A Nation of Wimps

[Leslie]

When I was 5 my Dad was under the house and needed me to help him under there.  I wouldn't go under the house (because I had watched a Sci-Fi movie about giant tarantulas in caves) and was literally terrified.  Dad finally realized that, but he was kinda pissed because he didn't know why I refused to help him.  He thought I might be a wimp at first, but he understood after I told him why.  I had to be gradually introduced to going under the house from the other end of the house, where the entrance was bigger and I could see better.





Les

[toon]

Originally posted by Angus
You're speaking as survivors...and luck had lots to do.

lofl. yeah, i survived childhood. north carolina '61-'79. you weren't there, man. and les, that day you went under the house, thats called courage.

[toon]

"The elliptical wing of the Spitfires had fantastic characteristics, great lift. They were very maneuverable. We couldn't catch them in a steep climb"
Gunther Rall
 gunther rall could have used a few lessons from the JBs.btw angus, i am not laughing at you, i am laughing at your statement.i am not blaming the kids that are unfortunate enough to be growing up today. i am blaming the parents and politicians for trying to regulate every fing facet of their lives.

[lazs2]

mojo... I have a "interesting" past that might make it "difficult".

There is a candidate for state assembly running here in kalifornia who states in very clear terms that the government is too big and we give it too much money allready and need to start rolling back..  he is well backed.... or reasonably so.. and good looking and bright.

He does not have a snowballs chance in hell in kalifornia....I will vote for him tho.   I am encouraged that he has gotten this far really.

lazs

[Angus]

This one:
"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Angus
You're speaking as survivors...and luck had lots to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



LOL

No we are not. Not a single kid died in my neighborhood growing up. Broken limbs, hit by cars, rode into cars on bike, jumped bikes off home made ramps, etc, but not one death.
"


LOL as much as you will. In my neighbourhood and along with getting into the teens, that was not the case. There was close calls and some deaths. There were some crippled as well.
There is nothing wrong with trying to cushion things out a bit, but that however does not include the absence of some scars and bruises, getting cold, getting a bit burned, and so on. You have to bump the wall some times if you see what I mean

I was a lucky kid. Only broke 1 bone properly, and didn't have a talk with mr. death properly in my childhood, - first proper close-shave was at 29!

But as a parent of 2, I selfishly declare that I will try to keep my kids out of harm's way, and there is not much chance I will let them have a go at some of the stuff which I (against my parent's knowledge, hehe) was up to in my childhood. . .

Is there an equilibrum in this business?

[lazs2]

yep.. we would make mini bikes out of small frame bicycles with utility wheels and no brakes and a 15hp chainsaw engine that would make the thing fly!   Nobody died.

helmets were and are for dorks.   Nothing looks sillier to me to this day than spandex and "alien vs predetor" helmets.... like they are all tour de france guys or something.... they are just riding to starbucks ferchristsakes!

Seatbelts, helmets, warnings on everything from mirrors to the glowing element on your stove (caution... glowing red element may cause severe burns if touched)

men in the self help section of some petulia oil smelling bookstore...  Grown men afraid of firearms..   fast food and smoking bans..

I don't know where it will end.

lazs

[Gh0stFT]

Originally posted by lazs2
helmets were and are for dorks.   Nothing looks sillier to me to this day

wimps?


real man?


lol how true !

[lukster]

Originally posted by lazs2
yep.. we would make mini bikes out of small frame bicycles with utility wheels and no brakes and a 15hp chainsaw engine that would make the thing fly!   Nobody died.

I had buddy that had a minibike with a 10hp chainsaw engine. I had a Kawasaki 85cc. We raced, I took him off the line but when I hit about 50mph he shot past me almost like I was standing still. My bike vapor locked when I hit about 65. Those were the days.

[moot]

When I first got there, I felt ambivalent to US highschool rules suspending or expelling you for any fighting on campus.  
Back in France you could just step outside and fist things out for a few minutes before most teachers stepped in.  As long as you were outside of school grounds, you'd be entirely ignored.

The extra PE in the US sort of made up for it, but there's nothing like a good fight to settle things with the day's bonehead.

[lazs2]

When I was in school moot it was the same... the teachers had nothing to do with fights off campus or even... after school in the fields.

Durring school... we were allowed to put on gloves and box in the gym with a coach ref.

Boxing and wrestling was required in P.E.

lazs

[storch]

same here.  by the time we reached highschool there were few fights because everyone knew who the alpha males were, the questions had long been settled in the playgrounds in elementary and middleschool.  If a new kid enrolled we took him out and kicked his bellybutton to see where he fit in the pecking order.