Here is a little dose reality for all of us…
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 coloured lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets – not to mention hitchhiking to town as a youngster! We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scrap parts 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back in time for supper. 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 learnt to get over it.
We shared one lemonade or orange soda with our friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.
We did not have PlayStation, Nintendo, X-Box, 99 channels on cable, DVD 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 house and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them or played board games.
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 cloths pins 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 tried out for school Sports Teams 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. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
Parents 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.
You are one of these.
Congratulations!
Pass this link on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good!
Due to the climate of political correctness now pervading America, Kentuckians, Tennesseans and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as ‘HILLBILLIES.’
You must now refer to them as APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS
And furthermore
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. She is not a ‘BABE’ or a ‘CHICK’ – She is a ‘ BREASTED AMERICAN.’
2. She is not ‘EASY’ – She is ‘HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE.’
3. She is not a ‘DUMB BLONDE’ – She is a ‘LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.’
4. She has not ‘BEEN AROUND’ – She is a ‘PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION.’
5. She does not ‘NAG’ you – She becomes ‘ VERBALLY REPETITIVE.’
6. She is not a ‘TWO-BIT HOOKER’ – She is a ‘ LOW COST PROVIDER.’
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a ‘BEER GUT’ – He has developed a ‘LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY.’
2. He is not a ‘BAD DANCER’ – He is ‘ OVERLY CAUCASIAN.’
3. He does not ‘GET LOST ALL THE TIME’ – He’s an ‘ALTERNATIVE ROUTE INVESTIGATOR.’
4. He is not ‘BALDING’ – He is in ‘FOLLICLE REGRESSION.’
5. He’s not a ‘TOTAL ***’ – He suffers from ‘RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION.’
6. It’s no longer referred to as ‘PLUMBER’S CRACK’ It’s now ‘REAR CLEAVAGE.’
Here are some scenarios comparing the year 1968 to 2008. Although they are just scenarios, the differences in the outcomes do highlight the politically correct and morally deficient state our country is in today.
Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into high school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1968 – Vice principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his own shotgun to show Jack.
2008 – School goes into lock down, the police are called, Jack is hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors are called in to assist traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1968 – Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2008 – Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. They are charged with assault and both are expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario: David won’t sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1968 – David is sent to the principals office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 – David is given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra state funding because David has a disability.
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1968 – Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 – Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario: Mark has a headache and takes some Aspirin to school.
1968 – Mark shares Aspirin with the school principal.
2008 – Police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario: Pedro fails high-school English.
1968 – Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2008 – Pedro’s cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. American Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover 4th of July firecrackers, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1968 – Ants die.
2008 – Police and the Hazmat Team are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. FBI investigates parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario: Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1968 – Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2008 – Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in federal prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.
On January 14, 1969 comic Red Skelton, on his weekly television show, expressed sorrow that the Pledge of Allegiance might someday be considered a “prayer” and eliminated from public schools. Red Skelton’s words were remarkably visionary and perhaps more prophetic than even he imagined.
On that show, Skelton offered his television audience his reminiscence of an incident from his schoolboy days in Indiana. Mr. Lasswell, Skelton’s teacher, felt his students had come to regard the Pledge of Allegiance as a daily chore to be recited by mechanical repetition. They had lost any sense of the meaning of the words they were speaking. As Skelton related the story, Mr. Lasswell told his class: “I’ve been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it’s becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each and every word?”
Skelton then delivered to his audience a stirring version of the explanation provided to his school class by their teacher so many years earlier and a recitation of the pledge itself.