Congratulations on being a survivor of the times

[stormchazer]

Congratulations on being a survivor of the times....Was this before your
time?

We licked the beaters and didn't have anyone telling us we were going to
become deathly ill from eating batter with raw eggs in it!

At Easter time, we had our dyed Easter eggs in a nest on the counter and
they sat out at room temperature for the week after Easter.

We would peel one whenever we felt like it. I Can't Believe We Made It"!

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's. 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, 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 dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut,
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 soda but we were never
overweight ... we were always outside playing games, we shared grape soda
with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Play-stations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99
channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell 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 and just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing.
Without asking a parent! By our-selves! 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, 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

[GalvestonDuck]

That is so true! Thanks for posting it, Jara.

Now, I have a question. Just how long can we leave eggs (or raw chicken for that matter) out before it is no longer safe to eat? I've been on a few trips to Mexico and they do NOT refrigerate eggs at all (at least, not in Leon, where I visited). And they go to the market and buy chicken in the morning and just leave it out until that evening when they cook it. Of course, in Mexico, the standards for the farming industry are different and their livestock doesn't get the same vaccines, proteins, steroids, and so forth that ours receive here in the states. I've heard that's one reason why raw chicken down there was a unique golden yellow coloring on the skin.

[Stephanie]

I don't know how I did it! I'm a child of the 60's and 70's and those examples brought back alot of good, fun memories! Thanks!

[JCT777]

I have done some of those things, and I am still alive! For instance - I never wore a helmet when riding a bike, or skateboarding. And I fell off a LOT. Yet I never broke a bone or got seriously injured. Imagine that!

[GalvestonDuck]

There's no telling how many of us ran with scissors.

[Stephanie]

There's no telling how many of us ran with scissors.

Still do!!

[stormraiser]

GD, you can leave the eggs out for a while (days if not longer) My grandmother does it, right next to the butter. But if you don't like your butter soft and spreadable, leave it in the fridge.

And yes, I was always outside digging in the dirt. And didn't have a chance to get fat, my mom gave us Kool-aid, with out the sugar. I got used to it, though it was hard.

[blizzard]

GD, you can leave the eggs out for a while (days if not longer) My grandmother does it, right next to the butter. But if you don't like your butter soft and spreadable, leave it in the fridge.

And yes, I was always outside digging in the dirt. And didn't have a chance to get fat, my mom gave us Kool-aid, with out the sugar. I got used to it, though it was hard.

Kool-Aid WITHOUT sugar???? HOrrors, Yuck with a capital UCK

[stormraiser]

Blizzard, this was back when it didn't come premixed with sugar -- just the little foil packets

And at 33, I am just about to get my first filling

[blizzard]

Yeah, I realize that....I remember eating the powder in the packets and that tasted nasty. I've also forgotten to put in the sugar, and dang was that stuff awful....lol

[streetsoldier]

Don't forget that we had a widespread proliferation of toy GUNS...Mattel Fanner 50's, Kadet TraineRifles (based on the Springfield 1903 30.06), copies of Lugers, Sharp's Carbines, Civil War muskets, etc.

And we didn't kill each other in our schools, either...regardless of the same stresses the present-day mass murdering criminals shared with us.

We KNEW that there WAS a line beyond which we DARE NOT CROSS...something that, for some odd reason, has escaped enforcement today.

[blizzard]

Yeah, and my Mom and Dad whipped my butt when I needed it, and I didn't even think of calling anybody about it. I went on, learned my lesson and lived happily ever after.

Not that I needed a whuppin' too often...lol

[stormraiser]

That line we dared not cross was because we knew mom would find out and we wouldn't be able to sit down for a week or three if we did dare to cross it.

We KNEW that there WAS a line beyond which we DARE NOT CROSS...something that, for some odd reason, has escaped enforcement today.