Monday, June 8, 2009

To All those Born in the 50's , 60's & early '70s...

First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked /cleaned
while taking care of us at the same time.
They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and
diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when
we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/ motorcycles for
2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.
We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.
We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our
kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.
We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.
With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis
ball best) we boys would ran like crazy for hours.
We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually worry about being unhygenic.
We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and
drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice kacang, but we weren't
overweight because..... .
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights
came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. AND WE DONT HAVE HANDPHONE S TO BUG
US. And we were O.K. AND WE ARE SAFE.
We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out
of scraps and then ride 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 no t have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on
cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal
computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found
them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still
continued the stunts.
We never had birthdays parties till we are 21
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers and inventors ever!
The past 40 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 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.

PS: -The big type is because Long-sightedness or hyperopia at your age.
he... he...

The article below was written by Patrick Teoh in his blog "Niamah!!".