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Somehow We Survived
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Somehow We Survived |
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Rex Allen McCoy Member Elite
since 2000-01-30
Posts 2863Sippin a Timmy's in London 
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If you lived as a child in the 50s, 60s or the 70s. 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. Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!) 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 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 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, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cellular 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 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 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. 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 cope. Perhaps you're one of them. Congratulations! |
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| © Copyright 2002 Rex Allen McCoy - All Rights Reserved | |||
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anonymousfemale Member Elite
since 2000-02-02
Posts 2797Limbo |
That's a great post, Rex. Many smiles for you.  Don't steal - the Government hates competition. |
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catalinamoon
since 2000-06-03
Posts 9543The Shores of Alone |
Good thoughts Rex. I wish I could remember that when I am worrying myself nuts over my grandaughters. LOL Sandra |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
Blood sisters & brothers - "mixed" their blood to promise forever friendships... We went "Trick or Treating" all over town with a big pillowcase to hold all the candy. If our parents gave us spankings we didn't turn them in to the authorities. Teachers could actually be alone in the same room with a student without fearing for the future of their career... The concept of carrying a gun ended with "Bonanza" or "Gunsmoke" - and other television series that were clearly concepts from another time and place - not to be imagined in contemporary times... We could phone other folks in town by dialing just the last four digits of their number.. (provided the neighbors were off the three-way party line we all shared)...  |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
Time has a way of changing perspectives, and the result is often nostalgia. We shouldn't forget, though, that nostalgia, almost by definition, is a less than balanced viewpoint. Anyone who thinks those were simpler times has forgotten polio, the bomb shelters, the race riots, the assassinations, and two "conflicts" that were waged more with human life and less with smart bombs. Baby cribs with lead-based paint were as wrong then as they are now. We should have had childproof lids, and we should have encouraged bike riders to wear helmets. Yea, somehow we survived. But many didn't. Those risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors are the very people who built the world we live in today. That explosion of innovation and new ideas is the complexity we too often decry. No, we didn't have cell phones. So, we invented them. And because we were taught to accept the consequences for our actions, we have to accept the consequences for cell phones, Nintendo, cable TV, personal computers, and Internet chat rooms. We built them. But that's okay, because we were also responsible for civil rights, human rights, feminine rights, and many other concepts that helped destroy the simplicity of injustice. Yea, it's a more complex world today. Thank God for that. Looking back, if there's any single thing we've lost since I was a child, I think maybe it's a sense of trust. I hitched rides with strangers. I jumped freight trains. I spent entire summers at the lake without the benefit of adult supervision. I went trick-or-treating alone and ate candied apples with homemade apple cider. We trusted people more. We trusted destiny, too, I think. But I suspect our trust was always misplaced and blind, the result of living in a much bigger world. Human nature hasn't chanced in a thousand years, let along in just fifty. Is anyone really naïve enough to think there were no "bad people" alive back then? Or maybe we just didn't see so many of them until television and jet planes and cable news made our world so much smaller? I was lucky and never hitched a ride with one of those bad people. I survived. But many didn't. The world has changed a lot in the last fifty years, but I think our perception of it has changed a great deal more. We trust less because we see more, and I think that's a bad thing only if we let the pendulum swing too wide. The world is smaller, we are wiser, but we're still far from being done. The innovations and ideas will continue to explode, and as the world grows even smaller I think we'll begin to see there really are more good people than bad out there. We'll learn to trust again, and this time our trust will be less misplaced. I see that happening, to some extent, already. Here. In these forums. I'm glad I grew up when I did. But I'm even more glad my grandchildren will grow up in a different time, what I think is a better time. They will be more educated and live healthier lives. They will better understand different people, different cultures, different ways of looking at a world that really isn't all that terribly different. They, too, will survive. And I have some small hope that the innovations and ideas they will bring to the table will someday result in a time when we can no longer say, "Many didn't." Great post, Rex. You made me think today, and I appreciate it. |
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Skyfire
since 2000-12-27
Posts 3381Riding |
Consequences?  I'm kidding, I know what consequences are. Sometimes I dread to think of what will be floating around in another 50 years... I'll have the "honour" of saying "yes, I was one of those..." Grrrr. I'm so cute! |
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Wind
since 2002-10-12
Posts 2981 |
God, I wish I lived back in. This world is stupid, am i the only one who writes poetry and enjoys it? (at my age) stupid superficial world!!!! I hate technology. My mom won't even let me have a simple meal of rice and water! not enough nuitrients. I'll tell you one thing: people live much longer off of happiness than years! "Sticks and stones will break my bones, |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
a great post Rex, between you and Ron..I feel like I just relived my whole childhood *s M |
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cherish Senior Member
since 2001-03-25
Posts 1639swimming in fairy floss........... |
quote: Oh god yeah...now you can't give a child a hug, and even patting their back is frowned upon Are you scared? |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
I've been thinking so hard on this---somehow we survived. Some of us, just barely. Having children--I do think often on this. Guns are commonplace now to end an argument. Forever. I shake my head and blame myself for not voting--I would like to hear an un-named statistic of the recent sniper incident--how many of those killed were armed? I'm curious, because I know you can't build an arsenal that can prevent the devastation of a surprise attack. (yep...off topic, but not really.) The enemies we had to endure were mainly within ourselves--a foe that admittedly got the best of me. I teach my chldren that ultimately the responsibility is THEIRS. You have a choice. As a parent, I've had to teach my children what I consider to be obscene lessons. A stranger asks for help? "Let Mom do that. Come get me." A friend shows you Daddy's gun? Stay out of the line of fire if you can, and then, just casually say you have to go. and "Come get me." If anyone touches you in any way that makes you uncomfortable--even if they seem or ARE family... "come tell me." I taught them that no one, by law HAS THE RIGHT to put their hands on you--not me nor Dad, or even your best friend. If this happens, "Tell on me--or to me." This is as honest as I can be. We live in days where you can order drugs off the internet, and cigarettes go for a buck a piece in the hallways at school. I wish this thread would have cheered me up...but somehow, it didn't. My kids are pre-teen but barely and I fear I'm in for the ride of my life. Or maybe I just fear karma. You made me think too, Rex. I thank you with hugs. |
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Kielo Senior Member
since 2002-02-11
Posts 1109 |
*shrug* Some of that, as far as I noticed, hasn't changed. Maybe just because I go to a small school, but I have been hugged by teachers before, and though nothing of it. It's something you do when you're celebrating or commiserating together. I drink from the hose... still.  I share drinks with everyone, and as far as I have noticed, no one cares. Other parts of this though, really seem great. I envy you. Bad me. Thanks for sharing this... Kielo According to statistics, a man eats a prune every twenty seconds. I don't know who this fellw is, but I know where to find him. |
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Krawdad Member Elite
since 2001-01-03
Posts 2597 |
Thank you, Rex. I was there, and I enjoyed returning for a moment, and to flashbacks like forgetting your bike in the neighbor's front yard and being able to find it still there the next morning. The changes I have seen or been a part of over this past half century are astonishing. This electronic machinery I sit in front of has brought me into contact with folks I would never have known and I consider that a good thing, for me at least. At the same time, I wonder how many of the cell phone users know or care that the manufacture of them has cost us entire populations of gorillas, slaughtered by the miners of a critical mineral. Is the road we are traveling down worth the paving of it? [This message has been edited by Krawdad (11-12-2002 01:11 AM).] |
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Jenn Cirrincione
since 2000-07-02
Posts 2107Fl |
Tests were not adjusted for any reason. ------ Daddy went to a private school, he told them he didn't feel capable of taking the written test (too stressful) and he got to be given one orally in class. hehehe he was a pistol. Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade..... --------------- This still happens unfortunatly. Quite often actually, those kids are "older" than the others in their class. They were "left back". We went "Trick or Treating" all over town with a big pillowcase to hold all the candy ------------------------------ Still did it my entire childhood. Pillowcases are much more efficient. Why is it that we are at our most ingenius only when trying to destroy the things that keep us alive and thriving? [This message has been edited by Jenn Cirrincione (11-12-2002 08:58 AM).] |
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Opeth Senior Member
since 2001-12-13
Posts 1543The Ravines |
Very cool, Rex. Many of the items mentioned, I can distinctly remember. This also reminded me of my own quote. "This is the day and age when we blame everyone else for all of our problems." |
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Rex Allen McCoy Member Elite
since 2000-01-30
Posts 2863Sippin a Timmy's in London |
There are so many great ideas sprouting within this thread ... I suppose, the main reason I posted this topic was because I felt that we may somehow feel at a slight disadvantage, so to speak. We seem to be raising children in a totally different society than our own experiences prepared us for. We for the most part seem to be learning as we go, and trying to pass an adult's perspective on to our children, though in many cases, they're teaching us. Most of us sprang from a Richie Cunningham upbringing and like Ron pointed out ... many of today's problems were out there, then ... we just never thought we would have to deal with them (out of sight, out of mind). I can remember never locking the doors at night and actually leaving the house unlocked while we went about our every day business, even while we were away for the day. ~ |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
What really changed to make you start using locks, Rex? The world? Or just your perspective? In California, I very rarely locked either the house or my car. Indeed, the very thought of locking a convertible seems silly, but the same logic applied to the house. If they want in, they're going to get in, and will probably cause more damage than if I left the door open for them. Here's this big wooden door with three different kinds of locks, surrounded by a few dozen glass windows? I still don't lock the car, but strangely enough, I started locking my house when I moved back to Michigan. Not because of strangers and not to protect property while I'm absent, but because of family and to protect privacy while I'm NOT absent. |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Rex: "We seem to be raising children in a totally different society than our own experiences prepared us for. We for the most part seem to be learning as we go, and trying to pass an adult's perspective on to our children, though in many cases, they're teaching us." I think you're about my age. My parents said that. What you said. Or words to that effect. We are not living our parents' lives, but we are certainly living some of their own experiences. I enjoyed what you brought to the table, Rex, as well as what Ron, and the others brought, to add to the banquet. I don't like that Serenity is afraid, and that she fears for her children. But my mother feared to leave me outside as a toddler in LA, 1953. For every good thing we can say about "the old days" [generational observation] we can find, if we care to look, something bad about it, too. Cancer was given a name. It no longer became "old age" or "their body just wore out." No, now we have a name for every which way that our bodies fail. For those of spiritual aspirations, it is because God said "this is your time." Ron had a good point, too. It was for every kid that took the chances, some of which he pointed out, that as adults we look back, wonder how we survived, and go to invent something to make sure our kids won't have to take "those chances". I never wore a helmet when I rode a bike. As klutzy as I am, color me lucky. Or give credit to some inner sense that said "don't push the envelope so far." Would I like to see some things return? Yes, one being a good physical education regime in school. I'm not talking "sports" in that sense...I'm talking about giving the kids some great physical activity in various areas of sports so that they gain an appreciation for what their bodies can, or cannot do. I would like to see parents say "no" more. Kids don't need everything. There's no appreciation to the fast and furious disposable objects we see being thrown at us. Our parents worked hard for their money. We work hard, too, but perhaps we don't place the correct value on it. In my mind, what I earn is supposed to see me through old age, and then some. I don't want to have to depend on the government, or any agencies, to see me through. I'm not ready for any handouts. But if I fall, a hand up would be nice. As long as a payback may be given. I'm criticized because I "do too much". Ah, retirement will never see the all of me. There is too much to do. And in that way, I hope I live to be very, very old, because there are so many things I'm going to be wanting to do. Well this got off the track, but not really. I embrace the new things in life, but with all things, we must know moderation. And I need, sometimes, to look back, to know how to bring the best forward, and leave the worst behind. |
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Wind
since 2002-10-12
Posts 2981 |
I liked this topic, but Sunshine just sort of closed it. It was a good closing. If you put this all together, it would make a good story. "Sticks and stones will break my bones, |
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