The following email essay, reproduced with bad punctuation and formatting intact, is sort of cutesy but also sort of thought-provoking. The points about risk-taking, innovation, and dealing with disappointment are particularly relevant from the point of view of considering the ongoing evolution of the species.
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who
smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing,
tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were
covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
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 pick up on a warm day
was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from
a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from
one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and
drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight
because…..WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
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. And we were
O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out
of scraps and then ride 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 did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s,
X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video
tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went
outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there
were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and
the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
made up games with sticks and tennis balls and
although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very
many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and
knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made
the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with
disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke
the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best
risk-takers, 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 are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck
to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our
lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids
so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors,
doesn’t it?!
PS -The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age
