People over 30..

[nini]

//got this in an email.. brought back some good memories.



People over 35 should be dead.

Here's why ...........

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably
shouldn't have survived.

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. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)

As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

Horrors!

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

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 street lights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.

NO CELL PHONES!!!!!

Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends!

We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

They were accidents.

No one was to blame but us.

Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out anyone's
eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.

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.

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 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.

And you're one of them!

Congratulations!


People under 30 are WIMPS !

[dolo amber]

1. YEAH!

I did all those things and more, and somehow managed not to die. Amazing, innit? :D

Thanks for that, it does bring back loads of good memories. I think I'll show it to my 13 yr old so she doesn't think I'm crazy when I talk about those things. ;)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. "The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!"

I didn't know * was youger than 30.

[TXlib]

12. I'm pretty sure that one is not really true

I can't imagine parents not siding with their own child in any generation.

[Skittles]

15. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you MUST be kidding - my generations's parents sided with both the law AND teachers over the kids!!!

[nini]

16. They even sided with other parents!

Parents back then could discipline each others kids and know it was ok.

[geniph]

21. Yup

I remember getting a whipping for talking a friend of mine into crossing the street, not knowing she wasn't allowed to. Her father spanked us both, even though I was a year older and I was allowed to cross the street.

If I'd gotten in trouble with the cops, there's no question my mom would have whupped my butt right in front of the cops.

[tkmorris]

25. Wanna bet?

They sure as hell DID side with the police should I be unfortunate (stupid)enough to draw their attention.

Not only that but if another parent saw anyone doing anything wrong they'd march that kid home to his own parents and give them the scoop. And that kids parents actually LISTENED to the other parent instead of this blind defense of their little angel that you see veryone doing today.

Call me an atavist but I think we lost something along the way.

[Skittles]

28. oh yes, when I see those little shits screaming in stores and restaurants

it just didn't HAPPEN back then - you'd be marched straight outside for a WHIPPING.

[bearfan454]

34. That's exactly right Skittles

When we were kids we had no doubt about it. We knew if we fucked up, we were going to get it. No questions asked.

[Pobeka]

35. I kinda enjoy the nonviolent punishments.

It's a great game, messing with their little heads. Each of our girls only had 1 temper tantrum in an store. We taught them each a lesson of how trying to manipulate mom & dad with a tantrum is really going to backfire big time!

I still will admit to *wanting* to kick their butts sometimes!

[GOPisEvil]

3. Now I'm 35 and I had video games.

I had the Magnavox one.

But the rest of that stuff, yeah, that's right. I also got an additional workout because *I* was the remote control in the family. My dad would call me from another room and ask me to change the channel for him. :crazy:

[dmr]

10. LOL The channel changer workout!

:)

I once was assigned that workout too!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

31. With my mom I have to do the "work the DVD player" workout

Technology changes but obviously some things don't:)

[TXlib]

13. Pole Position, and Pong ruled!

[nini]

4. btw.. I STILL drink out of the hose

hah..

[cprise]

5. And what did they do?

Flocked to gated communities

Bullied motorists with SUVs

Created a drug epidemic

...and every 10 years promoted racism with a new "War On <something>"

The more crime went down, the more they demanded a police state

Invented neoliberalism

Put a "Public Relations" filter over EVERYTHING

Rediscovered how to be a pompous, old creep

And sued, sued, sued

[nini]

7. ????

do you really want to go there?

:shrug:

[gator_in_Ontario]

6. And our parents gave us aspirin when we had the flu...

what were they trying to do? Give us Reyes Syndrome or something? sheesh....

[DK666]

8. Hey yall

I just wanted to point out that I did loads of stupid and dangerous things when I was a teen.

Now I have my own teenagers and I am terified that they will do some of the same things.

Why, because when we did stupid kid things it was just that, a stupid kid thing.

But now its a felony.

[commander bunnypants]

9. I used to love playing pong

hanging at the swing set till 10 pm, drinking out of the hose, dodge ball a soft ball, burning my GI Joe's ( iwas a little warped) jumping out of trees, AH the memories

DDQM

[Pithlet]

11. As a new parent today

I see hidden dangers lurking around every little thing. And that's will all the new safer products, and products to make things safer. I can't imagine how different childrearing was back then. I don't think my parents even had a car seat with me.

I am proud to say that my oldest son will be 3 next month, and we've yet to have any injuries requiring professional medical attention. And, with my little guy, that's saying something.

[LastKnight]

14. quiet you old people...

its called progress lol aint it grand?

-LK

[VelmaD]

17. Don't forget we ate raw cookie dough...

and raw cake batter and the eggs in them didn't kill us. Neither did peanut butter - someone actually told my mom you shouldn't feed peanut butter to small children. She couldn't figure out what the hell else my brother and I would actually eat when we were 2 or 3. :-)

[nini]

18. I still do.... raw cake batter rocks!

..

[Pobeka]

37. Ahemm, not all of us at raw cookie dough. I thought it was gross.

To each his/her own!

[LynneSin]

19. Here's things I remember that we would do:

We went to school even when there was snow. The worse that would happen was there was a 2 hour delay.

We walked to the closest bus-stop - sometimes a half mile away. And rarely did our parents wait for us at the bus stop in the mornings.

:shrug:

I'm still alive somehow

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. Ah, going to school in the snow...

The bus stop was fifteen miles away. Uphill both ways. The snow would be piled two feet over our heads. We had to burrow through it. Most of us lost an ear or a finger from frostbite, but we just stuck it back on with some of that school glue (whatever was left that we hadn't already eaten), and everything grew back okay. Had to fight packs of rabid snow-burrowing dogs in front of every house. The bus didn't have seat belts, and a few of us would fall out the windows every trip. They'd have to run behind the bus while everyone else threw frozen Crayolas at them. And then the teacher would beat us because we were late.

And we liked it that way!

[HereSince1628]

20. I guess this stuff from freeper friends all the time.

Anti-regulation subtext riding in comedy.


The trouble is, it's often funny :(

[tigereye]

23. we walked on the railroad tracks

lay down and put our ear on the track to see if the train was coming!and put a nickel there to see it flattened. I would probably blow a gasket if my son did that. But sad to say, he can't really just wander around the neighborhood the way we did in our small town since we live in an urban area. Actually the town where I grew up is still kind of like that. Yeah, we would be gone all day at the local park and nothing really bad ever happened. On the other hand, my dad put seat belts in our cars himself.

[geniph]

22. The trouble with this kind of nostalgia

is that not all of us had fondly-remembered childhoods. I grew up in the early 60s, and probably did most of those things. Yeah, I survived - and I made a few trips to the emergency room, too. I knew kids who lost eyes playing swords with sticks (one of my own nephews was one). I knew kids who got food poisoning and were in the hospital for weeks. I knew kids who got what must have been Reyes syndrome, although I don't think we knew what that was then. I knew kids who were killed by concussions falling from their bikes or out of the backs of pickup trucks (my stepsons lost one of their best friends just last year from falling out of the back of a pickup). I knew someone whose baby lost three fingers in a crib. And innumerable children's mental development was impaired by that bright-colored lead-based paint on walls and toys and cribs. Just look at the Commander-In-Thief. His father's inarticulate, but he's not a total muppet.

[trackfan]

24. My wife and I both remember that

kids we knew sometimes missed about a week of school because they had "cracked their skull".

[RebelOne]

26. I've lived through all that and survived.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

27. All this from the generation...

who were born under the "don't trust anyone over thrity" precept. Its funny I'm 36 now and I still don't trust anyone over 30.

Oh yeah, I ate pop rocks andd drank coca-cola at the same time. It was a close call, but I made it.

[He loved Big Brother]

29. I'm 24 and I'm here to say

People under 30 ARE wimps!!

It's almost befuddling how frickin pansy they are.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

30. As a 23-year old I could refute this e-mail point by point

And in fact I wrote up about three pages doing exactly that. In retrospect, however, the e-mail does enough to discredit itself as it stands. I have never taken kindly to e-mails that make certain assumptions about our generation –such as us being spoiled over indulged-and engages in mindless stereotyping and prejudices. Every generation has its good and bad points and it’s good and bad people. The present over 30s generation has some wonderful people –such as Bill Clinton, Al Franken, Al Gore, John Kerry and the like-but it also has had people such as George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter and so on. I wouldn’t presume to make presumptions about a whole generation based on a few examples and I’d expect the same courtesy extended to my generation from the author of this e-mail. People over 30 have every reason to feel good about themselves without being denigrated –and the same applies to our generation.

Note that I am not criticizing the author of this thread –I can definitely see where she is coming from and I think that there are many positive sentiments coming from the whole text of the message. It’s the author of the e-mail I was referring to –I think he/she could have made his/her point better without finger pointing, stereotyping and engaging in the blame game

[Robb]

33. The trouble is

while I'm sure every generation has things to say about the ones before (and after), my friends in academia who have seen many have not been kind to the crop just leaving college now. The comments I've heard are general lack of respect for the profs, and some pretty firmly held beliefs that if you complain enough, your grade will be changed (or whatever you're after). They say there's been more of that than they can ever remember.

Interestingly, however, they've also told me that the crop just coming in are amazing, in terms of their earnestness, their sense that they alone are responsible for their education/welfare/general happiness. Again, I'm told, something they haven't seen in decades.

I agree, everyone is different -- but generalizations tend to be supported by trends, to the disservice of everyone outside the curve.

Anecdotally, my wife's 21-year-old cousin who lived with us for six months last year was exactly as advertised. The lack of responsibility (to call it selfishness is too broad, since her sense of "self" was so underdeveloped) was awesome. She is indeed fortunate that I didn't cave in her head with the shovel and use same to bury her body in the backyard. ;)

[Pobeka]

36. Robb, don't use the shovel.

Wouldn't want someone calling you a dingbat, would ya? ;)

[fortyfeetunder]

38. They didn't talk about racism and intolerance

Like this was before ADA and Civil Rights...yawn...