*NOSTALGIA*

I copied this from The 60's Official Site

How Did We Survive?

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,

We 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!

Choosing teams for playing army/war out in the fields, or the neighbourhood, was pretty much like siding up at school for football or some other game.

It usually started with a knock on the door, or a phone call.
It would be one of your friends who was organizing a major assault. It was "grab your gear and meet us at the school ground, or the field behind David Smith's house. That's how the great army games began usually. Perhaps it was yourself who instigated the war by simply knocking on a neighbour's door and asking that ever-famous question "Can David play?"

Before the actual playing time began, there was usually a neighbourhood meeting place. It was probably behind someone's garage, or some other sanctuary which eliminated the deadly risk of being called back into the house for some job that would eat into your valuable army time. These gatherings usually were for the purpose of "catching up" time, telling what happened to so-and-so yesterday at school, or some other neighbourhood gossip. This was a kid's equivalent to that morning cup of coffee.

There were certain political protocols that needed to be observed in order to not make this a very touchy chore.

Nobody wanted to be the Germans.
You had to be careful not to show too much prejudice in choosing the guys you liked best.
During actual battle, when you were "got", or "killed" you actually had to acknowledge the fact.
There was no wimping out, none of the "I gotta go home now" quitting on the battlefield. Any soldier caught doing this ran the risk of not being chosen the next time around-or worse yet, not being called.

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I copied this from The 60's Official Site

How Did We Survive?

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