When I was Growing Up
My Mom used to cut raw chicken, or cut up a piece of beef on the same cutting board with the same knife then rinse it off then use it to spread mayonnaise and I never remember getting food poisoning.
When I was in Fifth grade I fell on a piece of glass from a fish tank lid I had left laying on my bed. I got a dagger sized piece of glass in my chest next to my heart. My dad carried me into the Doctors office in the town that we lived in. Where the Doctor stitched me up and gave me a shot of penicillin in the butt then sent me home to see him in 2 weeks. I was there all of 30 minutes.
Today it would be an Ambulance ride to the nearest Hospital, X-rays then a Specialist to stitch you up, a Tetanus shot and Antibiotic and hours waiting in the emergency room.
I use to belong to a baseball team. Back then if you got a cut or a scrape on your ankle, from sliding into second base that was bleeding. You would brush yourself off and throw a little dirt on it to keep it from bleeding anymore and keep playing. When you got home you would wash it off, throw some Iodine on it and a band aid. Now they pull you from the game and take you to the emergency room give you an antibiotic because it might get infected and x-ray to see if it is broke.
I remember when my mom would pack me a school lunch it was in a brown paper bag with a sandwich, in a piece of Saran Wrap or Wax Paper, a couple cookie’s and a piece of fruit. We didn’t have to have an Ice pack to keep it cold. No one got sick from that.
We all took Gym class, not Physical Education and risked permanent injury I guess. By climbing up the peg board on the wall or the knotted or unknotted rope with only one little mat on the floor underneath. . I never heard of anybody getting hurt by doing this, but there might have been someone. We played Volley ball and Kickball. There was winners and losers. Now they don't keep score because some poor child might lose. Gee it’s terrible to lose. Might lose my self-esteem. Then they wonder why Children have so many problems about losing a game. We all had a pair of Keds we wore with a pair of white socks and Gym Cloths. We could not wear them to class. Now kids have got to have Athletic Shoes with air cushioned soles and Fancy name on the side that the parents pay Hundreds of dollar for cause it’s what everybody else has. Flunking Gym was never an option. I guess Physical Education is a much harder Course now a day’s.
We must have had horribly damaged psyches. When we got into a dispute with a class mate, we took it outside to the playground or afterschool and settled it. A bloody nose, fat lip or a black and blue eye was a result. Then a few days’ later chances are you were friends or at least got along. Now they call it bullying and it never gets squared away till someone comes back into school with a Gun and shoots up the School. It gets picked up and all over the news so everyone else can see how to get your 3 weeks of talk about it on CNN.
In School we all sang the National Anthem said Prayers, and said the Pledge of Allegiance. If you broke the rules then you had to see the principle and probably get your butt spanked. Then when you got home and Dad found out, you probably got it again. Detention after school or suspended, was not a good thing, there would be all kinds of negative reaction from that, including some in Home detention. Some of the people who you used to hang with not be allowed to hang with you anymore.
Remember school nurses? Ours wore a White Nurses uniform including a White hat. She would take your temperature call your mom and if you only had one car, that dad took to work then you could lay down on the bed and wait till school was let out to go home on the bus. Now the nurse expects to call you on a cell phone and to be there within 30 minutes to take your child home.
I don’t know how we got by without Computers, Cell Phones, X-Box 360, Cable T.V. and I pods. We used to go play football, baseball, the local Swim pool or swimming hole, play catch in the yard or build tree houses in the woods. We were never bored, if I told my mom I was bored she would tell me to go outside or she would find some job for me to do, that I didn’t want to do.
A Bee Sting, a Mosquito Bite, or Poison Ivy? A little Soap and Water, Rubbing Alcohol or a soak in the tub with Epsom salts did wonders. Benadryl and first Aid Kit? Never. Heck I might of died from it. We would sneak down the street where there was a house being built. We thought it was neat. I stepped on a nail from a board and stuck it in my foot. I went home and mom pulled out the old 50 cent bottle of Iodine or Mercurochrome. Now it’s a bottle of Antibiotics and a trip to the hospital to get a shot. Then they are calling their attorney to file a Law suit. For having a board with a Nail in it lying on the floor. Even thou we had to tear of a piece of plywood off a window to get in.
My dad used to take us Fishing up in the Mountains in Northern Pennsylvania for a weekend. We would sleep on the ground and swim in a lake or a stream and cook our fish we caught by a Campfire. Now you can’t do that cause of used needles and E-coli. No one was labeled that they came from a dysfunctional Family. Who needed group Therapy, Prozac, and anger management classes? Now the children are considered as having attention disorders. So give them a pill, it will straighten them out. Got a cough, sniffle or sore throat, give them an Antibiotics. Then we wonder why when we really need antibiotics, they don’t work.
Used to be when you got a phone call you had to answer it to find out who it was and then take a message. Now everybody believe that with one phone call, I am sorry one text message you should be able to get a reply right away. Everybody now has a phone stuck in there ear. Or you see them busy typing some text message back. Whatever it is can’t wait till later. That phone is more important than anything else. You can’t even look at the caller I.D. and know for sure who is calling you. You get called and texted or a photograph of what just happened. Now you don’t have to wait till dinner to discuss it. Then if you have teen age children all that happens the whole time you are eating is the sound of another text message. I personally hate text. They take 30 min to discuss something that could take a minuet or less and at least you get to hear a voice of the person you are talking to and the mood they might be in. Texting is un-personable.
Back when I was young if the lawn mower did not start we took it and got it fixed or fixed it ourselves. Everybody pushed mowed there yard. Now even small yards everybody is sitting on a lawn mower. Then we wonder why no one gets enough exercise. If the car did not start we would get out our handy tools and fix it. Now you are lucky enough if you can fix the brakes. You look under the hood and all that is there is tubes and wires. Now it’s a major operation to change the spark Plugs. You have to tear half the engine out just to see them. If the refrigerator quit working we called the repairman. If something broke we fixed it. Appliances were good for 15 to 20 years. Now throw it away we'll get a new one. This is the throw away and push button generation.
