A great example of when progress, isn't really progress at all...

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's looking back, it's hard to believe
that we have lived as long as we have...

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 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.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors......

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 streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.
No cell phones. Unthinkable.

We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits
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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never
overweight...we were always outside playing.

We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one
died from this.

We did not have PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Xbox, video games at all, 99
channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell
phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We
went outside and found them.

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. Imagine such a thing.
Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world!
Without a guardian. How did we do 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.

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.....
Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide
behind. 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 has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to
deal with it all.

We had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and the government
regulated our lives......"for our own good."

The good ole days really were good.

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