Why??
Because I am going to introduce you to a blogger named Argentum Vulgaris, and share with you a post he recently published, which I just bloody love.....
I asked Argentum to provide me with a bit of a bio, so you can learn where the man is coming from. And he wrote to me.
Me? I am a rapidly-approaching-sixties guy who escaped the First World to learn how to live. I am an ex-pat Kiwi living in Brazil at the moment. I have travelled over most of South America and still have a lot to see. I have also lived in Bolivia and Peru. They say life begins at 40, mine did; I was that age when I managed to pry myself from a comfortable but boring meaningless life in NZ. I now see life through different glasses and have come to realise that you don't begin to understand yourself until you leave home
Click on Argentum's wonderful blog They Say It's In the Genes and get a great dose of insights and reflections. But read this first. And smile. And nod if you have not seen it before. And if you are a twitterholic, follow him here.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, 60's and even early 70's
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and corned meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots and beds were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took dubbing and being dubbed.
As children, we would ride in cars in the front seat, with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.
Even though all the shops closed at 5.20pm weekdays and 12 noon Saturdays.Nothing at all opened Sunday. Somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gob stoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with..
We ate biscuits, white bread that had to be cut from the loaf and real butter and, on special occasions, drank soft drinks 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 street lights 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 old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot to include brakes.We caught craw-bobs in the river, lit a fire and cooked them in river water. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY, no video/DVD films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms........... WE HAD REAL 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.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time.... AND Christmas was in the shops in December!
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
RUGBY and FOOTBALL had try outs and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT
Our teachers used to hit us with belts and gym shoes or throw dusters across the room with remarkable aim.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
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 lawyers and the government regulated our lives, 'for our safety and convenience'.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Those were the days, kids today haven't the slightest inkling of the fun their parents had.
