I received the following forwarded e-mail the other day:

 Those of You Born 1930 – 1979

At the end of this e-mail is a quote of the month by Jay Leno… If you don’t read anything else, please read what he said. Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 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 and 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, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-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.

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

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 PlayStations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, 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 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, 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. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it ?

The quote of the month is 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 swine flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?’

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us.. ..Go ahead and delete this.

For the rest of us… pass this on.

A Small Prayer!

God determines who walks into your life… it’s up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.

I need this back. If you’ll do this for me, I’ll do it for you.

When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need. Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.

Father,
God bless my friend in whatever it is that You know they may need this day! And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity, and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.
Amen.

Then send it on to five other people, including the one who sent it to you Within hours you will have caused a multitude of people to pray for other people. Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life.

P. S… Five is good, but more is better.

For what it’s worth, I did not delete this message, but I’ve got some major issues with it.

The note seems to imply that individuals between the ages of 31-80 have managed to survive through their formative years without benefit of generally accepted safety practices, healthy and nutritious diets, proper pre-natal care, and as a result of this negligence are great leaders in new and innovative ideas.  I would argue that those of us who have been fortunate to avoid serious harm have done so not because of these unsafe practices, but in spite of them.  Would this note propose that practices such as the regular use of seat belts, child car seats, and bike helmets have been entirely without benefit and their usage somehow results in children who grow up to be less innovative or responsible adults?  Would anyone argue that today’s children are better served by the archaic safety practices of our parents 30 to 80 years ago?  I hardly think that the children of that time were more brave or lucky than those today; no one as a kid ever said “forget that car seat, Dad, I’m brave enough to not need it!” or “go ahead. Mom. and light up another Lucky – it will make that fetus in your belly a natural born leader when it grows up.”  We are all victims of circumstances in the time we grow up, that is all.   

The note further posits that the blame for the seemingly sad shape of today’s children can be laid at the feet of lawyers and government regulators.  Hmmm, seems to me there have been plenty of lawyers around since I can remember, so how is it they have messed things up now, and not when we were kids?  As for government regulation, I am plenty supportive of laws that create safer environments for kids and adults alike; apparently years ago, the simple use of a seat belt was just not important enough for our parents to use whenever we went for a ride in the car, but it took regulation and enforcement before adults habitually strapped them themselves and their kids in before they took off down the interstate, and I’m pretty sure that traffic fatalities have been reduced significantly since those good old days.  Sure, lead paint chips will lead to permanent brain damage if ingested, but that never happened to anyone we know, so do we really need regulations that help not just us but other people in situations different from our own?

I think this leads to my final issue with the piece: the implication that there is some correlation between the “good old days” and the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a believer, with faith in the promise the Lord has made to us, but I just have a hard time understanding how folks ever survived prior to 1954, which was when the words “under God” had been ADDED to the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Lastly, the “quote of the month” (um, which month, exactly?) is incorrectly stated; he actually said in his September 2005 monologue “As you know Hurricane Rita is headed toward Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Another hurricane!  It’s like the ninth hurricane this season.  Maybe this is not a good time to take God of the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Generally, I truly avoid reading these types of e-mails, and I would never consider forwarding it to anyone, but I do agree with the closing sentiment, that God gives us the tools, and what we do with them is up to us, so I said the little prayer for the sender and filed the note away, until I had been thinking about it again that I needed to get on my soapbox just this once.