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Saturday, July 05, 2014

Statement by Jay Leno: CORRECTION: This was not authored by Mr. Jay Leno

GO HERE to see the update on this article. 

Those of You Born 1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED 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 were Pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing,
Tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby

cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
Locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode
Our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children,
We would ride in cars with no car seats,
No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck 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, real butter and bacon..
We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight.
WHY? Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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 and X-boxes.
There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
No video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's,
No cell phones, No personal computers, no Internet and no 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
Walked in and talked to 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!

These generations have 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.

If 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

so much of our lives for our own good .

Kind of makes you want to run through the house
with scissors, doesn't it ?

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control,
mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms
tearing up the country from one end to another,
and with the threat of swine flu and terrorist attacks.
Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was born in 1950. I have read versions of this over the years and it gives me a mixture of sadness and anger. Wish I could go back.

Anonymous said...

Born in '57. The only time we were allowed in the house was when it was raining hard. We lived outside as kids. There was always a ball game to play, a fort to build or a day long bike ride adventure to be had. All the fathers went to work and the mothers were home taking care of the house. Life was way better than what young people have now. Thank God I was born before electronic devices began controlling kids lives. To this day I've never played a video game. It just seems too mindless to me. The longest time I ever spent on a sofa was with a girlfriend.

Anonymous said...

58 and I miss the old days!

Anonymous said...

Born in "69" a child of the 70's and a teen of the 80's loved life back in those days as well, had my son in 1990 and there was computers, cell phones, and video games in his generation, but I raised him like I was, made to go outside and play, pull weeds, cut grass ect... I did that so he could experience childhood life as I got to. He is grateful to this day. Kids today have NO respect for anything or anyone.

Anonymous said...

Preach. Say it like it was. Those were the good ole days.

Anonymous said...

Those were the good ole days. Today we have these fat spoiled give me give me kids who will kill their parents if they don't get what they want.