# Nostalgia for Men of a Certain Age



## Rick Carver

I am feeling nostalgic today. I can’t believe I survived childhood.

According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s probably should not have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colors of lead-based paint. We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles or locks on the drawers and cabinets. When we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water straight from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda with lots of sugar in it but we were rarely overweight because we were always outside playing. We would home early in the morning and stay gone all day; as long as we were home when the street lights came on.

No one could reach us all day. Smart phones? We had no cell phones at all. No X-Box, no Play Station, no limitless cable TV channels, laptops or tablets. Facebook was an actual face in an actual book.

We had friends. We went outside and found them. We played dodgeball and sometimes, getting hit by the ball hurt. We got over it.  We fell out of trees, got cut or suffered broken bones and teeth, and there were never any lawsuits for these accidents. No one was to blame but ourselves.

We had fights and punched each other, and we got black and blue and we learned from it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. Although we were told it would happen, we fired about a million BB’s from my Daisy Red Rider BB Gun and no one ever got an eye put out.  We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house, knocked on the door, rang the bell or just walked right 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. Some students weren’t as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.  Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of our parents bailing us out if we got into trouble at school or broke a law was unheard of.  Our parents actually sided with the school or the law. Imagine that.

Despite all this, our generation has produced some of the best risk-takes, inventors and problem solvers ever. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with them.

If you have related to anything I have just said, you are one of them. Congratulations. We made it.


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## admarcus1

I agree with much of what you say here, with a couple of exceptions.  The first is that of the things you list, only two really have anything to do with regulation, and those are lead paint and bicycle helmets.  Lead is a neurotoxin, and babies and toddlers chew on things.  Lead poisoning in children was a scourge of the 20th century, and is still a huge problem in the developing world.

Bicycle helmets just make sense.  They save lives.  I trust my kid to ride his bike safely.  I don't trust the drivers on the road.  I survived childhood without a brain injury, as did most of my friends. Not all kids survived it.  Bicycle helmets actually became popular before they became required in some places.  They became required because they reduce brain injury.

Neither of these things are a liberal plot, or a plot by govt to seize power.  The former was clear and necessary policy to address a tragic and economically costly public health issue (in tandem with the removal of lead from gasoline, ceramics used for cooking, eating and drinking, and many other sources of lead poisoning). The latter was a common sense solution to a head injury problem first used by serious cyclists to protect themselves.  That successful solution was extended by rational parents to their children.  

As for volleyball, I have no strong opinions, except this.  As kids, my friends and I mostly enjoyed it, but we saw it for what it was:  an activity trotted out by a lazy gym teacher who couldn't be bothered to do his job that day.


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## Rick Carver




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## Companion Joe

Good stuff, Rick. I agree wholeheartedly.


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## Warrior1256

Man, does your story bring back memories. It is almost an exact blue print of my life as a kid. My wife also read this and concurs. Thanks so much for sharing this story.


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## jjjjjggggg

... and the beat goes on...


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## admarcus1

admarcus1 said:


> As for volleyball, I have no strong opinions, except this.  As kids, my friends and I mostly enjoyed it, but we saw it for what it was:  an activity trotted out by a lazy gym teacher who couldn't be bothered to do his job that day.




Just realized that dodgeball auto corrected to volleyball in my post. Last gym teachers had us play dodgeball when they couldn't be bothered.  Lazy social studies teachers had a rotation of filmstrips, and for science, it would be a National Geographic wildlife film.


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## bezobrazan

I love this!


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