How we change with time

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids
in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably should not have survived, because
our baby cots were covered with brightly colored 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 matchboxes!

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just chappals and fluorescent
sticker on our wheel guard. 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 laddoos and drank sugarcane juice with added 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 glass and no one
actually died from this. We would spend hours riding cycles without support
wheels and then went top speed down the road, only to find out we were not
still so confident on the bike!!! After running into stinging bees / thorn
bush a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the afternoon and could play all evening, 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 DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we
went outside and found them.

We played with marbles on the main street without footwear and sometimes
that road really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but
there were no law suits. We had full on fistfights but no prosecution
followed from other parents.


We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners
catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not,
WALKED to school; we did not rely on mummy Or daddy to drive us to school,
which was just round the corner. We made up games with sticks and pebbles.


We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore the same shoes all summer!

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!


Recd from Rashmi on Tue, 5 Sep 2006 00:21:35 -0700 (PDT)