Those of you born between 1930-1979

[Kevin Gregoire]

Those of You Born
1930 - 1979




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 were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck 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, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight. WHY? Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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 and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no 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, athough 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!

These generations have 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.

If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

[Bryan Morgan]

As the kids of today would say in their gutter form of retard English, "true dat". :D

I'm reading a book right now called "In Fifty Years We'll Be Chicks" that goes along with your post there... :)

[Tom Hintz]

You know, a bunch of those are why I am 62 and not worrying much about 70 and beyond.

[Keith Outten]

Who raised the current generation whose values are so different from ours?

I was born in 1951 which puts me in the middle of the group mentioned.
.

[Rod Sheridan]

Who raised the current generation whose values are so different from ours?


.

Keith, I guess that would be me, as I was born in 1958, and my kids were born in 1985 and 1987.

Funny, last night sitting in the back yard enjoying a visit from my oldest daughter, she said something that made me smile. She sounded just like me.

I guess the new generation isn't much different than our generation, and both my kids were raised in an urban area of the largest city in Canada, which happens to be the most multi-cultural city in the world.

I think it will somehow work out................Regards, Rod.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The story of surviving hazards is an example of the fact that the past is narrated by people who survived it. We won't hear from the ones that got killed.

[Greg Peterson]

Seen this anecdotal list numerous times before. Not sure who or what it is suppose to be an indictment of.

We only have ourselves to blame for the youth of today. Imagine what our ancestors would have to say about those of us born between 1930 and 1979?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I can remember being indicted by my parents and adult neighbors for playing "rock and roll" before the Beatles arrived (playing Chuck Berry, etc.) and after the British Invasion? Well....it was a Communist plot......long hair.....wild music......what's next?

A few years ago I had the privilege and honor of riding for 3 days on the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 IIRC. 15 months later the LOML rode it for 10 days from Pearl Harbor to San Diego to Bremerton, WA. Riding that ship, left no doubt to either of us, there are a lot of hard working, young, well-educated kids/young adults out there today.

It's natural for the older generation to feel the younger generation isn't as good as their own or previous generations.

The only thing guaranteed in life is change.......and as we get older we are less likely to embrace that change......

Some things are our faults.........some aren't..........

More bad things make the news today than it did in my childhood. I am convinced while there are more bad things that happen because of an increased population, I also believe the news media overlooks the "good news" to print/broadcast the more marketable "bad news".

While often some of the current generation look back on the previous generation and try to paint it as the "greatest generation"....if your eyes aren't clouded you can find as much wrong with them as with the current generation.

Life will go on.......and things will change.......

[Michael Weber]

While often some of the current generation look back on the previous generation and try to paint it as the "greatest generation"....if your eyes aren't clouded you can find as much wrong with them as with the current generation.

Life will go on.......and things will change.......
This quote about the WWII generation always makes me wonder. Better than todays generation? Probably tougher in many ways. But greater than the previous generations? Just don't see how you can label one better than another. Previous generations have overcome some substantial problems. Every generation is the victim of it's unique circumstances.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Michael.....one of the famous news broadcasters..... Tom Brokaw wrote a book about "The Greatest Generation". I didn't agree with him for several strong reasons that would be considered political. I agree with your statement......

[Brian Kent]

On the other hand,

My son programs the connection between pilots and predator aircraft, stays in continual communication with friends, family and colleagues through phone and computer, loves karate, gathers 8 friends every Thursday at his parents' house for group games, takes his vacations for leading youth camps and home-building projects.

My daughter is a leader in Sierra Service Project - Los Angeles, where she sleeps on the floor of a church for 10 weeks and leads youth in rebuilding homes, adding wheel-chair ramps, and listening to homeless people while handing out bottled water. After the elections in Cairo in October she is scheduled to work at an organization in Cairo that does job training for the poor.

The kids I know at church love the service project more than anything. One of them saw a homeless person in our community and told her parents to stop and treat him to Jack-in-the-box. Then she got the church people together and we make peanut butter sandwiches to hand out to anybody who's hungry. The church kids know that they move immediately from participation to leadership as soon as they are old enough.

They face down the tremendous debts we have handed them and still have a heart for hard work, optimism, and hope. They want to get a good education, and learn how to build or fix a house. They want to paint the church in order to raise money to have the privilege of fixing houses next summer.

They are White, Black, Filipino, Indian, Irani, Hispanic, and Lebanese, and if they notice - they love that about each other.

They get decent grades, play sports, play in High School bands, start their own rock bands and youth choir, lead in worship, represent the church at conferences, and still have time to mess around on video games.

Looks like another great generation to me.

[Gary Hodgin]

It seems each generation of adults feels some sort of obligation to denigrate the subsequent generation of kids, and they may be right, but the problem is in the mirror.

As I see it, a major problem with a lot of kids (certainly not all, there are some great kids) today is that their parents, especially dads, don't spend much time with their kids and in some cases where parents do spend time it isn't helpful. Today it's easy to farm out the responsibility of parenting to the schools, the tv, the computer, and extra-curricular activities. It seems schools are the targets today. They are given the responsibility for both behavior and education. They're much better equipped to do the latter than the former. Yet, it's impossible to do the latter without the former.

[Belinda Barfield]

Just an anecdote, not a commentary. My SO is the typical 70s rebellious hellion. Won't cut his hair (still), etc. He went to a family reunion about 15 years or so ago. His nephews arrived sporting all black, spiked hair, chains with padlocks around their necks, boots with spikes on the toes . . . my SO looked at his uncle and said, "Did you think what I'm thinking when I showed up with long hair and cut off blue jeans?" His uncle replied, "yep, every bit of it."

[Chris Kennedy]

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 were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.


As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

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.

If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS! Quote edited and abridged.







If you aren't one of those who lived through all of these things, you are dead. Sucks to be you.

Maybe if the mother hadn't drank and smoked through pregnancy, she wouldn't have miscarried and emotionally devastated herself, her husband, and her family who envisioned the tiny bouncing baby -- the baby they could already see playing with dolls, playing catch in the yard, showing them how to change spark plugs, teaching them to dance in the living room, and growing up. Maybe if she hadn't drank during pregnancy, her child wouldn't have developmental problems.

Maybe if the kid had been in a car seat or a seat belt, they wouldn't be dead. How much potential did our society (and other societies) lose before we realized?

Were these people to blame? Of course not. Mothers didn't know the risk of drinking and smoking. Build a car big enough, it will protect you -- you don't need restraints. They didn't know better. It doesn't mean we should romanticize it.

Seriously, this is a 1950's affluent suburbia vision of things. Was this how it was in 1930's Dustbowl? Or in 1960's Harlem? Was this how it was across the US from 1930-1979 for the most part? And what happened in 1980 to make it all fall apart so suddenly?

No doubt, we have had massive innovation over the last fifty years. Did we have innovation because kids could ride in the back of a pick-up truck without a seatbelt? Really? Maybe it was because there was a societal push for scientific and technical advance fueled by the space race, societal and governmental support of research, and a general pride in knowledge? I really doubt we have made the innovations we have made because kids were not required to wear bike helmets.


Who raised the current generation whose values are so different from ours?


Who raised them? Well, you. Or your kids. Or your grandkids. Pick the problematic generation and the one previous is to blame. Except it isn't that simple . . . .

Look at this more generally. What has changed over the last century or so?

The entire family dynamic has been radically altered by the role of women over the past century. Women have gone from second class citizens, to part of the voting population, to working in limited roles, to being a part of the industrial workforce (WWII), to being relegated back to the house in the 50's, and then over the course of the last five decades, fighting their way into the general workforce in their own right. In generations past, the overwhelming majority of women were mothers and homemakers, and otherwise limited to specific professions. In the past few generations, women have fought to be whatever they want and are fighting to go farther.

Add to this that the current generation is not going to be better off than the previous for the first time in the history of the US. Until the current generation, salaries have outstripped the cost-of-living, and so we have the circumstance that if the current generation wants to live at the same level as its parents, we have to rely on their being two breadwinners in a family.

Think how that changes the life of the kids. Mom and Dad both have to work to pay the mortgage. So, Junior doesn't get all the time he wants with Mom and Dad. Yes, we all can wax nostalgic that we stayed out until all hours until the street lights came on, but really, when you were anywhere between newborn and about six, you didn't. Your mother was there to take care of you and your father made enough to support you without your mother having to work. Maybe when you were six, you went and played with the neighbor kids and thought you could go anywhere you liked, except that up and down the street, there were neighbor maternal eyes keeping tabs on you in a way that would make the FBI and the Cosa Nostra jealous. And when the neighbor kid didn't want to share, you could always go back to Mommy, because she was there. Or maybe Mrs. Jones would step in, because it was happening in her backyard, and tell the kids to cut it out.

So now, Mom and Dad are both working. Mom and Dad are cut up every time they drop Junior at daycare, but there is a mortgage and other bills to pay. It may be that two incomes are necessary, or it may be that Mom and Dad both provide to society or both. They both worked to get where they are, enjoy what they do, but they both wanted a family, and they don't think those things are mutually exclusive. They juggle raising progeny with jobs, and feel guilty every day that they can't spend twenty-four hours with the progeny. They love the progeny and care for them, and wish they could have everything they want, but they can't.

So yes, Junior may think that XBox is a legitimate means of entertainment because Mom and Dad come home from work and have to get everything done that Mom took care of during the day as a housewife. Junior may chafe when his parents won't let him/her do something stupid, but that is what parents are for. We'll teach Junior to value what it has, that part of being an adult is providing to the society, home, and family, and to raise his kids as best Junior can. We can teach her that her role in society is not predetermined, that she can be both a mother and a working woman, and that society will/must accept both those roles.

Now, the evolving role of women in society is ONE thing. How many other societal changes have occurred in the past eighty or so years? The end of Jim Crow laws and segregation, the Civil Rights movement in general, Vietnam and all its turmoil and havoc and scars, labor movements, gay pride . . . the list goes on. It doesn't matter how you feel about these issues, they have all gone into shaping American society.

Or we can think that drinking water from water bottle instead of a garden hose is the root of all evil with modern society.

Really?

Chris

[Bryan Morgan]

Who raised the current generation whose values are so different from ours?

Television and public education.... :)

[Chuck Wintle]

kevin,

That is called looking into the past with rose colored glasses. sure there were a lot of good things but we forget the bad stuff all too easily.

[Curt Harms]

Couple things. The "greatest generation" grew up during the 1930's I doubt that "coddled" would be a term used to describe most of them. It would accurately describe many of the youth in the more affluent areas today. And some of those coddled youth, if they have to leave their shelted cocoon learn some hard lessons. I also wonder if we're becoming too risk averse. There's a difference between calculated risk and being stupid. Are we getting to the point where exposing people any physical risk is unacceptable and will be punished by the Trial Lawyers?

[Kent A Bathurst]

Seems to me that a good portion of every new generation is looked upon by some of its elders as being off-kilter. I have a bit of experience in this area, as a former pony-tailed, dope-smoking, war-protesting, college-drop-out hippie, with an older brother that achieved Colonel in the USAF in the shortest possible time - parents looked at me cross-eyed and shook their heads with a lack of comprehension and bewilderment.

Things work themselves out just fine, with some of the values of the youth carrying forward into the larger fabric of society over time.

[Greg Peterson]

If we recognize a risk (drinking, smoking while pregnant, SIDS, seatbelts, bike helmets....) do we not have a responsibility to take reasonable measures to prevent the negative consequences to individuals and society? Why should I pay a higher insurance premium because some dimwit didn't wear a seat belt? Or a kid fell off his bike and hit his head on a curb and is now crippled for life? Head trauma is a particularly expensive treatment and usually incurs significant long term cost.

Or perhaps we should throw common sense and all the medical knowledge acquired in the past 80 years, out the window?

I wonder what hazards future generations will reveal about our current standards and practices? Should they not examine their past and learn from our mistakes? Seems to me that is the point of the list.

[Ben Hatcher]

Ah the good old days...
The number of things that will kill you or injure you has gone down through the history of humanity. For example, sewers reduced cholera, vaccines eliminated small pox and polio, and antibiotics have helped people survive injuries that would have left them dead or maimed in the past. We’re fortunate in the US and developed world where we’ve conquered the heavy hitters. The remaining dangers are pretty trivial in comparison, but relative to the remaining “dangers” they are significant. Think of a chisel with a huge nick in it. Some people might grind out the nick and stop there while others will keep going until it has reached the maximum possible sharpness. So, I pose that your opinion on seatbelts, airbags, back to bed, and all that other stuff is a reflection on what you think is good enough when it comes to protecting human life.

Still, I do tend to agree that something’s amiss with the younger generation. I tend to think that the self esteem movement has created some real motivation issues with a lot of kids. Why strive to do better when you’re being praised for doing nothing?

[Ron Conlon]

I'v re-read this a few times trying to figure out the point of the article. The difficulty seems to be that the tone changes throughout. It is not merely a rose-colored remembrance of youth, as it also implies a connection between those uh, liberties, and innovation, invention and prosperity. It also criticises today's parents as overprotective.
To me it diminishes the anguish of parents who have seen the death of their own children or the death of siblings or other children while growing up.

[Kevin Gregoire]

the thing that chaps my butt the most these days is parents being afraid to spank their children in public!
half the kids these days hold the power to threaten their parents with child abuse if they get spanked or punished.

for the most part i was a really good kid and never acted up much but when i did it would take 'that' look from mom
or dad and i knew my ass would be sore when we got home. or if it was bad enough i would get a good spanking on
the spot and nobody else would say a word. but these days everybody is taking pics or video or on the phone with
the cops saying your unfit.

something has gone very wrong somewhere over the years!

[Bryan Morgan]

Couple things. The "greatest generation" grew up during the 1930's I doubt that "coddled" would be a term used to describe most of them. It would accurately describe many of the youth in the more affluent areas today. And some of those coddled youth, if they have to leave their shelted cocoon learn some hard lessons. I also wonder if we're becoming too risk averse. There's a difference between calculated risk and being stupid. Are we getting to the point where exposing people any physical risk is unacceptable and will be punished by the Trial Lawyers?

These days if you mess up theres always somebody to bail you out and a lawyer to blame someone else for you... There are no consequences. People try to create consequences but its more like "pre-punishing" you for things you haven't done yet, "just in case".

[Curt Harms]

the thing that chaps my butt the most these days is parents being afraid to spank their children in public!
half the kids these days hold the power to threaten their parents with child abuse if they get spanked or punished.

for the most part i was a really good kid and never acted up much but when i did it would take 'that' look from mom
or dad and i knew my ass would be sore when we got home. or if it was bad enough i would get a good spanking on
the spot and nobody else would say a word. but these days everybody is taking pics or video or on the phone with
the cops saying your unfit.

something has gone very wrong somewhere over the years!

I'm not sure. I suspect it's the social/legal inability or unwillingness to differentiate a well deserved swat on a clothed backside vs. a sadistic beating with a belt or switch. I think the argument is that violence will beget more violence. Where the child is subjected to savage beatings that's most likely true, that child will grow up to do the same to his/her children.

[Joe Angrisani]

I'm not sure. I suspect it's the social/legal inability or unwillingness to differentiate a well deserved swat on a clothed backside vs. a sadistic beating with a belt or switch. I think the argument is that violence will beget more violence. Where the child is subjected to savage beatings that's most likely true, that child will grow up to do the same to his/her children.


While standing in line at the grocery one night, I listened to a guy threaten his ten year old boy with out right physical violence if he didn't stop bugging him. I don't recall specifically what the threat was, but it was entirely inappropriate threat to any person, regardless of age. I saw the boys reaction, and knew the threat was not only real, but was common in his world.

Yeah, that kid's parents aren't sparing the rod in the least with him. And that's going to make him grow up to be a fine, strong man of greater moral character. And chances are really great that twenty years from now, some guy is going to shudder as he flashes back to his childhood while standing in line at the grocery, witnessing this guy's 'parenting skills'.

You guys are making a pretty serious jump from the spanking Kevin spoke of. I'm know Kevin wasn't talking about violence or savage beatings. Easy on the negative, guys.....

[Curt Harms]

You guys are making a pretty serious jump from the spanking Kevin spoke of. I'm know Kevin wasn't talking about violence or savage beatings. Easy on the negative, guys.....

I can differentiate between the two. I suspect everyone on Sawmill Creek can as well. I have less confidence in our "opinion makers" and regulators.

[Mike Cruz]

The last line reminds me of a friend of mine. Instead of saying "goodbye" on the phone or after a get together, her daughter always says, "Run with scissors." :)

[Curt Harms]

A story on Philly TV stations made me think of this thread. A woman was on a bus with a toddler, the bus had a video camera installed. Toddler was being "spirited". Woman gave toddler a swat on the butt, the video didn't look abusive. A fellow passenger told the woman that was child abuse. The woman made a phone call. A few stops later somebody holds the door open and two guys with guns stood outside and opened fire. People saw what was going on and either moved to the front or got down on the floor so nobody was hurt.

Isn't urban culture grand?

[Bonnie Campbell]

The last line reminds me of a friend of mine. Instead of saying "goodbye" on the phone or after a get together, her daughter always says, "Run with scissors." :)

Thanks, I needed that LOL Though now my keyboard needs a bath :rolleyes:

[David Keller NC]

What is most telling about this thread is not the original post, but many of the replies. As someone that evaluates risk for a part of my livelihood, I can say with certainty that our society in general has a poor understanding of risk, and the appropriate responses to it.

What I see over and over again in the news, the courtroom and the legislature is incorrect evaluation of danger and enactment of rules/codes and laws based on that incorrect evaluation.

To wit: Children die. All the time. And it is the worst experience that anyone will ever go through in life, all one has to do is ask any parent. When that death is an accident, then in many cases rules are imposed in response to that one incident or a small handful of incidents.

Yet, there are substantial costs to bear for many of these rules and regulations, and instead of balancing these costs versus the perceived benefit on a population statistic basis, only the potential safety outcomes are considered. And anyone that would vote against it are ridiculed as somehow being insensitive, rogue-ish, or callous.

Because of this skewed evaluation and response to risk, we wind up with such things as "zero tolerance policies" at schools that suspend/expel students for bringing anything that can be perceived as a weapon. There have been multiple instances that I personally know of that involved plastic knives included in a lunch bag that was intended to cut up a piece of fruit, and another that involved a small metal bottle opener. There is no doubt that on a scientific basis, one can argue that these two items could certainly be used to injure someone, but a rule put in place simply because it's possible is highly inappropriate, and puts tableware on the same footing as a loaded handgun.

There are examples all over our current society of this same flawed thinking, and I think that was the OP's point - our ability to evaluate and appropriately respond to risk in our modern, hyper-communicative world has been severely compromised. Many perceive these strictures to be "common sense", except that our stone-age brains aren't actually capable of evaluation of the big picture - only what is right in front of us in the news media.

[Jim Koepke]

The younger generations have been going to the dogs since before written history.

Times change. How many of us could go back to when our parents were kids and survive? It would be easier for some than others. The older your folks at the time of your birth, likely the harder it would be.

How many of us could survive in the world of 1900?

What about 1800?

How many would have a fit the first time they wanted to take a hot shower?

jtk

[Mike Sheppard]

I was born in 1937. What it is the young today have different values than me, I don't think that they are worse or better just different. What gets me is how smart they seem to be.
When I went in the USMC it was to get it over so I could get on with my life, today they only go if they volunteer.
Mike

[Bryan Morgan]

I was born in 1937. What it is the young today have different values than me, I don't think that they are worse or better just different. What gets me is how smart they seem to be.
When I went in the USMC it was to get it over so I could get on with my life, today they only go if they volunteer.
Mike

"Seem" being the important word there... While they might be wizardly at posting on facebook or texting their buddies, very few seem to be able to do anything related to the real world... Hunting, changing oil, growing plants, fixing plumbing, etc...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I will remind everyone that professional and personal attacks are not allowed at SMC per the TOSs.

Political comments aren't allowed either. Please refrain from same and keep it friendly.

[John Hemenway]

I will remind everyone that professional and personal attacks are not allowed at SMC per the TOSs.

Political comments aren't allowed either. Please refrain from same and keep it friendly.

Attempting to stay on the straight and narrow...


Every once and a while I stumble on a quote that boils down to, "My generation is/was great, the younger generation sucks." Seems like every generation has written this since we, as humans, learned to write!

I think the only difference now is we hear about all the screw-ups because we have such good communication systems.

[Jon Knauft]

My biggest concern with the current generation is that they will be the first to live shorter lives then their parents. If they only would eat more Twinkies and Fruit Loops like I did they would be preserved better. Of course as someone has said in a previous post its that no one is outside anymore. All week we've been in the 70's and during our nightly walks we've only passed one other couple outside. Sad!