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Sorry...This is SOOO Way OT, BUT...

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead
Mr. & Mrs Potatohead Posts: 2,037
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Really this is so OT with regard to our forum and all the really great foodie / cooking topics we cover here...
But I really feel the need to share this, because it so hit home with me as an old guy, with a younger daughter and where we are today in our world.

I know, I know: It goes round and round, but if you are a younger person...Give this some thought, you may be surprised....
At the end of this is a “Quote of the Month” by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said. As it is...Very well stated, and thank you Mr. Leno.

To Those of Us Born
1930 – 1970's…… :whistle:
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and even the 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 made with Lard, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank FLAV- OR- 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... All was right!

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were still OKAY.

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 Play stations, 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 would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

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 and REAL guns when we hit 12. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although 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.

What can kids today do besides push buttons..?? I'm a bit worried.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

And now to "The Quote of the Month" by Jay Leno:

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
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Comments

  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    VERY GOOD POINT! :)
  • LDD
    LDD Posts: 1,225
    that was spot on!
    context is important :)
  • Excellent!

    This discussion goes on constantly in our circle.

    People need to understand this.
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    That is so right in so many ways. Thanks for the post.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

  • Rascal
    Rascal Posts: 3,923
    So true! I remember making a bow out of a tree branch and a piece of string.. and the arrow was another branch.
  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    Ha I did all those things. I was raised like that. Amen
  • thechief96
    thechief96 Posts: 1,908
    I was just talking about most of that this last week. I couldn't agree more. Perfect.
    Dave San Jose, CA The Duke of Loney
  • mollyshark
    mollyshark Posts: 1,519
    While I agree with Leno's final statement, I've got to comment on the rest of it. It's not personal. But read this from a different perspective.

    Ya know, I've had this Leno thing sent to me a dozen times and every time it gets me annoyed. This time is no different.

    I'm soooo glad everyone survived being born to mothers who smoked and drank. Except for those who didn't. Who were born with addictions they did not deserve. As premies and birth defects they would fight forever. Kudos to those who didn't.

    To the kids who got Reyes from aspirin. To those who received mental impairments from mercury poisoning. Kudos to those who didn't. Glad you're so proud.

    Congratulations to those who survived SIDS and those who did not suffer brain damage from lead-based paint. Hope you're smug. So sorry to those who didn't quite make the cut.

    To those who smashed their heads open falling off bikes. To those who drank that lovely drain cleaner because it tasted so good. Who knew a 2-year-old couldn't read that label.

    And of course to those who survived that horrific crash when dad was driving that great Sunday afternoon with only a few broken bones instead of a crushed lung or sailing through a window. You played roulette with the devil and won. Good going.

    The cupcakes with lard were yummy. Oh, is that the guy who had the bypass last year?

    C'mon...the good old days weren't THAT good if you were on the other side.

    Kids do a LOT today. Every generation has denigrated the one that came after. I think most kids today are great. I love mine and I love having their friends over. I love listening to their ideas and their thoughts and their perspective. And some of them are gonna be GREAT cooks.



    mShark
  • Beaker
    Beaker Posts: 293
    With out boring everyone with a long winded response I will simply say this. The government should provide security, the framework for healthy honest commerce, then GTF out of the way. Anyone who thinks government is the solution needs to do some reading of history.
    God Bless America.
  •  
    I disagree! It is so easy to sit back and compare what was with what is. I think the younger generations excluded from your post are being sold short. I think that each generation does what they can with what they have. Tom Brokaw labeled our parents generation as the greatest and it was one of the most brilliant marketing ploys of all time. Just try and get one of that generation to disagree with him. We paint ourselves a rosy grandiose image of our lives that is more to appease our own egos than anything else. I think it is natural for every generation to do so. Our parents did what they did because that was what they had to work with, we do what we do because that is what we have and the up coming generations are doing what they can with what they have. If you go into our colleges and universities and take classes with the young people of today you are going to find a great bunch of people, a group of young people to be very proud of regardless of their up bringing. I think the difference between the generations is self generated for some need to make themselves look good. It's what we have to hold onto to separate us from the other generations, some of our individuality. A lot of us in the generation that you have put on a pedestal back in the 60's were looking for and dedicated to social change but when it came down to brass tacks and we discovered what it was like to have a mortgage, doctors/dentist bills for our children, home ownership, maintenance and paying taxes, keeping food on the table and still come out in the end with a few of the nicer things, luxuries to reward our hard work with we did an about face and became our parents. We embraced the establishment that we had been apposed to in order to conform because it was a way of less friction. Conformity was easier then change and we adopted the way of our parents because as imperfect as it may be - it worked for them - it will work for us! It pays the mortgage, pays the doctor/dentist bills for our children, it paints the house and keeps the roof from leaking if we are lucky, it puts food on the table for our families and in the end we might be able to afford a few of the nicer things.
    Yes, there is a difference between the generations but then there is far more that is the same. Our parents generation is no better then their parents generation and in my opinion no better then any other generation. They just happened to be the ones given the title of "greatest." I believe that every generation is unique unto itself to a degree and yet very similar to our parents, after all we can't just throw how we were raised out the window with the bath water, can we. There is no greatest as there is no worst. We are what we are, it's that simple. We take what we are dealt and do what we can with it. That's my 2¢ on it. :)

    As Bob Dylan sang . . .

    Come mothers and fathers
    Throughout the land
    And don’t criticize
    What you can’t understand
    Your sons and your daughters
    Are beyond your command
    Your old road is rapidly agin’
    Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
    For the times they are a-changin’

    mollyshark said . . .
    Kids do a LOT today. Every generation has denigrated the one that came after. I think most kids today are great. I love mine and I love having their friends over. I love listening to their ideas and their thoughts and their perspective. And some of them are gonna be GREAT cooks.

    I agree 100%.

    Have a great weekend,

    Blair


     
  • RGBHV
    RGBHV Posts: 1,318
    Molly: (no disrespect intended)

    I am sympathetic to those that have experienced tragedy throughout history. I am sure that many of us have or will experience some form of loss in our life time. The world is an imperfect place and we need to learn how to deal with disappointment. Hopefully as parents we are prepared and have prepared our children for the enevitable challenges in life.

    My greatest concern is; how far should we go to protect and save people? Should we try to create a world were we are protected from all forms of failure? I wonder what life would be like it we all lived in protective bubbles?

    Michael
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i don't think she was advocating bubbles. i think she was simply saying it's easy to be nostalgic and "skip over the tough bits".

    embellishment is the thing here. of course we are all going to look back on our childhood fondly. ans so that implies "things were better back then". and yet none of us would skip back even further to, say, to grow up as our grandparents dud. "well, i might not have had nintendo, but we did enjoy listening to the radio". and yet ask gramma, she wouldn't have changed it for the world. and so on and so on

    i think we generally see things from one point of view, and can't imagine how anyone else could enjoy/live/work whatever differently than us. that's why the little chain mail message rings a little sappy. it's embellishment for effect. just as that quote from jay leno keeps expanding. he didn't say that exactly, but as the email gets passed on, people occasionally 'improve' what he said.

    to suit their version of things.

    the sentiment is well taken. but it must be taken with a grain of salt.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    plus 1
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Wise One
    Wise One Posts: 2,645
    OK, I'll disagree with your disagreement. We as parents want our kids to have things we did not. Our parents wanted us to have things they did not. As we have done that we have lost sight of one thing - when we try too hard to keep our kids from failing, we sometimes keep them from succeeding.
  • Cpt'n Cook
    Cpt'n Cook Posts: 1,917
    I am sure my brother will get around to sending that to me. It is also too off-topic for this board

    I agree with Gator
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    who says the kids of today won't have their chance to fail? :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    isnt those the generations that spent all of their money, then their kids money, then future generations money through government spending. :whistle:
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • RGBHV
    RGBHV Posts: 1,318
    I didn't think Molly was advocating bubbles either.

    Just because we have the ability to change something doesn't mean that we should. Especially if it requires removing freedoms of the majority to protect the minority.

    In addition to improving and changing things, (which is enevitable) maybe the next generation will evaluate whether change is required before they implement it.

    Michael
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    ???? :huh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • EGGARY
    EGGARY Posts: 1,222
    With all due respect, things didn't get bad until Reagan became President and cutting taxes that started the deficit that we have now. If we want to talk politics then we are in big trouble because this country is so vulcanized already. Remember, Clinton left Bush with a SURPLUS.
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    wasnt blaming a side, its just been a growing trend thru several terms represented by the generations in the original post
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    Yep and we bent bottlecaps over one end of the arrow to make a 'point' ;)
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,671
    all i know, is when you pull the arrow out of your brothers arm you told him not to tell mom ;)
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    And if he was a little brother he knew dayum well he better not! :laugh:
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    we used to take turns 'hiding' in a tree with a 30-pound recurve bow and shooting straight down at each other as the other guy walked by. trying to see who could get closer to the dude's foot. :blink:

    back of the Masciarelli's house. I can only imagine what Mrs. M. woulda done if she looked out while doing dishes and saw that.... :laugh:
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    It's been proven time and time and time again that cutting taxes raises government revenue. There is no debate.

    The problem lies with spending. Every politician likes to spend other people's money. Until they stop spending like drunken sailors on a 72 hour shore leave their respective jurisdictions will run deficits.

    Clinton left with a surplus for one reason and one reason only, the internet/dot.com bubble. It was nothing more than timing - politics had nothing to do with the creation of bursting of that bubble.
  • PhilOsh
    PhilOsh Posts: 84
    Yes, the older I get the better I used to be.
    I agree with Molly and Blair.
    And who's God are we talking about? There's alot more than one of them.
    Phil
  • cookn biker
    cookn biker Posts: 13,407
    Bingo baby! ;)
    Molly
    Colorado Springs
    "Loney Queen"
    "Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it."
    Bill Bradley; American hall of fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
    LBGE, MBGE, SBGE , MiniBGE and a Mini Mini BGE
  • hornhonk
    hornhonk Posts: 3,841
    On behalf of drunken sailors everywhere, I am offended!