-- How
did we survive?
(http://www.nybass.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4873)
Posted by Bassin Dude on 2002 PM:
How did we survive?
I didn't write this. I
found it amusing and I agree with much of it. Some of you older guys (like me)
will be able to relate to it.
--------------------------------------------
How did we survive?
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 painted with bright colored lead based paint. We often chewed on the crib,
ingesting the 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. 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. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really
hurt. We played with toy guns, cowboys and Indians, army, cops and robbers, and
used our fingers to simulate guns when the toy ones or the BB gun was not available.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were never
overweight; we were always outside playing.
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
or didn't work hard so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the
same grade. That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and
problem solvers. We had the freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and
we learned how to deal with it all. Almost all of us would have rather gone
swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), the term
cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the
school PA system. We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a
pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training
athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't
recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much
safer we are now. Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I
guess PE must be much harder than gym. Every year, someone taught the whole
school a lesson by running in the halls with leather soles on linoleum tile and
hitting the wet spot. How much better off would we be today if we only knew we
could have sued the school system.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and the pledge (amazing we aren't all
brain dead from that), and staying in detention after school caught all sorts
of negative attention for about the next two weeks. We must have had horribly
damaged psyches. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or condoms (we
wouldn't have known what either was anyway) but they did give us a couple of
baby aspirin and cough syrup if we started getting the sniffles. What an
archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and
everything. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was
allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without
computers, PlayStation, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable stations. I must
be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize through the denial of the
dangers could have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a mile down the
road to some guy's vacant lot, built forts out of branches and pieces of
plywood, made trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger. What was
that property owner thinking, letting us play on that lot. He should have been
locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete with a
self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm.
Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee
sting? I could have been killed! We played king of the hill on piles of gravel
left on vacant construction sites and when we got hurt, mom pulled out the 48
cent bottle of mercurochrome and then we got butt-whooped. Now it's a trip to
the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics
and then mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly
vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. We didn't act up at the
neighbor's house either because if we did, we got butt-whooped (physical abuse)
there too... and then we got butt-whooped again when we got home. Mom invited
the door to door salesman inside for coffee, kids choked down the dust from the
gravel driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (remember why Tonka trucks were
made tough... it wasn't so that they could take the rough berber in the family
room), and Dad drove a car with
leaded gas. Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I am
sure that I nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when we went on
two week vacations. I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put
us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the family tent.
Summers were spent behind the push lawnmower and I didn't even know that mowers
came with motors until I was 13 and we got one without an automatic blade-stop
or an auto-drive. How sick were my parents? Of course my parents weren't the
only psychos. I recall Barry Shomo from next door coming over and doing his
tricks on the front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his mom know that
she could have owned our house. Instead she pick him up and swatted him for
being such a goof. It was neighborhood run amuck. Oh yes in hunting season we
could take our best shotgun or old .303 Savage and hand it to the schoolbus
driver who would secure it before we took it to school and carefully put it in
our locker. After the last bell rang we would hunt for cottontails or deer
safely away from the schoolhouse. To top it off, not a single person I knew had
ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we
possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger
management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that
we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
So......just how did we survive?
__________________
Tony
"As my own fishing seasons wind down to a
precious few, it's nice to know I'll be there, be there as long as I can. As
long as I can bait a hook and make a cast, as long as I am living, I intend to
be fishing."
-Ron Schara
Posted by bobn on 2002 PM:
so true-back in my day a lawyer would have been lonelier than the maytag repairman-god forbid if your mother had to go to school because of your behavior, or worse, if a cop knocked on the door!-there was a dress code even in public school-if a teacher or nun smacked you and you told your parents you would get smacked again-my, how the times have changed-bobn--11/12--7 pm
Posted by BARRY on 2002 AM:
Oh the memories and how
true this post is. THANK YOU,
Barry
__________________
Hello I must be going.
Posted by ChrisChance on 2002 AM:
Bob Dylan nailed it in the 60's
"the times they are a changin!"
__________________
Posted by TVal on 2002 AM:
The "good old
days"
Really strikes a chord
with us " older" folks.
Can remember our boy scout leader loading up his flat bed stake body truck with
about 15 of us and heading off to the swimming hole, or the drive in movies for
the $5.00 a car load specials.
Converse All Star sneakers! 25 cent gas, could fill my VW bug for $3. When you
could play cowboys and indians and not worry about being politically correct. Going
to the library to do research for school papers, instead of the internet.
That was then, can't live in the past, only remember it fondly.
Tim
__________________
No phone, no fax, just fishing.
Posted by FlaBigMouth on 2002 PM:
Here in the land of
"youthless incontinence", I observe something of the opposite
occurring. Many of these "old" people (I'm 56 and considered a
youngster by most) are still living at 1950's prices. They eat at the
"early bird" despite their 6 and 7 figure estate values. They'll
drive 20 miles to save 3 cents per gallon on gas. They hope to pay 1950's
prices for everyone else's labor but when it comes to social security
increases, they're all underpaid.
If I get like that as I enter the geriatric set, please, someone, a 12 pound
sledge to either temple will be appreciated while I sleep dreaming of the
"good old days".
Let's enjoy life today and screw the "good old days".
Posted by bobn on 2002 PM:
fla--i don't think this
post had anything to do with economics--i see it as a post that was trying to
show the values of a by-gone day-we are who we are because of our up bringing
and the values instilled by our parents--true we can't go back but i don't want
to "screw the good old days"-everyone no matter their age will have
their own "good old days" sooner or later--how good they are is a
matter of opinion-the future can only be judged by the past- and i can honestly
say i had a great chldhood and look back with fondness--just my .02--bobn--11/14--7
m
Posted by Bassin Dude on 2002 PM:
Right on bobn!
__________________
Tony
"As my own fishing seasons wind down to a
precious few, it's nice to know I'll be there, be there as long as I can. As
long as I can bait a hook and make a cast, as long as I am living, I intend to
be fishing."
-Ron Schara
Posted by FlaBigMouth on 2002 AM:
Sorry, BobN. Wasn't trying to ripple your water. Just thinking out loud about how this state is so everrun with us older folks and how it can be a time of misery for many of these retirees when they talk about the good old days but insist on being miserable today. I guess it somehow actually does elevate their recollections of the good old days by comparing them to their existences today. I would have been more considerate of your topic if I'd started a fresh thread.
Posted by bobn on 2002 AM:
no problem-no harm done-just another point of view--bobn--11/15--9:45 am
Posted by skeeter195 on 2002 PM:
I am only 36, but
remember most of these things very well. The one thing that bothers me most is
that the kids these days(mine included) are missing out on way to much fun. I
coach youth football and look at the kids and think what I would have done to
be able to football before I was in junior high. Most of the kids now just take
it for granted that mom and dad will shell out hundreds of dollars for them to
play. Also today some teams have to recruit kids in order to have enough to
play. When I was a kid, there would have been loads of kids wanting to play,
and only the best would make the cut.
There are so many choices for the kids today that they just don't realize how
much fun just playing and making up games could be. My son misses out on some
stuff, but at least he enjoys the simple things that I showed him I enjoyed as
a kid.
Posted by Scully on 2002 AM:
did you live around the block???
bassndude.
Great stuff. Werent you the kid with the Davy Crockett Coonskin Cap on in the
school yard? I was the kid with the Hopalong Cassidy outfit on. Neat huh? Lol
The only difference as I see it is you wore Keds, I wore Cons....man those were
the days. Love the part about haveing to be home by the time the street lights
went on.
I remember the year I got a "Matty Matel" Burp Gun for Xmas, I was
the envy of the neighborhood. Well, thats until my brother (younger) threw it
into a small pond that was close to our hose. While I was kicking his but he
kept repeating..."spoils of war", "spoils of war". lol
Scul
Posted by Pete L on 2002 AM:
That was me with the
coonskin cap , but i had the PF Flyers!!!!!
Pete
__________________
Pete LaFemina
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and
"mental illness."
Posted by Scully on 2002 AM:
what colorrrrr?
Pete
Were the Flyers black or white???. So that was YOU Davie....hows Georgie Russell these
days. lol
A new question....was Davie Crocket killed at the Alamo, or did he surrender and then
executed as new evidence now suggests he may have been? Why does everbody have
to screw around with our legends/stories. Next thing you know some one will
suggest that the Japanese didnt really bomb Pearl Harbor, it was all staged by Hollywood to drag us into WWII.
Scul
Posted by Pete L on 2002 AM:
Scully - White only!!! [as
far as i remember]
I saw the show regarding Davey at the Alamo.
As far as i`m concernd -- he died fighting at the Alamo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Surrendered MY
ASS!!!!!!
I`m sick of all this history revisionist garbage. !!!!!!!!!
Pete 
__________________
Pete LaFemina
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and
"mental illness."
Posted by Gregg on 2002 PM:
Does anyone remember...
The Spalding it was a 49cent ball and we used it foe everything! Stickball, curb ball, box ball, king queen.
__________________
Gregg
Posted by Kenny C on 2002 PM:
Oh WOW
You guys are really
striking a few chords. I remember when "politically correct" were two
words that were never put together. The street lights coming on was always the
time to be home. Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers.....And the only time
you heard the word "sue" was when the little girl next door was being
called in by her mom !!!
Brings a tear to my eye...........
__________________
I wish I knew, but I'm still finding out !!!
Posted by bobn on 2002 PM:
gregg-i thought that was a spaldeen-at least in the bronx-bobn--11/16--4:35 pm
Posted by Gregg on 2002 PM:
Bob your probably right!
Hey whadda' want a kid from da bronx to know how to spell?
__________________
Gregg
Posted by Paul at home on 2002 PM:
Just got done watching the Ed Sullivan Show. Black and white really sucks.
Posted by Scott E. on 2002 AM:
B&W TV, No Remote, what is a VCR, DVD, Microwave and this thing we call a PC?
Being born way back in
nineteen hundred sixty seven.....LOL, I remember when color tv was a luxury,
the remote control was my dad telling me to get up and change the channel, if
you wanted to see a movie you went to the movie theater and it didn't cost a
small fortune for the popcorn, candy or soda.
Popcorn was not made in a microwave, we either had Jiffy-Pop or did it the old
fashioned way in a pot with a little oil, imagine a kid today waiting for
popcorn for more than 2 minutes, the closest thing to a microwave back then was
the Amana Radar Range, a luxury most could not afford.
Many of the things we have today have been around for years, what we call nessesaties
today in the past could not be afforded by many, but as the technology gets
better and patents on items run out, an item is made more affordable.
The job market has changed also, there are more white collar workers now than
blue collar, there are more millionaires and billionaires than there were in
the 60s, 70s, and 80s. We have become soft, our food stores have foods from
around the world, along with junk foods of ever flavor imaginable.
We are over stressed, depressed and repressed, there is a pill for this a pill
for that, our kids have every type of syndrome imaginable, from being overweight
to attention deficite disorder.
Are we honestly better off??? We need a computer to do banking, our school
work, our jobs, and any other thing that would stress ourselves out thinking
about.
As far as you guys with the Cons or Keds, you must have been the rich kids in
the town, I remember going into the food store and my mother buying the $2.00
sneakers in the bin at the end of the aisle and wore them until they had holes
where my toes would stick out.
I guess society today would be a real suprise to my grandfather who was born in
1901 and died in 1989. He always told me I had it way to easy, but I guess
being born before Henry Ford decided to roll out his first car would make you a
bit grumpy. He saw alot in his lifetime from horse and buggy to cars, from
outhouse to indoor plumbing, candles to lightbulbs, from Buck Rodgers and Flash
Gordon to a man landing on the moon, from the Wright Bros. to supersonic jets,
from getting the news in print to radio to TV, talk about making changes in
your lifestyle.
We have it way to easy!!!
__________________
Nothing sets a person so far out of the devil's reach as humility.
Jonathan Edwards
---
Scott E.
scotte@pikeonline.net