How Times Have Changed

[Tiddly Winks 0]

My husband found this little gem today, and I thought I would share since so many of us are adults here and grew up in the 70's and 80's. Some even before that.

Of course, everyone can read and comment on it. I think it's really good.

~~~~~
We were Heroes !!

If you were born after 1985, none of this has anything to do with you. Sorry.
Everyone else: Read on!
If you were a child in the 70ies or 80ies, it is in retrospect hard to believe that we were able to survive as long as we did and counting:
As children, we sat in cars without seatbelts or airbags. Our little beds were painted with lead- and cadmium-containing goo. We had no problems opening jars or bottles from the pharmacy and the same applied for bottles with bleach in them.
Doors and cupboards were a constant threat for our delicate little fingers and we never wore a helmet when riding our bikes. We drank tap water instead of bottled water and built cars out of soapboxes, and when we finally careened down the ravine for the first time, we realized that we had neglected to install the brakes. After a few accidents, we figured this out.
In the mornings, we left our homes to go playing with other kids. We stayed out all day and only needed to be home when the street lamps lit up. No one knew where we were and we had no cell phone!
We cut ourselves, broke bones and teeth and no-one got sued in the course of that. Those were accidents and we had nobody to blame but ourselves.
Nobody asked who “had been in charge supervising the minors”.
Do you remember those accidents? We fought and beat each other black and blue sometimes. We had to live with that, since the adults did not take any particular interest in it.
We gorged on cookies and smeared thick layers of butter on our bread and we drank tons of sweet stuff and never got fat. We shared bottles with our friends and no one died.
We had no Playstation, Nintendo 64, X-Box, videogames, 64-channel TVs or movies on DVDs. Neither did we have our personal TVs, surround sound, computers, the Internet and its chat rooms. Instead, we had buddies to play with.
We simply went outside and met them in the street, or we walked to their house and rang the doorbell. Sometimes, we did not even ring the bell, but just stepped inside. . . without an official play-date and without any of our parents knowing. No-one fetched us and no-one brought us back home.

How on earth was that possible? We played games with wooden sticks and tennis balls. Apart from that, we ate worms. And those predictions never came true: those worms did NOT live on in our bodies forever. Neither did we poke out any eyes with those wooden sticks. And when we played soccer in the streets, only the kids that were good at it were allowed to be on the team. Those who weren't, had simply to learn to live with the disappointment.
Some students were not as smart as others, so they did not get promoted and had to repeat classes. None of this would result in emotional meetings between parents and teachers or lead to alterations of the kids’ performance ratings.
Sometimes, our actions had consequences. That was a fact that no one could hide from. And if one of us broke the law, it was clear that it was not our parents’ job to bail us out. On the contrary, most often, parents shared the police’s opinions. Wow!

Our generation has brought about a ton of innovative problems solvers and inventors who obviously are not afraid to take a risk. We had freedom, success and failures and we had responsibilities. And we knew how to deal with all of that. And if you belong to this group too. Congratulations!!

Born after 1985? => Ok, now you know.
Born before 1985? => WE WERE HEROES!!!!!!!!!

[Falcor 0]

this remaind me of a similar writting about people born between 1985 and 1995 will look for it, translate it (coz its in spanish) and make a thread for this the other generation

[lea75 0]

This makes me feel really old lol....but it is so true!

Kids these days dont know how to entertain themselves these days..yet I remember being out constantly just hangin out with my mates. Now if take a teenages electrics of them they wouldnt have a clue what to do!

[Falcor 0]

now i feel guilty
yesterday a i was helping a friend doing some homemade funiture and we started to play "the what would the one thing you would choose if you...." game
and one of the question was: what would the only item you would choose If you could only choose one to have?
and i said my laptop
then my friend said i would choose my Bible, and i answered back, but you can always read the bible on internet, lol

[Tiddly Winks 0]

I remember as a kid after the hurricanes would come through Houston and we would be out swimming in the flood waters. I would fling barbie dolls into the water and watch them float about.

I remember one of the neighbor kids even got out his canoe and would paddle his way through the ditches and such...there were water moccasins swimming around, but none of us cared.

I lost count of how many times I flew over the handle bars of my bike and had white gauze covering my knees. This stuff is so true.

[Lucky Strike 0]

every generation has it's own ups and downs

[kasijab 0]

This is all so true ....and more. I also remember the freedom of youth ...I also remember my excitement one Xmas on being given a record player ...no stereo ...just a spindle in the middle that you put either 45's or 78's on ..but it sounded every bit as good then as your best systems may do for you now.

But, I never ate worms ...no matter what anybody says .Yuk !!

[kasijab 0]

Lucky Strike wrote:

every generation has it's own ups and downs

I don't disagree ...but this post was to point out how it was all those years ago...compared to today. We had so much freedom, but nowadays kids aren't allowed out 'to play' and when they do go anywhere have to be contactable my mobile at all times. Its not safe, even for adults, to go out alone after dark ..and the world is a better place now ???

[Lucky Strike 0]

it's not... in some (lot) sort of way! BUT even me have differences with people even a liiitle younger.. lol!

[Tiddly Winks 0]

I never ate worms either (not even the ones in the tequila bottles...ewww). But, I did a lot of other crazy things.

[clair a bell 0]

Ive just read at that with a smile on my face
I was born in 1986 so by the time i started growing and playing out it was the start of the 1990's but i still get the feel of what it all means