[Qcwa] Thank God I'm a geezer!

[Jeffrey D Angus]

Why people over 40 should be dead

People over 40 should all be dead. According to
today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us
who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even
maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have
survived.

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 the risks we took hitchhiking.)

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.

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 from this.

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 street lights came
on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell
phones. Unthinkable!

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes,
no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable,
video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell
phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

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. 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 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.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.

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.

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 have 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...

Kind of makes you want to run through the house
with scissors.

Wheeeee!

73 es GE from Jeff
wa6fwi

(Officially over 50 now, yeah, I know, "Geezer lite")

-- 
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
  safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Tara Morice as Fran, from the movie "Strictly Ballroom"