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Greetings

The following was sent to me by Tom Black an 'old submariner' and a Scot who undoubtedly comes very close to qualifying for the 'Ancient Mariner' tag
being a day older than your beloved web person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you dear reader have now reached or exceeded your 2 score years and 10, reflect.


 Title : - I just had to send this to all you old buggers!

 
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. 
Our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured 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 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 before dinner time. No one was able to reach us all day. 
No mobile phones.

Unthinkable.

We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.
We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no
law suits 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 soft drink but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink 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 pay TV, videotape movies, surround sound, personal mobile 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 poke out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We played footy down the park and not everyone got picked to play.  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 deal
with it all.

And you're one of them.

Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

Regards Tom (The ancient submariner)

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