Bar Journal
1999
Those Were the Days!
By O. Max Gardner III
According to today's regulators and
bureaucrats, those of us who were Kids in the 40's and 50's probably shouldn't
have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based
paint. We had no childproof lids or locks 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 pickup
truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from a garden
hose and not from a bottle. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank
soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were
always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends and
no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building
our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 would leave home in the morning
and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. No one ever heard of a cell
phone. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-boxes, no video games
at all, no 199 channels on cable, Video taped movies, surround sound, personal
cell phones, personal computers, or internet chat rooms. We had friends!
We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes the
ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, and got cut and broke bones
and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. No one was
to blame but us.
We had fights and punched each
other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. No guns, knives
or bats. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we
were told it would happen, we did not put out any 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
the disappointment. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions
were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of parents bailing us
out if we got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of.
Parents actually sided with the school or the law.
This generation has produced some
of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever. We had freedom,
failure, success, and responsibility---and we learned how to deal with
it. |
