According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the
30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
 
 Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
 
 We had  no childproof lids or locks on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and
 when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. Not to mention the risks we
 took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts
 or air bags.
 
 Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special
 treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
 We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it,
 but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We
 shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one
 actually died from this. We would spend hours!! building our go-carts out
 of scraps and then rode 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 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.
 No cell phones. Unthinkable! We did not have Play stations, Nintendo 64,
 X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape
 movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or
 Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went out!side and found them. We
 played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
 
 We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were
 no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame
 but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and punched each other and got
 black and blue and learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks
 and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not
 put out any eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.
 
 Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were
 held back to repeat the same grade.
 
 Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our
 own. Consequences were expected. The idea of parents bailing us out if we
 got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of.
 
 They actually sided with the school or the law. Imagine that! This
 generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and
 inventors, ever. We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility ---
 and we learned how to deal with it.
 
 And you're one of them!
 
 Congratulations!!! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to
 grow up as kids before lawyers and government regulated our lives for our
 own good !!!