[oldmud]

This from a friend.

Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,
Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.
Pull a chair up to the TV set,
"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs
and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no
bleach, but we didn't seem to get food
poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on
the counter AND I used to eat it raw
sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches
were wrapped in wax paper in a brown
paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I
can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone
swimming in the lake instead of a
pristine pool (talk about boring), no
beach closures then.

The t erm cell phone would have
conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a
pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE .. and risked
permanent injury with a pair of high top
Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of
having cross-training athletic shoes with
air cushion soles and built in light
reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but
they must have happened because they
tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option even for
stupid kids! I guess PE must be much
harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers
and sang the national anthem, and
staying in detention after school caught
all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged
psyches. What an archaic health system
we had then. Remember school nurses?
Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to
accomplish something before I was
allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were
without computers, Play Station,
Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV
cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl
and sterilization kit when I got that bee
sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of
gravel left on vacant construction sites,
and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out
the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome
(kids liked it better because it didn't
sting like iodine did) and then we got
our butt spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room,
followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle
of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the
attorney to sue the contractor for
leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel
where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house
either because if we did, we got our butt
spanked there and then we got butt
spanked again when we got home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next doo r
coming over and doing his tricks on the
front stoop, just before he fell off. Little
did his Mom know that she could have
owned our house. Instead, she picked
him up and swatted him for being such a
goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew
had ever been told that they were from a
dysfunctional family. How could we
possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and
anger management classes? We were
obviously so duped by so many societal
ills that we didn't even notice that the
entire country wasn't taking Prozac!
How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED
THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T;
SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I
WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.

 

[AZFISHKILLER]

Huh????? lol

 

[gverb1219]

How Things Have Changed!

How Things Have Changed!

One evening a son was talking to his father about current events.
He asked what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The dad replied, "Well, let me think a minute...I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, frisbees and the pill.

There was no radar, credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens. Man had not invented pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, (clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air) electric blankets, air conditioners, and he hadn't walked on the moon.

Your Mom and I got married first-and then lived together.

Every family had a father and a mother, and every boy over 14 had a rifle that his dad taught him how to use and respect.

And they went hunting and fishing together.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, 'Sir'-and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.'

Sundays were set aside for going to church as a family, helping those in need, and visiting with family or neighbors. (I miss that most).

We were before, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living here was a bigger privilege.

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.

Draftdodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radio.

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan' on it, it was junk.

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 & 10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.

Ice cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, but who could afford one?

Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day, 'grass' was mowed, 'coke' was a cold drink, 'pot' was something your mother cooked in, and 'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby.

'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office, 'chip' meant a piece of wood, 'hardware' was found in a hardware store, and 'software' wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap......and I am only 52 years old.

................

 

[CHEVY1]

So true

My kids and all kids today will never know how great it was to grow up like we did. **** those where great times