Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
                           lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on
                           medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we
                           rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to
                           mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)

                           As children, we would ride in cars with no seat
                           belts or air bags.  Even slept in the back window!

                           Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm
                           day was always a special treat.

                           We drank water from the garden hose and not from
                           a bottle. Horrors! We shared one soft drink with
                           four friends, from one bottle, and no one
                           actually died from this.

                           We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda
                           pop with sugar in it, but we were never
                           overweight because we were always outside
                           playing.

                           We would leave home in the morning and play all
                           day, as long as we were back when the street
                           lights came on. No one was able to reach us all
                           day. No cell phones. Unthinkable.
                           For those of us raised on the farm, we walked the
                           high beams in the barn.  Played in the creek half a
                           mile from our house, rode our bikes everywhere.
                           And yes, we had lots of chores to do.  Helped dress
                           chickens and put up the vegetables we helped pick.

                           We would spend hours building our go-carts out of
                           scraps and then rode 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, Nintendo 64,
                           X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on
                           cable, video tape movies, surround sound,
                           personal cell phones, personal computers, or
                           Internet chat rooms.

                           We had friends! We went outside and found them.

                           We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and
                           teeth,and there were no lawsuits from these
                           accidents.

                           We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and
                           ate worms, and although we were told it would
                           happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor
                           did the worms live inside us forever.

                           We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.

                           The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a
                           law was unheard of. They actually sided with the
                           law. Imagine that!

                           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. Please pass this on to others
                           who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before
                           lawyers and government regulated our lives, for
                           our own good. 

                           Kind of makes you want to run through the house
                           with scissor?