How Life has Changed ... Unfortunately

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

... So I suppose I will always be a conservationist with progressive ideas like...don't pollute, conserve energy and so on...sail on!

Nothing wrong with that, I have the same philosophy regarding pollution. Can't stand seeing people toss out cigarettes and other trash from their cars or simply flicking a cigarette butt on the ground. Oh well, at least 2nd hand smoke has reduced somewhat over the last few decades, except if you're in Europe, it seems it will take a few lifetimes for them to come round.

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

I can remember, when I first learned how to ride my bike and the freedom I felt after taking off the training wheels, there were a few fits & starts and skinned knees until I got the hang of it, and then there was no looking back, I went everywhere. Then the chain broke, and we didn't have a repair link, I pushed the bike way up a steep hill and then coasted down it, I was going pretty fast and decided I should stop by my house, of course with no chain, no brakes, I wiped out in the street. The Postman pick me and the bike up out of the street bleeding from a good dose of road rash and handed me off to Mom, the next day I had a repair link for the chain, I suspect my father got an earful.
As far as the rest goes, my parents both climbed out of abject poverty of the 30s, and there was no government bail out for them, other than boot strap pulling and honest to God struggling. And yes, I do know what real poverty looks like, I see it every day where I work. I am eternally grateful for all the blessings that I have received.

You reminded me of a number of childhood things, not least of which was road rash and near death experiences (honestly) from bicycles and home made go-karts with ball bearing wheels and pieces of plank that we screwed old skate boot wheels to. Man, did we have fun nearly being killed.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Bluewaters2812

Lol, no, I doubt I was the author of whatever you are referring to. I was merely experienced with getting on with life as a kid. I am sure as hell not going to listen to some liberal pc correct government trying to tell me when and how I should do things as a rule (and I'm not referring to sensible laws that the average common sense law abiding citizen will adhere to). Oh boy, now I have opened the liberal's floodgates. Where's my popcorn

What a load of horseshit.

I grew up in the 60's, no seat belts, my mother driving 40 up the road with us kids sitting on the tailgate dangling our legs out the back. Life was good back then but I was a kid, so what did I know. I do know that I did not see a firefly before I was 18 and went to college because of PCBs. I grew up right on the water on Long Island Sound and never saw an Osprey and could not fish for stripers (legally) because they were fished out. I know if you went to a public park it was covered with litter, and that if you went to the city you blew black stuff out of your nose for two days afterwards. African Americans were second class citizens, women, if they worked at all, earned pennies compared to men, and crime was through the roof due to...oh never mind.

Thank God that we can than conservatives for solving all those problems. Actually, we have Nixon to thank for the EPA, the Clean Water Act, etc....but of course, he was not a true conservative so let's just unwind the whole shebang, even though the benefits of all that are staring us in the face every day.

Just out of curiosity, where do you draw line regarding "sensible"? Is that an idealogical line in the sand, that has some rational defensible substance to it, or is it just "Bluewater's Little Book of Common Sense"?

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by Suijin

What a load of horseshit.

I grew up in the 60's, no seat belts, my mother driving 40 up the road with us kids sitting on the tailgate dangling our legs out the back. Life was good back then but I was a kid, so what did I know. I do know that I did not see a firefly before I was 18 and went to college because of PCBs. I grew up right on the water on Long Island Sound and never saw an Osprey and could not fish for stripers (legally) because they were fished out. I know if you went to a public park it was covered with litter, and that if you went to the city you blew black stuff out of your nose for two days afterwards. African Americans were second class citizens, women, if they worked at all, earned pennies compared to men, and crime was through the roof due to...oh never mind.

Thank God that we can than conservatives for solving all those problems. Actually, we have Nixon to thank for the EPA, the Clean Water Act, etc....but of course, he was not a true conservative so let's just unwind the whole shebang, even though the benefits of all that are staring us in the face every day.

Just out of curiosity, where do you draw line regarding "sensible"? Is that an idealogical line in the sand, that has some rational defensible substance to it, or is it just "Bluewater's Little Book of Common Sense"?

Rant on all you like, it falls on deaf ears. If you don't recognise common sense or need a "definition" of it then you are beyond help. Just make sure you keep your nappy on.

[endoftheroad]

That didn't take long.

[Bluewaters2812]

Originally Posted by endoftheroad

That didn't take long.

Nope.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Suijin

What a load of horseshit.

I grew up in the 60's, no seat belts, my mother driving 40 up the road with us kids sitting on the tailgate dangling our legs out the back. Life was good back then but I was a kid, so what did I know. I do know that I did not see a firefly before I was 18 and went to college because of PCBs. I grew up right on the water on Long Island Sound and never saw an Osprey and could not fish for stripers (legally) because they were fished out. I know if you went to a public park it was covered with litter, and that if you went to the city you blew black stuff out of your nose for two days afterwards. African Americans were second class citizens, women, if they worked at all, earned pennies compared to men, and crime was through the roof due to...oh never mind.

Thank God that we can than conservatives for solving all those problems. Actually, we have Nixon to thank for the EPA, the Clean Water Act, etc....but of course, he was not a true conservative so let's just unwind the whole shebang, even though the benefits of all that are staring us in the face every day.

Just out of curiosity, where do you draw line regarding "sensible"? Is that an idealogical line in the sand, that has some rational defensible substance to it, or is it just "Bluewater's Little Book of Common Sense"?

Just don't suggest to Bluewater that he needs an EPIRB for bluewater passages.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Bluewaters2812

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and Early 80's !!!

First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

etc ...

Actually -- my father put seatbelts in our car (front and back seats) in the early sixties. They were mandated by 1968. I remember the car salesman bitching and moaning when I was buying my first car as a young adult about government interference and unnecessarily raising the cost of the car. Told him i'd used them for years, didn't mind them at all and felt safet ... he really didn't know what to say.

I had my children in the 70's and 80's. We knew about the dangers of both alcohol while drinking and lead paint. Both those children weren't allowed to go near their bikes without a helmet. A helmet saved the neighbor's child one day. My husband's cousin, who was his best friend, wasn't so lucky, and died from a head injury after being hit by a car -- when he was 8.

But my girls weren't spoiled and have worked extremely hard for their true accomplishments. Both their jobs are unique enough that I can't say wihat they are without "outing" thim on the internet, but both jobs involve interntional travel, and between the two of them they have three advanced degrees.

Commonsense safety things (such as no lead paint on the crib, and helmets, and seatbelts) have saved thousands and thousands of children. On the other hand, I have taught students who had brain damage from lead exposure. You can't imagine the struggles those children faced.

Sorry, but off my soap box. Whether that list of "intrusions" is funny or not may depend on one's life experiences ...

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Bluewaters2812

Partly accurate, but those are different issues altogether. Abject poverty is rife today, perhaps even worse in some places. Given the choice, I prefer not being nannied. I certainly don't want any government to try and put a diaper/nappy on me every time I wanted to do something they consider slightly risky. They can't even look after themselves other than to pay themselves fatcat salaries.

But the things you listed weren't "slightly risky." I taught with a woman whose identical twin sister died of diphtheria because she had it before the vaccine was discovered.

My three cousins spent a total of five years all together in the hospital desperately sick with rheumatic fever because they got strep throat but pennicillin wasn't available to the general public yet, it being saved for wounded veterans of WWII.

I'm old enough to know that those things weren't "nannying" -- they were vital safety precautions.

Thousands and thousands of people walk away from auto accidents that killed people fifty years ago. It's amazing. You'll see a car that rolled three times and no one was seriously hurt -- and the baby, in its properly placed and used baby seat, doesn't have a scratch and just wonders why he's suddenly upside down.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Bluewaters2812

Staying alive is an adrenaline rush for most. How I loved my youth, despite the rough childhood without parents. Life was exciting. Glad I'm not a modern day kid.

My children had all the "restrictions" you describe and had GREAT childhoods. Putting a helmet on your head does not ruin the bike riding experience unless one chooses to piss and moan about the helmet.

[jeanathon]

Well I was going to say how good it is to see people of different political bents finding common ground in the good old days, but sanji and raku beat me to it.
Oh well. Rock on you silly diamond!

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by jeanathon

Well I was going to say how good it is to see people of different political bents finding common ground in the good old days, but sanji and raku beat me to it.
Oh well. Rock on you silly diamond!

Oh, don't get me wrong -- I really DID grow up with the freedoms Blue was talking about. But there was a terrible accident inovolving members of DeMolay when I was in high school. My boyfriend belonged and knew the young men involved. They were riding in the back of a pickup truck with their legs dangling over the tailgate when the truck broke down. Some of the boys jumped out to push the truck. It was struck from behind by another vehicle (probably the pushers blocked the taillights) and were terribly injured. At least one boy lost both legs.

So while that rear headlight over the trunk may seem like "overkill" and "Nannyism," it's there for a reason.

Did you know that lead paint chips taste sweet to young children?

[svmariane]

Oh yes... Those wondrous days of childhood!

Hey, anybody else remember that lovely summer of 68? Ah... The grown-ups gathering and chattering out at the dacha, we kids doing kid things you can't do in the city. No running water, of course, but veggies enough and that weekend hunk of lamb! "Twas fine. Remember how the adults always played Mozart recordings so loudly on phono? They said it had to be loud - something about microphones....

Anyway - it was a great summer in Prague! Well, until August when the Soviet tanks rolled in... Then things weren't so fun anymore.

But things worked out okay! Dad got some paperwork and the whole family moved to the USA. Refugees, I heard us called. We remaining "White Russians" being unwanted back "home" or elsewhere in eastern Europe. Could have been worse, I suppose - Dad could have got papers for France. (Snails with Vodka? Shudder....) Anyway, I learned that we Russians were acceptable - mostly... well, those of us who emigrated. Those other guys were just plain unreasonable.

And jobs?!? Heck yeah! Couple of years later the US Marines took me in no question. All the food I could eat, training in electronics, yadda yadda. Made a career out of that. Got my citizenship papers and a US passport.(Well, there was this little fracas in The Nam - but citizenship costs.) Anyway... Now look at me! Retired, got a boat, got me a lovely German wife.

(sigh) But those days of yor' as a child... Sure miss that home-made slivovitz we would sneak from the table.

[Celestialsailor]

crap...you remember the 60's???...lol

[bobconnie]

I was born in the 30s, bought my first sailing boat in 1957, a clinker bilt folkboat. It had an engine! a long shaft sea gull LOL So I guess some of 30s folks don't fit the genral rules! And ya know I did not have to ask anyone to sail off to hawyee!! and I asked no one when I left for the PNW! and I sure did not ck in when I got to Seattle ! Yeppers things have changed a bit over the years !! and not for the better at least by my standards