FOR THOSE BORN BEFORE 1986 According to
today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were
kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have
survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly
coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and
licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or
latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to > play with
pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just
flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As
children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags
- riding in the passenger seat was a treat. We drank
water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted
the same. We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and
drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never
overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can
and no-one actually died from this. We would spend
hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top
speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to
solve the problem. We would leave home in the
morning and could play all day, as long as we were back
before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one
minded. We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no
video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape
movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal
computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms. We had
friends - we went outside and found them. We played
elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt!
We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were
no law suits. We had full on fist fights but no
prosecution followed from other parents. We played
chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the
owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes.
We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't
rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was
just round the corner. We made up games with sticks and
tennis balls. We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our
coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us
out if we broke a law was unheard of...They actually sided
with the law. This generation has produced some of the
best risk-takers and 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. And
you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this on to
others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before
lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own
good. For those of you who aren't old enough, thought
you might like to read about us. This my friends, is
surprisingly frightening......and it might put a smile on your
face: The majority of students in universities today were
born in 1986........They are called youth. They have
never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and the
Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They
have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry
or Belinda Carlisle. For them, there has always been only
one Germany and one Vietnam. AIDS has existed since
they were born. CD's have existed since they were > born.
> Michael Jackson has always been white. To them John
Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't
imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance. They
believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films
from last year. They can never imagine life before
computers. They'll never have pretended to be the A
Team, RedHand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll
never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You. >
They can't believe a black and white television ever existed.
And they will never understand how we could leave the
house without a mobile phone. Now let's check if
we're getting old... 1. You understand what was written
above and you smile. 2. You need to sleep more, usually
until the afternoon, after a night out. 3. Your friends
are getting married/already married. 4. You are always
surprised to see small children playing comfortably > with
computers. 5. When you see teenagers with mobile
phones, you shake your head. 6. You remember watching
Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time around. 7. You
meet your friends from time to time, talking about the Good
old days, repeating again all the funny things you have
experienced together. 8. Having read this mail, you are
thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you
think they will like it too... Yes, you're getting old!!

Its spot on if you ask me!!



I got this from a U.K. friend I play Delta Force Extreme online with.