This brings back some memories. According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint, the slats were apparently too far apart, and there were no bumper pads. 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 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 sampled cake batter and cookie dough with raw eggs in it, and survived. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, ice cream, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were not 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 cellphones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball and baseball, 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.

And you're one of them! Congratulations.

That's right and there were no hatchery steelheads and not too many lawyers either

Thats the truth F5A. Those were the days. If only we could turn back time.

So true.... Thanks for bringing back the memories- they are still vivid.

I can remember going to a mom and pop on N. 19th and Proctor in Tacoma and getting a bad full of candy for a buck! I also remember being able to buy my mom cigarettes with a note...

Imagine an email like that 30-40 years from now:

Remember when we got our tongues pierced.... ?

Downriggin'

I never ate worms!

Though I agree it is very sad that taking responsibility has gone the way of 8-track tapes, not everything was something out of an Ozzie & Harriet show. Just like fishing trips where you only remember the good days and forget the skunk days, we tend to forget the bad aspects of "the good old days". Don't ever forget that the "good old days" were when companies were able to dump whatever they wanted into whatever river they wanted, or pump filth in the air. I remember growing up and having it hurt to breath because of the smog.

I enjoy looking back at some aspects of the "good old days", but overall I don't think they were any better than modern times.

ya i remember the days, for me it was the 70's and ya pollution was up smog hurt ya etc... but remember that all the bad that happened back when is what makes you tough today!!!
todays young learn how to contact lawyers and hide from consequences.
thank fully I am teaching my kids the values I learned. stand up for what u believe, think before you act, accept your faults and learn from them, please, thank you, yes mam, no sir etc...
I will not raise a panzy who will blame society.
if my kids grow up with respect and know how to work for what they want I will die a happy man.
t.y. f5a for your post it keeps people thinking

So true,So true.

Man can I relate.... I teach middle school mathematics. You wouldn't believe how many times when a kid does nothing all quarter and gets an F its my fault. I cant touch them, yell at them, make them do anything, and when they do nothing... its my fault. Hell, I got more swats in school than I care to remember, but I think they helped make me who I am today. Most of the problem kids I see come from parents that enable them. The parents are worse than some of the kids.. I have been threatened with a lawsuit because a kid with a 20% average was given an "F".... Imagine that. My parents wouldn't have gotten a lawyer, the would have sent me to find a belt, them blistered my backside....Times have sure changed.

I know there is alot of people who would agree with what I posted I just hope that we set examples for people who might not know there kids are lacking in respect.
and man i remember that paddle from school only got it a couple of times cuz ya learn real quick when your ass is blistered from that piece of oak!

I remember riding through downtown on mainstreet after a Babe Ruth game several of us sitting on dad's tailgate dragging our metal cleets on the raod watching the sparks fly. People just laughed. I think today if my kid did the same I would be arrested and loose custody of all my kids for doing the same. I see my kid in little league and all I can think is this little league today has the handprint of a woman all over it! No outs, no strikes, bat 'till you hit, no score, no winners, no loosers. And just what the !@#$#% is a base race? This is when they do start keeping score, after the game both teams run a relay race around the bases. So kids can say maybe we lost the game, but we won the base race! What the #@$(& is that all about? Ah yes, the good ol' days. I don't know a kid today that has had his head stitched up from a bike wreck. I must admit, my son is the biggest panzy ass I ever saw. He was raised by his mother. It makes me sick. I am now trying to give his balls back to him but he just doesn't get it. He'll be lucky to get through school let alone go to college.

Yeah, I remember being a kid but some times my memory disapoints me. I'm not to old only 68 years young. Remember when Cigarettes were in machines and you only needed a quarter to buy them and got 4 penny's back in the wrapper. I remember getting up in the summer and be gone all day and no one would worry about you being molested. With all the idiots out there now I won't let my kids out of my sight.