Black and White

[augman7518 (imported)]

Black and White

(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,

Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.

Pull a chair up to the TV set,

'Good Night, David.

Good Night, Chet.'

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread Mayo on the same cutting

board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food

poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw

sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown

paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a

pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a

pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE...and risked permanent injury with a pair of high

top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic

shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall

any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much

safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option... Even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be

much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and

staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system

we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed

to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station,

Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah... And where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got

that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant

construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent

bottle of mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like

iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49

bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the

contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such

a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did we got

our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we got

home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on

the front stoop, just before he fell off.

Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.

Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a

neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they

were from a dysfunctional family.

How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.

We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even

notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA. AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR

WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!

Pass this to someone and remember that life's most simple pleasures are

very often the best.

[Slammr (imported)]

Black and White

(Under age 40? You won't understand.)

You could hardly see for all the snow,

Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.

Pull a chair up to the TV set,

'Good Night, David.

Good Night, Chet.'

I was there. 1 snowy channel with more snow than picture. Am I supposed to be nostalgic for that? I'll take 500 channels, DVR, and HDTV anytime.

My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread Mayo on the same cutting

board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food

poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw

sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown

paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

You got it. You just didn't have enough knowledge to know what it was. You either said you ate some bad food or you had a stomach ache, or are you saying you never had a stomach ache as a kid?

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a

pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

Have you forgotten Polio and kids in Iron Lungs? Yes, those were the "Good old days."

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a

pager was the school PA system.

And your point is?

We all took gym, not PE...and risked permanent injury with a pair of high

top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic

shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall

any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much

safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option... Even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be

much harder than gym.

And I remember kids with broken arms, twisted ankles, and blown out knees. You seen to have a very selective memory.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and

staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system

we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed

to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station,

Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

One advantage to not having computers would be not being bombarded with this drivel.

Oh yeah... And where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got

that bee sting? I could have been killed!

I'm sure some kids did die because people weren't aware that bee stings could cause allergic reactions.

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant

construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent

bottle of mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like

iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.

Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49

bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the

contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such

a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either, because if we did we got

our butt spanked there and then we got our butt spanked again when we got

home.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on

the front stoop, just before he fell off.

Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house.

Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a

neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they

were from a dysfunctional family.

How could we possibly have known that?

We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes.

We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even

notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac!

How did we ever survive?

LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA. AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T, SORRY FOR

WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING!

Pass this to someone and remember that life's most simple pleasures are

very often the best.

You had a different kind of mother from mine. My mother never spanked me after I hurt myself.

I remember a bunch of kids that acted up at neighbors and elsewhere. In one place I lived, some older boys decided I was an easy target and picked on me everytime they saw me. Back then, there was little I could do about it: "Boys will be boys."

I had a cousin that died of Leukemia. Perhaps even today he would have died, but back then, he had no chance at all. I also remember that about everyone that got cancer died. Now, many survive it. Polio can be prevented. When's the last time you heard of a case of it? Back then, in those "good old days," it was a real worry for all kids.

I had a friend in high school that was born with a heart valve defect. He died shortly after graduation. If he'd been born now, they could have repaired it.

Yeah, there were some nice things about living then, but it wasn't all peaches and cream. Now, I can get to know people from all over the world. The whole world, all the world's knowledge - through the Internet - is at my fingertips. Then, I was limited to the town library, the local newspaper, and David and Chet.

I have no desire to go back.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Me either, I think the kids today have it made, with everything that is being invented, the info age and all, the only thing I wish they would do today with kids is teach them history and geography. Jay Leno, how many stars on the flag, girl I dont know, the flag wont hold still so I can count them.

River