Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: mietla on March 03, 2003, 01:13:10 PM
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If you lived as a child, in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's, how did
you 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 covered with bright colored lead- based 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. Horrors!
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps, and then
rode 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 when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us
all day.
No cell phones. Unthinkable!
We played dodgeball, 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, punched each other, and got black and blue, and
learned to get over it.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were
never overweight..... we were always outside playing. We shared one
grape soda with four friends, from one bottle, and no one died from
this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games
at all; 99 channels on cable, video tape 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 home, and we knocked on the
door, or rung the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
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 tennis balls, 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.
Little League had tryouts; not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't, had to learn to deal with that big 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. They 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
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I'll remember this every time I see a 10 year old with a cell phone.. :D
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Yes, but we didn't have to deal with the Great Depression, tuberculosis, Herpes, AIDS, crack cocaine, or more recently, terrorism.
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Two of my childhood friends died in swimming accidents. 1 other was killed when he went through a windshield of the family's car.
Seems to me the statements above are somewhat skewed by the perspective of someone that survived... at least the first half.
Comparing the second half to our childhood isn't really all that fair. I wonder how different life would have been if technology had been different.
MiniD
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4 out of 6 of my fathers childhood friends died before they reached 18 in car accidents.
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Well, I guess if we're talking HS friends, the group of 13 I hung out with (we had matching tattoos, kinda scarey, gang yes, but we used fists, not guns) 6 are dead, 3 are in prison and 4 of us "made it out alive" and are raising families.
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the supposed "golden days" were not very golden unless you were upper middle class and white.
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Originally posted by Frogm4n
the supposed "golden days" were not very golden unless you were upper middle class and white.
Geeez ...
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Originally posted by Frogm4n
the supposed "golden days" were not very golden unless you were upper middle class and white.
I didn't grow up in the upper middle class and my wife's family was dirt poor. We both still have fond memories of our youths. Get a clue Froggie.
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i didnt say people didnt have found memories of their youths, jeez. im sure most people have found memories of their youths.
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"fond memories" are what make "golden years", nothing else.
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i see we have confused the meanings here. no problem
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I don't get the upper class reference myself...
MiniD
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BTW, the console video game did not become popular until the late 70's.
MiniD
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what i was referring to was the term alot of people use that implys people had it better back in day, and now society is evil and corrupt.
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I declare BS.
That sure isn't the way it reads.
What you wrote is more unexamined "poster think"....
I grew up in the '50's and we basically didn't have diddly. I loved it. Some of the happiest times in my life because we WERE and we VALUED family. And that's all it took.
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Originally posted by Frogm4n
the supposed "golden days" were not very golden unless you were upper middle class and white.
Well, I thought long and hard.....yup.....this is the most ignorant statement I've read in a long time on this board and there have been some doosies.
Sheesh.
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awesome ill take that. yes it was pretty stupid. the point i was trying to get across didnt get across, buts thats okay its my fault for not expressing it in the right way. Like i stated before the "golden years" in my mind is what people that reminisce about the 50s talk of. You know the old people that whine about how it "used to be". no crime more money "less upity black people" (actually quote from an old man i used to know) etc.... anyways it was off topic and i come off looking like a complete idiot while im only a idiot.
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Don't be so hard on yourself:)
I can gaurantee you that the years after WW2 thru the early seventies were a much better time to raise children and in general, just to be living.
Much more sane than what we have today....remember, just because things are easier and more efficient, does not mean they are better.
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NM
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Originally posted by Frogm4n
i come off looking like a complete idiot while im only a idiot.
Well, you do have your squads rep to live up to. ;)
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Well, you do have your squads rep to live up to.
he might be an ass, be he's OUR ass. If the SBM's claim Sandy, than this one's our prize sarcastic jewel. besides, he's taken the heat off me and Animal.
;)
Yes, but we didn't have to deal with the Great Depression, tuberculosis, Herpes, AIDS, crack cocaine, or more recently, terrorism.
Nah, just civil rights, vietnam, the cold war, MAD, the Draft, LSD, coke, the tobacco industry, life in prison for a joint, the FBI, McCarthyism, and Leave it to Beaver.
I can sympathise with the original posters intent.. and I also respect the losses we faced.. some of us didn't make it. Those that did were changed by the experience. Darwin at work.
I wonder what this new generation of coddled panzies will bring us to in the next 50 years? Sometimes i think improved medical technology is a curse. I don't think I wanna live to see it.
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frogum... I believe that a lot of the minorities had happier times too. What with gangs and crack and all..
I grew up in the fifties. There were some dark things but... all in all...
Watched a 64 Pontiac GTO commercial and the women driving and riding in the car weren't wearing seat belts... they still were managing to smile tho. Seat belts and helmets... what's next? can't have firearms?
What a bunch of girly men we have become..
lazs
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I dunno if the change in how kids grow up is that drastic. Only 10-15 years ago it seemed that myself and my freinds were always coming home carrying one buddy with a busted leg or arm... or my mother was driving one of us to the hospital for stiches because we jumped off a 20 foot cliff to see what would happen.
All of us had video games, movies, etc but we would always be outside. I dont think electronics can be blamed for creating couch potato kids. If the kid wants to stay inside, thats it - games or no games.
Today in my area it is actually illegal for a child under a certain age to be on a bike without a helmet. Same holds true for skates... skates for crists sake. So now what you have is a 12 year old kid rolling around on roller blades wearing class 3 body armor. Helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, gloves, shin pads... you get the idea.
When I was younger, we used to play rollar hockey in the streets constantly - we didnt use helmets or pads... hell, we'd have an "injury" everytime we played. (learned to drive a manual transmission on the way to the hospital at age 15). I even broke my arm (the first time) in Kindergarden - on school grounds - after school was over - playing football without any teacher paying attention to us - without filing a lawsuit.... imagine that.
We used to get hurt - it was just part of the activity. Today it seems that parents want to protect their kids from everything - its just gotten a little bit out of control. 60 pounds of body armor on rollar skates for what? To prevent a skinned knee? Get over it.
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Well my childhood which I consider to be before high school was fun, many friends doing stupid stuff on bicycle's and skateboards.
Never lost a friend to violent death, cancer yes though.
I think a good point to make is, with all these rules we have now, helmets, seat belts and the like. Are there more or less deaths than say 30 years ago or even 20 for that matter.
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I'm another one that grew up in the 50's and 60's. What a freaking blast, is all I can say. :D I absolutely loved it. My kids don't get to do half the things that we got to do back then.
I think kids today have a lot more to worry about than we did.
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The introduction of seat-belt laws in Britain reduced the car accident death-rate by at least 3 times, comparing today to the 1950s. Factor in the more miles we do and we probably have a death rate that is 6 times lower than in 1955.
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dowding... I guess this is the point that we part ways. I think adults have a right to wear or not wear seatbelts as they choose. The death toll has absolutely nothing to do with it. Same for helmets for adults riding bicycles or motorcycles.
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
dowding... I guess this is the point that we part ways. I think adults have a right to wear or not wear seatbelts as they choose. The death toll has absolutely nothing to do with it. Same for helmets for adults riding bicycles or motorcycles.
lazs
I'd agree with ya Lazs if I didn't have to pay the hospital bill of some fool intent on maiming himself or others. I think this conversation gets revived about every 6 months.
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mietla
did you write that? it is very good.
I have to ask if you have any kids? It is amazing how little things have changed in reality. The toys my 9 and 11 year old sons have had the longest are sticks. Sticks they found that swung nice. They have out lasted all the transformers and the N64 and all the little and big gizmos. Just sticks. When 6 inches broke off the bottom of my older sons favorite stick when he was about 9 years old and it was about 5 he was heart broken. He made me promise to keep it forever..
Kids are really simple beasties. They clamor for the newest greatest thing. But they take the most pleasure by far in the simple things. That has not changed.
I had to take off my head phones from aces high last night and tell the boys to stop wrestling and laughing at 10pm..just rolling around on the floor testing each others strength and laughing thier heads off.
Children have not changed.
If we let them be kids they will take up the challenge.
But a very well written piece. Thanks for it.
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no doubt seatbelts are a good idea. seat belt laws are not (except for children).
helmet laws are an even worse example. helmets actually impare your situational awarenes on a bike. (but thats a whole other rant)
I doubt you could find anyone of reasonable inteligence that would argue that you are safer or better off without a seatbelt on. the point is you should have the right to be stupid as long as it doesn't endanger the next guy. I really hate these kinds of laws and frankly tend to ignore them. most of us tend to ignore laws that we feel the gov't has no right in imposing.
I probably would have started wearing the seatbelt sooner where it not for the law sticking it's nose in where it didn't belong (kinda stuborn that way). the only reason I finally started wearing one is the day my son looked over and asked why I didn't have it on. I couldn't think of a good answer, and I find it a good policy to try not to look stupid in front of the kids.
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iron... let me ask you this.... has the price of medical care gone gone down since seatbelt and helmet laws? can you point to any savings in taxes or any other way that we have because people are able to live longer by avoiding accidental death? I know 100's of motorcycle riders that rode before helmet laws and can't think of one example of the state paying long term medical bills because of a head injury any of them sustained.
also... isn't it illegal to drive without insurance in most states?
lazs
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Where I grew up, there wasn't a single fence in the neighborhood, I didn't need a key to the house because the doors were never locked, we knew all our neighbors, as a teen I parked my car in front of the house and often just left the keys in it. When you got in a fight, you might have to worrry about getting thumped but no-one had guns or knives.
I watch my 3 nephews go through their lives. They don't play sports, might not even know one end of a baseball bat from the other, don't have a single friend as near as I can tell...they rush home after school to play video games on the X box. As much as I'd like to be a kid again.. I do not think I'd like to be one now. Yes, I grew up in a middle class all white neighborhood... so?
I played pretty much all the team sports from grade school on up and ran into blacks and mexican and became friends with some of them.. they had the same sort of life, if not the same standard of living. Things have changed for kids and, IMO, not for the better.
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Originally posted by lazs2
also... isn't it illegal to drive without insurance in most states?
lazs
I hope it's illegal in every state. Of course insurance rates are tied to insurance company profits. When their costs increase so do ours. Seat belts do reduce injuries in accidents and therefore reduce (or should) insurance premiums.
Motocycle helmets are a bit different, your less likely to survive an accident without one so less hospital time.