When I was 14, my uncle bought me a 1967 Chevrolet Pick-Up (that’s what we called trucks in MS).  It had no seat belts, bad brakes, a metal dash board and a wobbly suspension. It had no airbags, no emission controls, ran on leaded gas and had a custom air conditioner (of the roll down the window variety).  I drove it everywhere (you could get your permit at 14, which was as good as a license back then).  And no one thought anything about it.  But times change. 

I have watched with interest the intergenerational squabble unfold between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien over who will host The Tonight Show.  It is clear that NBC should not have messed with a good thing.  If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it.  But they tried something new, it did not work, and now it has turned into quite a melodrama.   

My mother-in-law sent me the following piece recently.  I resonated with it because I resemble it. 

 To Those Born 1920-1979~~~From Jay 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-based paints. 

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 infants &children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up 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 and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren’t 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 streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride 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’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or 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 .

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

How any of us over the age of thirty survived is beyond me.  How anyone under the age of thirty will survive also causes me to wonder.  This piece reminded me that age, experience and the social context in which we were born shape us in ways we don’t always realize – how we view the world, how we live our lives and how we express our faith. 

It’s a whole new world and we must find our place and way in it… in spite of the risks.