How Did We Survive?

I've asked myself many times HOW DID WE SURVIVE? Looking back, it's

hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.

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 had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and

when we rode our bikes we had no helmets.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Sometimes

we drank from the same bucket of untreated well water using the community

dipper.

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 streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

Many of us had to be home and ready to eat at mealtimes or mom would get mad.

And we didn't necessarily have streetlights.

We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda, but we were

never over weight; we were always outside playing. Some of us had to work in

the fields, and there were chores to be done.

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 or didn't work hard so they

failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.

That generation produced some of the greatest risk-takers and problem

solvers. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we

learned how to deal with it all.