Against all odds we survived

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
Were kids in the 50's, 60's, 70's and early 80's probably
shouldn't have survived, because...

1. Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based
paint that was promptly chewed and licked.
2. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on
doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
3. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and
fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
4. We would as children ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags
- riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
5. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it
tasted the same.
6. We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank
fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because
we were always outside playing.
7. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and
no one actually died from this.
8. We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went
top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
9. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.
10. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we
were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and
no one minded.
11. We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.
No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no
mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms.
12. We had friends we went outside and found them.
13. We played elastics and street rounders and sometimes that ball
really hurt.
14.We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there
were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same
thing again.
15. We had fights, punched each other hard, and got black and blue
we learned to ''get over it''.
16. We walked to friend's homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to
school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which
was just round the corner.
17. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff,
And although we were told it would happen, we did not have very
many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
18. We rode bikes in packs of seven and wore our coats by only the
hood.
19. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.
20. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard
of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
21. This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
problem solvers and inventors, ever.
22. 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!
Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real
kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own
good.

This my friends, is surprisingly frightening...and it might put a
smile on your face.

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1983...
They are called youth.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children,
and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel.
They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or
Belinda Carlisle.
For them, there has always been only one Germany and one
Vietnam.
AIDS has existed since they were born.
CD's have existed since they were born.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
To them, John Travolta has always been round in shape and they
can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.
They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are just
new films out last year.
They think that N-Trance "set you free" is an Old Skool song.
They can never imagine life before computers.
They've never heard of Pac-Man or Space Invaders or BBC computers
that have Bat n Ball games.
They'll never have thought Jazz was the sexiest aftershave ever.
They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand Gang or
the Famous Five.
They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.
They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and
don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control.
And they will never understand how we could leave the house
without a mobile phone.