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Shack
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 25, 2005 - 07:25pm PT
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I was sent this email and being 39 years old,
it really rang true to me.
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof 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 weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
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 O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts 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 not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell
phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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 these accidents.
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!
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 if 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?!
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WBraun
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:32pm PT
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Ha this is still going on in most of the world except the spoiled rotton USA.
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Wrathchild
climber
right behind you
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:35pm PT
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You are singing my song.
I'm going to grab the biggest pair of scissors I own and go for a run up and down the stairs with my eyes closed.
WooHoo, I'm livin' now!
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Ouch!
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:48pm PT
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I don't know about this. Seems overly nostalgic for a mythical time.
I helped bury an awful lot of friends and playmates. Young.
I watched my otherwise healthy grandfather die from a simple case of pneumonia because penicillin was not around yet.
Infant mortality and life expectancy in many countries is staggering.
We tend to forgot the bad and if not for progress, we might not be here to pine for the good old days.
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Ben Wah
Social climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:51pm PT
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Funny, the kids who survived all those childhood dangers are the ones now making everything "Safe".
I get dirty looks all the time for letting my child go more than five feet from me and play in the dirt and chase squirrels and share sips of my soda, mostly from parents who bring laptops into the caf so they can plug their infants into that "Baby Einstein" nonsense. It does have the effect of mesmerising the child so the parents can eat in peace, but I wonder what being glued to a screen at that age does to the poor wee thing.
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Shack
Trad climber
So. Cal.
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:55pm PT
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Ouch, you missed a key line.
"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."
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Jul 25, 2005 - 07:58pm PT
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And we gave hip-belays, all our biners were ovals, 1/4" bolts were the sh#t, our boots were Super Grappon, and the best gear was always from Diamond-C.
:- k
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dirtbag
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:00pm PT
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I agree Ouch. A lot of the stuff that happened 50 years ago is best left in the past. The post said blame lawyers and the government. Why not also blame the doctors who discovered that smoking f*#ks up a lot of infants, or that lead paint is actually bad for you?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:03pm PT
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Who can forget playing for hours on the kitchen floor with the little blobs of mercury that spilled from a broken thermometer.
Man, that was fun!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:07pm PT
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"I watched my otherwise healthy grandfather die from a simple case of pneumonia because penicillin was not around yet. "
You must be prettyy old, because penicillin was around .40/dose in 1946, and readily available.
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dirtbag
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:07pm PT
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HowieJody, you stupid dumbass, do you long for the days when mothers frequently smoked when they had kids? Or ate lead paint, suffered brain damage and eventually, became Republicans? Are these good things? And if so, then why do Republicans hate children so much that they want to poison them?
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Ouch!
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:14pm PT
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"Ouch, you missed a key line."
My bad, Shack. I miss more than I hit.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:19pm PT
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Yes....yes they probably will.
Coincidentally I had the exact conversation with a climbing parter this past weekend. Talked about how on Sesame Street the Cookie Monster is no longer allowed to go nuts over cookies...C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!! No more, it's also for Celery, Carrots and all this other alarmist "our kids are too fat" stuff. And it went on from ther.
Remember when there were winners and losers at school or athletic events for kids? You won the race in track, you got a ribbon, trophy and the title of champ. You come in last, well you lost. Period. That's a sign that you're not meant to be doing that cause others are better and you'd be better off finding something that you are actually good at than struggling along losing. But today's kids, none of them are allowed to be called "losers" cause it's "bad for their precious little self esteem" and everyone gets a trophy for participating, making even the losers winners. As a result a lot of kids today growing up pampered and spoiled without any real idea of identity and what they excel or suck at. I know growing up, if it turned out I was good at something, I pursued it. If I sucked at it or lost, I went home and cried to mom and dad, they gave me a "don't worry, life is full of success and failure and it happens to everyone" and I was made to realize to take it as a sign I was meant to do something else. Kids today don't get that kind of letdown anymore. All kids are precious perfect winners. Cause failure might *hurt their feelings!!!*
We grew up without DIET soda, LOW FAT cookies and baked goods, without "healthy" fast food. Hell, we had butter and salt in everything. We read books and used our brains. And we used our legs and bodies as well. Only diff with kids then and now is they're all inside sitting on their asses in front of playstations or on computers or cell phones turning into fat automatons instead of on their bike cruising around the neighborhood to see who wants to come out and play. And play meant physical activity usually doing something that included using our imaginations (playing Pirate at the lake, cowboys and indians, playing hide and seek in the woods, etc).
I'm so glad I'm not a child today. They live in an effed up world from the one I knew.
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Degaine
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:19pm PT
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Good point, Mr. WeirdDean.
I'll look forward to seeing you in the Valley with hemp rope, homemade chocks and metal-cleated boots, pitons made from an old stove, real man equipment.
I'm sure I'll see you in Tuolumne, on a climb like South Crack, you know, 50 foot run outs with no bolts, real man style. Of course, even without this article, you would never have advocated placing a bolt or two on those long, dome run outs.
It's one thing to be overly proctetive and a different ball of wax altogether to simply take advantage of the latest safety technology available.
Fluoride,
There is certainly a balance to be had. Some parents have gone too far in one direction. I've also taken friends' kids skiing off 15 foot cornices onto a 35 degree slopes (they were wearing helmets of course). Know families as well who only use the TV and VCR for watching movies, otherwise no TV programs allowed.
Anyway, carry on.
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Ouch!
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:34pm PT
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I remember the good old days of polishing dimes with mercury, when we could find a dime.
The good old days when all people of color had to be in by dark on Friday night, when the good ol' boys in sheets would burn their crosses on the high hill behind the hospital and dance around like evil ghosts. Most folks knew many of them were jackleg fundamentalist preachers. They graduated from lynch a colored for Jesus, to Kill a Commie for Christ to Fly a Confederate flag for Bush. Alas, poor redneck, I knew ye well.
Sure, what didn't kill you made you tougher. Lying in bed with unknown illnesses for days or weeks, alternating between fever and chills. Then some morning just before daylight, passing a crisis and either getting better or just going away.
Anyone knows the most flavorful herbs are those that struggle in poor rocky soil.
I ain't that old but I did play football in a leather helmet and no faceguard and mouthpiece. It was great, even though I can't breathe through my busted snout and the concussions would give you visions to rival LSD.
The explosion in population is the root cause of our most serious world problem, which is poverty, exacerbated by religion.
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Michael Moron
Social climber
Davison, MI
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Jul 25, 2005 - 08:58pm PT
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"I ain't that old but I did play football in a leather helmet and no faceguard and mouthpiece. It was great, even though I can't breathe through my busted snout and the concussions would give you visions to rival LSD."
A-ha! This explains the brain damage exhibited by you when making stupid-ass posts here. I now am no longer angry with you, I just feel sorry for such a slobbering fool, knowing he can't help it.
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Ouch!
climber
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Jul 25, 2005 - 09:16pm PT
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Back in the old days, when a kid like the Moron was born, they just pinched his head off and tried again. They blamed it on bad pork. The old iceboxes didn't keep things very cool.
Occasionally, one would be allowed to grow. Thus the term, Village Idiot.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Jul 25, 2005 - 09:18pm PT
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man, I just lost a big one right near the endI will try to rewrite.
Sheesh Shack, I remember when You were the next generation.
My Mom smoked while she was carrying all of us. My two bros and I are pretty well adjusted, active guys aged 44-55. Those guys are somewhat overweight from too much time behind a desk and too little under the sun. But, the oldest gets up Devis tower once a year or so and runs the odd 10k, so its really okay. I'm just fine, thank you.
However, while mom was pregnant with my (would be) older sister she was on perscription amphetimines; Becky died just after her third birthday of a "hole in the heart." We all have murmers and arrhythmias in my family, my own daughter had a "hole in her heart," (ventricular septum perforation?) that healed itself in a few months. It is impossible, impericlly, to say that speed killed sis, but I'm glad that they discourage this sort of medication in pregnant women today!
As a kid I had the standard, out all day on our bikes, throwing rocks, swimming in toxic ooze, shooting bb guns till dark, kind of childhood.
when I was thirteen my friends and i used to ride the IC (Illinois Central) trains from our home in the'burbs' into Chicago to frolic.
Not to sound like one of those overprotective parents mentioned above, but; I don't think it is as safe for our kids today. More knowledge of hazards, more immediate news, Richard Speck, Ted bundy, and other sh#t have changed ( ande yes, distorted) our perceived world view.
My daughter, though she has more latitude when she is with me than with her mom, simply does not have the same freedom I did at the same age. When i lived in Vail, she got to the point were I deemed it safe for her to ride her bike three miles down the bike trail into town, buy a soft pretzel ($6 with drink!) and ride home on the free shuttle bus -I knew all the drivers.
Her mom was of a different point of view and that activity stopped. I understood and respected her point of view, though I was not in agreement.
Soon, at age fifteen this girl is flying, alone, to europe to visit relatives. She has to change planes in the UK (not my idea). I know kids do this all the time and she is smart, but I still worry.
My mom was not irresponsible, she followed Doctor's orders. My Ex and I have tried to be smart and do the right thing but we have many "D'oh" moments to look back on. How many, and of what nature will they be a decade from now?
Shack, I know you meant this thread in a sort of ironic and funny spirit, and I mostly agree with you, but it begs the question:
How do you ever know what's right? You do the best you can and you learn from your mistakes.
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elcap-pics
climber
Crestline CA
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Jul 25, 2005 - 09:24pm PT
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Yo..I am 61 and a lot of those things were part of my growing up in the 50's and 60's. I think the meaning of the post was lost on some of you. It doesn't say that those were the days that we want to get back to.... it just points out that we survived in circumstances that make us take pause now. Modern science and advances in technology have made our lives more comfortable and enjoyable. The other side to the present time is how unsafe it is when compared to back then. I left my house in the morning and returned at dark for dinner without any fear that something or someone was waiting to do me in. Life was not so complicated then and it was a pleasure to grow up in those times...unless of course you were a member of a minority!! Climbing was a very different sport then. Technology has made climbing and especially wall climbing much safer and easier than it was... I think it is great that these advancements have happened but I treasure the memory of going up on the Nose with the most basic equipment and having a real adventure. We were minimalists and that added a lot to the adventure and suffering! Today is different... not worse or better... just different. I wouldn't go up on the Nose with the old gear now, although it would be an adventure for sure. So people now... climbers in particular, are not pussies, they are living in a different world than we did. I find todays climbers to be much better technically than we ever were and in many respects more bold and adventerous too. We are all products of the times we live in... so I say... take advantage of all opportuities and live your life to the max.
Tom Evans
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Michael Moron
Social climber
Davison, MI
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Jul 25, 2005 - 09:27pm PT
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But I am a rich moron that makes stupid-ass lying movies.
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