Born before 1980?

(I can't take credit for this blog entry, though I wish I could. I am passing it along as it suggests. Feel free to do the same and add your own thoughts as I have.)

TO ALL OF US WHO SURVIVED any of the following:

1930's 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's...

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs 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.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We walked to our local public school every day and never had to be wait-listed so we could pay $8,000 per year for pre-school.
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 kool-aid made with sugar, 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 yet we still made it home just fine.
We would spend hours building go-carts and sleds out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After crashing a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, or video games at all. We had no cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or Ipods! No cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms....... WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke our bones and our teeth and it never occured to us or our parents that we should sue someone in connection with these accidents.
We ate mud pies made from dirt, and the dirt 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, most of us did not poke an eye out.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house 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.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law and punished us far worse than today's juvenile courts do.

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of us, CONGRATULATIONS! And while you are at it, share it with your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.