When we were young...

[kingpin]

Needspeeds thread reminded me of this. I think I posted this when I first joined but thought I would post it again.

Our baby cribs were covered with lead-based paint.
We had no childproof lids, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
We rode in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died.

We spent 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! No texting!
We didn’t have Playstation, Nintendo 64, or Xbox. No video games, no 99 channels on cable, videos, surround sound, or computers.
We had friends! We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. No one was to blame but us.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s home and knocked on the door, rang the bell, or just walked in.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. We had to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren’t as smart as others or weren’t ready, so they failed a grade and were held back.
Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.”

:cert::cert::cert:

[CBonsall]

while i agree with 99% of the list, i did see grades get adjusted for football players in high school.

[04 commemorative]

and we're still standing ! It's amazing isn't it !

:seasix:

[Hoog]

while i agree with 99% of the list, i did see grades get adjusted for football players in high school.
Apparently our HS didn't have a minimum GPA to play so students did get held back. Hell, I think O'Conner Green started varsity (FB & LB) all seven years he was there...

[mrvette]

It's the pussification factor, thanks liberals.....

communists......it's all about the friggin COLLECTIVE these daze, not YOU....


:sadangel::issues:

[sasnglass77]

Seriously! How did we survive without the government's intervention? :willy:

We rode our bikes without helmets or safety gear.

We played stick ball in the streets yet we knew enough to clear the "field" when the lookouts called car coming.

Wow. It was hard on us being kids...we actually had to think for ourselves.

[Burro (He/Haw)]

Kingpin, I read a similar post on another forum some time ago. Some smartazzed kid said; "Ain't all you pricks dead yet?" :D

[Cybercowboy]

I used to build all kinds of stuff. Quite prolific I was. At one point I had a little business going where I'd custom build Star Trek items out of cardboard, like communicators, phasors, and tricorders. Also I'd build and sell little rubber band-powered helicopters that were pretty dang clever if I do say so. I'd make them different sizes, some had just a single 3" blade and a counterweight. They'd go up about 40 feet. The big ones I made would go much higher. All just had a single blade and counterweight. Taught myself how to bend piano wire using a torch, strengthen epoxy with thread, and how to make my own super-strong rubber bands.

Made my own stilts, rockets, rocket-powered cars, free-flight planes with .020 motor, line-control planes with 5' wing span, all sorts of things - and I did all of these before 7th grade. Heck, I was building and selling the Star Trek things in 2nd grade! The little projects we'd have in Cub Scouts seemed pretty tame to me. :lol:

Oh, I also won third place in a "flugerhaggen" (sp?) contest where you just built something wacky, in the open division. There were hundreds and hundreds of entries and most were by adults. I just built a little cardboard helicopter that had little electric motors in it that actuated the main rotor and tail rotor, could change the pitch of the main rotor, and even had a pilot that moved his arms and legs through a series of small cardboard gears. It was about 12" long.

Built a mouse trap powered car that won 2nd place in our school's contest, which got me a trip to regionals (which was like 12 elementary schools) where I got 4th. The kid that won at my school and eventually won it all, well, he was a friend of mine and I was helping him build his. His dad saw what we were up to and built his son a truly awesome contraption but my buddy didn't have a thing to do with it. He barely even knew how to prime it properly. I thought that was really unfair. My car was fast and would shoot the entire length of the gym, which I thought was the goal (the maximum distance you could go.) His dad's contraption had huge wire wheels and gears and was slow as hell but when it hit the wall at the end, you could turn it around and it would keep going. I think when he won it all it did four and a half trips back and forth. Obliterated everybody else.

[CP]

When I was young, people had more of a sense of humor. Now, everything is so serious and the "zero tolerance" crap has really taken out any fun growing up.

Now, instead of laughing at some practical joke, cops are called and lives are ruined.

[kingpin]

Kingpin, I read a similar post on another forum some time ago. Some smartazzed kid said; "Ain't all you pricks dead yet?" :D

:lol:

The biggest differences from then to now for me was.

Every day no matter what the weather from 4-9pm on weekdays it was street hockey. We'd actually shovel the snow off the street and make boards.
I even went so far to soak the goalie areas with water before I would go to school in the morning so it was icy and the goalie could slide around.
Some cars didn't like it so much. :leaving:
Now it's on the internet from 8am to midnight for most kids.

When it was time to scrap you did it with your fists.
Now it's make a fake webpage(cyber bullying) or shoot them.

I have to agree with Mr.Vette it's the pussification that is the biggest difference. Not many have the balls to say shit to your face anymore.

[DJ_Critterus]

What's this "we" shit? I'm still young!

[Mike Mercury]

Needspeeds thread reminded me of this. I think I posted this when I first joined but thought I would post it again.

Our baby cribs were covered with lead-based paint.
We had no childproof lids, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
We rode in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died.

We spent 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! No texting!
We didn’t have Playstation, Nintendo 64, or Xbox. No video games, no 99 channels on cable, videos, surround sound, or computers.
We had friends! We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. No one was to blame but us.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s home and knocked on the door, rang the bell, or just walked in.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. We had to deal with disappointment.

Some students weren’t as smart as others or weren’t ready, so they failed a grade and were held back.
Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.”


:cheers:

todays youth is brainwashed to lust after just one thing...

other peoples money.

[CP]

:cheers:

todays youth is brainwashed to lust after just one thing...

other peoples money.

*people's :issues:

[Mike Mercury]

*people's :issues:

http://www.zerkelmotorwerks.com/stuff7/litcat.jpg

[Bucwheat]

There is a country song out about this.

[Blademaker]

I remember in our neighborhood, there was a group of us that played with BB guns, knives, and bows and arrows.
We would go out to the nearby woods during the fall and winter and set rabbit boxes, trip snares, live falls, and dead falls.
We would catch rabbits, squirrels, 'possums, and the occasional cat.
We fished and swam in the one creek back there, and generally had a blast.

[island14]

Just a few random notes from a heathen child's memory..

Had a gravel pit that was the nearby swimming hole.

I was the first to drive my bike over the side of the cliff on a 50 cent dare, I was also the first to swim across the pond in it on another dare.
(thoughts of the creature from the dark lagoon haunted me while doing this)

Mom had a bell she rang that could be heard about a mile or more away, it meant come home.. maybe dinner, or maybe just checking to see where the heck I was.

Didn't matter where I was as long as I heard the bell and came home.

I was trusted with my own BB gun as a kid not to shoot other kids eyes out.. I cried when I killed a bird, and learned to never take a life away again that was not necessary.

My ice cream cone was gladly shared with my dog, and she never gave me any germs that killed me..

M-80's taped to shot gun shells will blow up that model car that took you all week to build..

Got my ass beat for grabbing a girls tits, and was told that hurts em...

Jumping outta the bushes to put a big stick in the neighborhood assholes bicycles spokes can sometimes break their teeth out as it causes an immediate face plant, and gets you an ass beating..
(but was well worth it)

Sledding behind Dad's Jeep tied to a rope on a icy snow filled street is fun, no matter how cold, or how scary it can get, and Dad does not need to go to jail for child endangerment..

When Dad sets off the big fireworks and blows up half of your uncles trailer court, it is ok to take the blame so the home owners insurance will cover it.

In my older childhood years I learned it was good to still have that crawl space fort under the house as it was a great shelter for runaway teen girls..

14 is old enough to own a car and have it titled in your own name, even though you don't have a drivers license. Just don't park it too close to home or your Mom and Dad might find out.. :lol:

[Burro (He/Haw)]

You Canadians are just like Minnesotans. (Or other way around) If you didnt play Hockey you were a Homo.

[lspencer534]

Just a few random notes from a heathen child's memory..

Had a gravel pit that was the nearby swimming hole.

I was the first to drive my bike over the side of the cliff on a 50 cent dare, I was also the first to swim across the pond in it on another dare.
(thoughts of the creature from the dark lagoon haunted me while doing this)

Mom had a bell she rang that could be heard about a mile or more away, it meant come home.. maybe dinner, or maybe just checking to see where the heck I was.

Didn't matter where I was as long as I heard the bell and came home.

I was trusted with my own BB gun as a kid not to shoot other kids eyes out.. I cried when I killed a bird, and learned to never take a life away again that was not necessary.

My ice cream cone was gladly shared with my dog, and she never gave me any germs that killed me..

M-80's taped to shot gun shells will blow up that model car that took you all week to build..

Got my ass beat for grabbing a girls tits, and was told that hurts em...

Jumping outta the bushes to put a big stick in the neighborhood assholes bicycles spokes can sometimes break their teeth out as it causes an immediate face plant, and gets you an ass beating..
(but was well worth it)

Sledding behind Dad's Jeep tied to a rope on a icy snow filled street is fun, no matter how cold, or how scary it can get, and Dad does not need to go to jail for child endangerment..

When Dad sets off the big fireworks and blows up half of your uncles trailer court, it is ok to take the blame so the home owners insurance will cover it.

In my older childhood years I learned it was good to still have that crawl space fort under the house as it was a great shelter for runaway teen girls..

14 is old enough to own a car and have it titled in your own name, even though you don't have a drivers license. Just don't park it too close to home or your Mom and Dad might find out.. :lol:

Were we brothers??? I did just about all of that too! :cert:

[Dan Dlabay]

I remember riding with by friend and his dad. He had a gun rack in his truck with loaded rifles and shot guns. He would take us out into the country to a bridge and we would throw cans into the water and shoot at them. At age 12 I got a shot gun for Christmas.:cert:

[mrvette]

What's this "we" shit? I'm still young!

Yeh, but only PARTS are smart......:seasix::shots: