talltex wrote:
I was born in 1956. As a kid we rode in the back of pickups all the time...sometimes standing up and leaning against the back of the cab until somebody's mom or dad would notice and tell us to sit back down. Nobody really thought much about it. By the time we were in 7th grade, several of my buddies and I would take off on our own on the weekends and spend the nights on the river fishing and hunting...we all had .22 rifles and shotguns by then. I got my first motorcycle when I was in 8th grade, as did several of my friends, and then we expanded our range of adventuring to cover the whole county. Our parents trusted us to be careful (rarely) and use some common sense (even rarer). I really don't know why they did, but our parents trusted us to be careful (rarely) and use a little common sense (even rarer), but somehow we all managed to survive our high risk childhoods with just a few stitches and a cast or two. We did a lot of stupid things, but occasionally we did learn something worthwhile from our mistakes. I treasure having had the freedom to grow up that way, and I wish kids today still had some of those opportunities.
Those were the "good old days". Being allowed to do stupid things and learn from doing them gives you a different perspective on life today.
