We Survived, Will Our children?

If you were born in the 1930’s, ‘40’s, ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’, congratulations!


We were born to mothers who may have smoked and drank while they were pregnant; they took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn’t get tested for diabetes. We survived!

We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright lead-based paints. We survived!

We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, door locks on doors or cabinets. When we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets on our heads or padding on our elbows and knees. We survived!

We rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts and air bags, some had bald tires, and sometimes even no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck was always a special treat. We survived!

We drank water from the water hose or the faucet, not from a bottle. No one died from sharing a soft drink with four friends, from one bottle! We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. Cool-Aid was made with real sugar. We survived!

We were always playing outside, so we never got overweight. No one could reach us all day, we left in the morning and when the street lights came on at night we went home! We survived!

We would spend hours building go-carts from scraps, rode them down hill only to find out we had no brakes and after running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We survived!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendos, Xboxes, video games, 150 HD channels on cable TV, DVD’s, surround sound CDs, cell phones, personal computers, internet or chat rooms. We survived!

We found our friends outside, fell out of trees, got cuts, put dirt on the wounds to stop the bleeding, broke bones, even some teeth and we got pimples never seeing a dermatologist. We survived!

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, pink-pong paddles, belts and even the occasional bare hand. Teachers would discipline us, if we complained to our parents they’d smack us back. No one ever called child services to report abuse. We survived!

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made bows and arrows from old umbrellas, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We survived!

We rode our bikes everywhere, or walked to a friends’ house. The idea of being bailed out by a parent if we broke the law, was unheard of, they actually sided with the law. We survived!

Because of this we are some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. We learned from our freedom, failures, successes and responsibilities. However, we have failed our children! We have over protected them, deprived them of the freedom we benefited from, the capability to learn from their failures and successes, the ability to take responsibility and the value of hard work. They were taught mediocrity in school and we allowed lawyers and government to regulate their lives, saving them in the name of progress and for their "own good", yet we never got involved because we were too busy working to obtain for our children the possessions we never had.

Now, we can cry foul, yell, scream and stomp our feet because we don’t approve of our government's policy of taking over our lives, our freedom and our country. We have a vision for our children’s future which is under clear and eminent danger; however we must remember that it was our children who voted them into office, many out of ignorance, blindness and even peer pressure, others because they truly believe, although erroneously, that this is the correct course. The bottom line is my friends, we fell asleep at the wheel and dropped the ball, and so… we must take full responsability, if anybody is to blame for this mess, are you and I!

The result and solution, is that we must continue the struggle, carry on the effort, remain constant and unmovable to reverse our failure to take action when action was necessary. Idleness is not an option now! Our childhood experiences will guarantee us success; but we must stay informed, speaking loud and clear using any and all means available to reverse this debacle and tragedy. Our children's future is at stake!