Oh for the good old days. I received this e-mail recently and I thought I had to share it with all readers of The Times. When you read it I am sure you will agree with me and remember the old Maltese expression when our fathers used to tell us: "Konna ahjar meta konna aghar" (We were better off in the bad old days). I was born in 1951 so I can remember and appreciate those times when we were far happier growing up.
Well, here goes:
To all the kids who survived the 1930s, the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s. First we survived being born to mothers who smoked or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and did not get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright-coloured, lead-based paints. We had no child-proof 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 pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were not overweight because we were always outside playing.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back by the time the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were okay. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill only to find out we forgot to install any brakes! After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have PlayStations, Nintendos, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chatrooms... We had friends, and we went outside and found them there waiting for us.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits for such accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house 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. Imagine that.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. When we were punished at school, parents would say we deserved it.
This generation has produced some of the best risk takers, 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 are one of them - congratulations.
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our "own" good, and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it? Oh for the good old days - they are worth talking about. It keeps us smiling.
eddiea@onvol.net