Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs, and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning. Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter, and I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then. The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.
We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of hightop Ked's or Converse All-Stars (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are now....
Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a headache or fever.
I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box, or 270 digital TV cable stations. Oh, yeah...and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked!
Now adays, we get a prescription for a bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. We didn't act up at the neighbour's house either because, if we did, we got our butt spanked there, and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.
I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that he being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.
To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a "dysfunctional family". How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T---- SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING
Pass this to someone (over age 40, of course), and brighten their day by helping them to remember that life's most simple pleasures are very often the best!
-------------------- Susan Daniel Huntsville, AL Posts: 53 | From: Huntsville, AL | Registered: Oct 2005
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Most of us who are (way) over 40, just don't give a fat s#!t if anyone under 40 gets it, although we do love them somewhat.
We are way to free.
CrazyJack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Ohh I am still in therapy for getting hit with a paddle in Grade school. How Demeaning. It stoped me from being the man I was supose to be. Ohh Wait I don't own any Pink Shorts.. Nevermind I'm OK.
posted
Oh how true. Without video games and 250 channels on TV, we actually went out side and played tag, ran to catch butterflies, rode our bikes, played baseball in the summer, treked up a big hill pulling a sled to slide down, over and over. It was rare to see an overweight kid back then. Didn't know anyone with ADD, diabetes, or learning disorders. The kids that didn't do well in school didn't try.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5398 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm only 23 and know exactly what your talking about. Maybe my mom is old school or maybe we were just really poor. We've never been allowed to bring a gaming system into her house much less own one. We were supposed to entertain ourselves...OUTSIDE where kids should be playing. She made most of our clothes from scratch ( which was cool when we were little cause' we got to pick out the fabric).
I have gotten spanked for playing on contrustion equipment and gravel piles. One school I went to were allowed to give you "swats" with a paddle until you graduated.
We said the "Pledge of Allegiance" every morning.
We were always told to "walk it off".
My favorite thing that has been lost is the old saying "sticks and stones may brake my bones, but words will never hurt me". Now everyone gets gold stars because red markers are too negative!!!
What the hell happened? I definitley miss the old days...while I sit here on my G5 w/ a 20" flat screen.
-------------------- Kelsey Dum Dum Designs Sherwood, AR 72120 501.765.2166 kelsey@dumdesigns.com Posts: 827 | From: Sherwood, AR | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote: Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs, and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning. Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter, and I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli.
I don't know about that one. Remember the "stomach flu"?
Y'know there's no such thing as the stomach flu...
-------------------- Tracie Johnson Signovations Ventura, California Posts: 444 | From: Ventura, California | Registered: Nov 2005
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My mind wanders. And that's not a good thing, 'cause it's too small to be out there alone. Posts: 3129 | From: Tooele, UT | Registered: Mar 2005
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Yeah I'm 29 and I remember all that stuff.. still tryin' to figure out who invented ADD cause nobody had it when I was a kid.
In fact just tonight I cut up some chicken to stir fry then sliced veggies on the same cutting board without cleaning any of the chicken slurry off first. So much for food safety! Hah!
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Anyone remember getting the Strap in school? And our British friends will no doubt remember "the cane". Held the record for canings at my school (28 in one term) and it must have done some good 'cause I ain't murdered anyone or hardly been in jail atall. MUR
-------------------- Murray MacDonald OldTime Signs 529 Third Ave S Kenora, ON. P9N 1Y3 oldtimesigns@gokenora.com Posts: 781 | From: Kenora, ON | Registered: Jan 2003
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