A message to the young crowd...

[Big Island Lifer]

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car.. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!

There weren't any freakin' cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a damn call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". OH MY GOD !!! Think of the horror... not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please! You kids have no idea how annoying you are.

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-finks!

And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!

And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were luckily, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!

See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled rotten! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

 

[themikehyde]

Amen!

 

[Four Suns]

Deleted.

 

[FYN409]

I hate to admit it, but AMEN! Scarey.... I am feeling old......

 

[collector21]

and talk about music-we had records, yes those things that really had grooves. The record player usually had only 1 channel and speaker, subwoofer what the hell is that. And if you were lucky enough to have a stero, yes that had a left and right channel, then you had to pay extra for stero records. And then if you were real lucky the stero had a bass and treble control, no equilizer. Most songs were 3 minuets or less because if they were longer the radio wouldn't play them. Then the 8 track came out for cars and opened a whole new world.
Have a great day youngsters and enjoy all your gadgets but remember be thankful and respect your elders.

 

[320Bob]

And don't forget slide rules that you had to use before the electronic calculators if you didn't have a comptometer that would do multiplication!

 

[MaddyDean]

Hay Big Island Lifer, Are you alright--you sound down and I am getting worried about you.

however, right you are.

 

[At Ease]

A friend of mine sent this the other day:


No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us,

*WE ARE AWESOME !!!

OUR Lives*are LIVING PROOF !!!


* *

To Those of***Us* Born*

1925 - 1970**:
**
*


~~~~~~~~~

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!*


*

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank

while they were pregnant.


*

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.


*

Then, after that trauma, we were

put to sleep on our tummies

in baby cribs covered

with bright colored lead-based paints.


*

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,

and, when we rode our bikes,

we had baseball caps,

not helmets, on our heads.


*


*

As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..


*


*

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight.*

WHY?


*

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!


*

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.

--And, we were OKAY.


*


*

We would spend hours building

our go-carts out of scraps

and then ride them 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 did not have Play Stations, Nintendo’s and X-boxes. There were

no video games, no 150 channels on cable,

no video movies or DVDs,

no surround-sound or CDs,

no cell phones,

no personal computers,

no Internet and no chat rooms.


*


*

WE HAD FRIENDS

*and we went outside and found* them!


*

We fell out of trees, got cut,

broke bones and teeth,

and there were no lawsuits

from those accidents.*

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.


**


***We ate worms, and mud pies

made from dirt, and

the worms did not live in us forever.


***
*

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and *

-although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes.

**


*

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!*


*


*

These generations have produced some of the best***risk-takers,

*problem solvers, and inventors ever.


*

The past 50 to 85*years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..


*

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.


*


*

If YOU are one of those born

between 1925-1970, 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 so much of our lives**for our own good.


*

*While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.


*

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

~~~~~~~



*


*

 

[Pietro]

Big Island :thumbsup:

As a survivor of the 60’and 70’ I must say it wasn’t that bad. We were living our lives at the full, experiencing levels of friendship, respect for each other and loyalty nowhere to be seen today.
Our parents taught us the value of what we had and we were all happier then…when I look at the faces of teenagers today I see discontent and boredom! (at least in my country)

 

[Alegria]

Amen!!! I now wish I was born earlier then 1967!!!! But many of the items around friends holds true.

Darn Pietro you really make me want to go visit Italy. I guess having my old friend Gino over for an afternoon enjoying red wine and seafood helps too!!! Also I have to admit the 390's age well.

Take Care all!!!

 

[Big Island Lifer]

Maddy Dean- all is well.
Pietro- I couldn't agree with you more.

When I was 11 years old my mother bought us (my 3 siblings and I) a Nintendo video game system. I played it for about a week. I got a blister on my thumb and realized it might hinder my hand when fishing. I never looked back and I haven't played a video game since.
I was behind a mother and a young adolescent girl the other day in line at our local grocery store. The daughter was whining like no end because she didn't have unlimited txt messaging on her new phone. It made me want to puke. Then the next day I got the email with the list that I started this thread with.
I am shocked when I look at what the younger generation takes for granted. I believe that this is a large generalization but its not too far off. I have been a volunteer coach at my old high school for the last several years. I am never shocked at some of the things that come out of the mouths of some of the kids that I work with. What shocks me is what I hear from their parents. That is most disturbing. When I was 12 years old I wanted a new fishing rod. My father told me I needed to buy it. It was spring time and lawn mowing season was right around the corner. I went knocking on doors to see if I could mow our neighbor's lawns. That first summer I picked up 10 lawns on an average of 10 bucks per lawn per week. I felt like a king. Mostly because I earned the money myself and I have my father to thank for it. I don't see that kind of work ethic in many of today's kids. My father could have written a check for a new rod and boat for that matter but he wanted me to know what it means to earn something.
Sorry for the rant but I hope I can instill the same beliefs and ideals if I am fortunate to have children of my own that my father instilled in me.
Thanks dad!

Darren

 

[Pietro]

.
What shocks me is what I hear from their parents. That is most disturbing.

That's the point of it all!!!

Tom, seafood should go with a chilled dry white wine!!! That's the rule over here :wink:

I'm waiting for the CSR delegation to come!!! :thumbsup:

 

[JUST PULLIN MY DINGHY]

remember we had to balance a quater on the head of needle to stop it from skipping lol wow are we really becoming our parents ohhhhhhh no ! lol

 

[Iprof]

Wait a minute here, this sounds like the perspective of someone that is young, well a lot younger than me. I used e-mail in the 80's, I used the internet in the 80's, they were called BBS boards. They had games, music and messaging, we used dial-up at 1200 baud then we had a blistering 2400 baud. I still have a hard drive from my fist AT computer, I use it in a computer class that I teach it is 100meg and weighs 8lbs, it cost me $1000.00 for the hard drive in 1989. But even before that we had the Timex St Clair a 2k home computer that worked off of cassette tapes. The first video game PONG, if you left it one and went to dinner the image was burned in the screen, that was the 70's. When I was born in the very early 50's we had no TV by 1953 we had one but only programs till 6:00. My dad got the TV to watch the Friday night boxing. Cars didn't come with automatic transmission because most manufactures did not have them. Yes each generation has it's own technology and each generation will say they had it worse that the last but remember the first bragger never wins.
Oh the reason we never had a remote control to channel surf...we only had 2 channels but the dial went to 13 so there was hope for the next generation.

Ken

 

[Stray Cat]

When I was 16, (1976) instead of spring break, our school offered elective activities for 2 days. I chose gun safety with my shop instructor. The first day was all classroom stuff. With parental and school consent, the next day I got on a school bus with my Winchester Model 97 shotgun (in a case, no ammo). Once I got to my high school, I went to shop class where our teacher gave us instruction on where we were going on our field trip. It would be my first experience at a real trap and skeet range.

There were 12 students, each with their own shotgun, on a school bus going to a gun range. We bough shells at the trap range for $2 a box, I had $8 to my name that day, and went home with a bruised shoulder and a smile.

Can you imagine this happening today? Hell no!

 

[JUST PULLIN MY DINGHY]

oh my your not on the terrorist watch list for that one ? lol they would of had swat take down the bus locked every school in the state today . i can see the head lines 12 armed students high jack bus driver there believed to be linked to the 7-eleven taliban.there plan to take over the lunch room and girls locker room datails at 10 . lol

 

[Vagabond]

Ok! you all are talking about what used to be. I have a five year old grandson, and his father and I were talking the other day what he will see buy the time he is 60. Imagine the exciting thing he will have. What will his boat look like? His car?

 

[OldSkool]

I would leave the house at 7:00 am and return just before dark for supper. Mom asked where I'd been and I tell her with friends and that was that.

We lived on my grand father’s farm so Dad bought me my first 20 gauge shot gun when I was 12. I would leave with it to shoot varmints and no one would question me about it. Grandpa would ask how many ground hogs I had shot. Varmints destroy crops and leave nasty holes for the cattle to break a leg in.

I spent more time standing in the back seat of a car so I could see than I can remember.

Since we lived on a farm my next closed friend also lived on a farm 1 mile away. We would ride our bikes down the road and knew every place to watch for car and cars watched for us. No texting or talking on phones back then.

We burnt coal to heat and my job was to bring 2 buckets full in before catching the bus to school so mom wouldn’t need to go outside to get it during the day.

Dad worked EVERY DAY and made enough to live. Mom stayed home and cooked meals, cleaned house, and made a house a home.

 

[Bucit]

Ok! you all are talking about what used to be. I have a five year old grandson, and his father and I were talking the other day what he will see buy the time he is 60. Imagine the exciting thing he will have. What will his boat look like? His car?

Roads?....Where we're going we don't need roads! :grin:

 

[MExcelsior]

When I was 16, (1976) instead of spring break, our school offered elective activities for 2 days. I chose gun safety with my shop instructor. The first day was all classroom stuff. With parental and school consent, the next day I got on a school bus with my Winchester Model 97 shotgun (in a case, no ammo). Once I got to my high school, I went to shop class where our teacher gave us instruction on where we were going on our field trip. It would be my first experience at a real trap and skeet range.

There were 12 students, each with their own shotgun, on a school bus going to a gun range. We bough shells at the trap range for $2 a box, I had $8 to my name that day, and went home with a bruised shoulder and a smile.

Can you imagine this happening today? Hell no!

I also said I wouldn't become my parents, BUT I DISAGREE WITH THE ORIGINAL POSTER IN THIS FOLDER. I think in many respects things are much more complicated these days for kids and they have much more pressure put on them. (Especially in school). Yes... they have remotes, mobile computers, but there is a certain innocence that has been lost in society, but not necessarily driven by technology. There are things that we used to do in the past that kids would find themselves in juvenile detention for a 1/2 year. Technology aside, there is a lack of trust in society these days. Kids nowadays would do fine in the 60'-80's and yes, they would be able to handle it, and would probably be a bit more healthy in both mind and body.

Perfect example: Remember when you bought gas at a station, they used to set out soda/pop in cases in between the pumps. We would throw them in the car and pay for them (tell the cashier how many we took) when we went inside the store. Nowadays, no store owner in their right mind would put those out. No one used to steal because your neighbors would hear about it, or confront you about it if someone saw you steal. Nowadays, few people even really know their neighbors and less even care what they think. Hell... within the last 5 years, we had to start prepaying for gas or use a credit card at the pump.

In short, I'm unconvinced that innocence was lost through computer games or technology. I could rant long and hard, but I believe it is media, advertising that created the "me, me, I deserve this and feel the need to compete with Joe next door" mentality.