# Letter to today's youth



## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

This email was sent to me. Thought it was pretty good.

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning, uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay  a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it! 

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look round and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!! There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents! 

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screwed it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone, cause that's how we rolled, dig? 

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Play Station or WII video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that! 
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. 
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in the 80's or before !

Regards, 
The over 30 Crowd


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## unpecador (May 9, 2008)

:smt023


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## JackCrow (Mar 10, 2009)

Testify brother!


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

> Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screwed it all up!


Oh! That used to piss me off!:smt076 Even worse when they didn't talk at the beginning but at the end during the last 30-45 seconds...

My kids asked me (when they were younger) if I played in the Playland at McDonald's when I was a kid....Playland? There was no playland... I was lucky even to get to go to McDonald's...


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## Spartan (Jan 1, 2007)

Haha, from a 26 year old I can relate to some of these but not all. Though I still play video games (playing Mario Bros and never getting a save or continue) and watch cartoons (I remember waking up at 8:00am on a Saturday... A SATURDAY to watch Inspector Gadget... now it's Simpsons and Family Guy) so I ain't complaining. :mrgreen:


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## JeffWard (Aug 24, 2007)

I'm 38.

I've never worn a bike helmet.
I drank thousands of gallons of water from hoses and streams.
I chewed on pencils... with real lead in them, and lead based paint on the outside.
We actually played stickball for recreation, not X-Box. And got EXERCISE! And got HURT! But we healed...
My parents were GLAD they didn't know where we were until dinner time. And I got home un-raped, every night.
There were 6 channels on my TV, including UHF... Didn't have MTV til college.
MTV actually played MUSIC VIDEOS???
I drank 1/2 a gallon of WHOLE milk a day, and never got fat.
When my bike broke, I fixed it, with wood and nails, and rode it for another year!


I could go on...

The kids today don't have it easy... They're just overly protected, coddled, and scared sh__less by their parents and the media... They're just puss__ied.

And now... they've grow up and elected a President promising to protect them and take care of them too... Just like Mom... since Dad wasn't there, and they don't know what a man looks like. I'll quit now.

JW


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

So you think you had it tough Todd.

Try living before TV, Tape Recorders, Electricity, Telephone and running water. I didn't have any of that in the early years.

We had such lousy childhoods that we invented most of the things you kids enjoy now.

TOF


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## Pistolero (Mar 6, 2009)

I ate paste! I got to play on the cool DANGEROUS playground equipment they had before Lawyers took over the earth!!!

Wow -I easily digress....


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## banjar (Dec 11, 2008)

My how good it was with a 8 track tape deck. I had a 59 Ford with a 45 RPM record changer that played thru the radio. I bought the records from the man who put music on the juke boxes in the local drive in for 25 cent each and gas at 29 cent a gallon. Got to the movies on Saturday cost was 15 cent and 10 cent for a drink and popcorn. Man I miss those days.


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## DevilsJohnson (Oct 21, 2007)

I remember a door to door salesman coming to my house to talk to my Mom. He was selling something that was totally not heard of by any of us. It was the best thing ever! Cassette Tapes and a recorder that you could record music and family events. I was in 1st grade watching a movie of the moon landing on a TV that took so long to warm up that you could go to the rest room before the picture tube warmed up. And it was Black and White. The movie ended up melting down in a way that kids have probably never seen before but I'm sure many here have seen.

We got about 8-10 channels on TV and these went off the air playing the National Anthem. then that funky test pattern or just snow. Cartoons were on Saturday and were pretty much done by noon. You had to get up early and they where done in time to get your chores done and you headed outside until dinner time. If you were in the house you were sick or being punished. No grown up knew where their kids were and no one was afraid. We walked a few miles to pick up pop bottled for the 2 cent deposit to buy candy or play pinball. It wasn't all uphill both ways, that was what our parents had to do. We had it easy. :smt082


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

JackCrow said:


> Testify brother!





TOF said:


> So you think you had it tough Todd.


Forgot to add, that this was just an email that was sent to me. I am not the author. Original post edited.


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## firefighterwall (Mar 1, 2009)

That email forgot to mention PITFALL and JOUST! YEAH BABY.


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

Todd said:


> Forgot to add, that this was just an email that was sent to me. I am not the author. Original post edited.


After due consideration I will forgive you that significant error. :mrgreen:

Being raised in the outskirts of Phoenix Arizona without air conditioning we found the best place to entertain ourselves when not in school was playing in irrigation ditches under a big Cottonwood tree. The primary music back then was bird songs. Once old enough we would collect coke bottles from the ditches or road side, sell them for the $.02 per bottle deposit then walk to town, 6 miles, and goto a movie for $.10. The theater was air conditioned.


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

What's up with the white font color code? It wasn't like that before you edited.



> *This email was sent to me. Thought it was pretty good.
> *


*








*


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## Tuefelhunden (Nov 20, 2006)

Ahhh the 80's. The good old days. Seems like it was yesterday until you talk to a 20 somthing and then reality hits. The bike helmet references really got me laughing.

I lost count of how many times we built a home made bike ramp in front of the house on the asphault and I landed on the street or in a deep culvert next to the road with my 40 pound Huffy Dirt bike on top of or wrapped around me due to a bad launch or landing. Or when we got older a game of full contact football without any pads was in order. Still can recall to memory and almost feel a few of those hits both given and received. Sure it would probably kill me now but it was just good clean fun back then. Shake it off and rub some dirt on it and you'll be alright. The only reason my generation didn't try jumping off of two story roofs with a home made set of wings to see if we could fly or not is because our fathers and grand fathers had already tried that and reported with conviction that it didn't work. Strangely trying the same stunt out of the top of an apple tree netted the same results. Gavity can be such a buzz kill.

Today's generations must wonder how on earth we survived. I say they were important scientific experiments we were conducting and had to be done. I'm 41 and a proud 80's kid with the scars to prove it.


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## Todd (Jul 3, 2006)

bruce333 said:


> What's up with the white font color code? It wasn't like that before you edited.


Apparently I went stealth for you white background guys. It was weird from the start when I pasted it in. I think it's fixed now. Let me know.


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

Nope. I've had weird things happen when copying from emails.

I fixed it.


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## zhurdan (Mar 21, 2008)

bruce333 said:


> I've had weird things happen when *copying* from emails.
> 
> I fixed it.


Darn "copy and paste"-ers!!! hehe just kidding!

Zhur


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

zhurdan said:


> Darn "copy and paste"-ers!!! hehe just kidding!
> 
> Zhur


Speaking of copy and paste.

I remember my Sisters working on papers for school. Typing it up on a manual typewriter, cutting it apart with scissors and taping it back together. Then retyping it...

Much easier now...

Carbon paper...ugh!


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## jc27310 (Dec 14, 2008)

*was it mint flavored?*



Pistolero said:


> I ate paste!


so did I!!!!


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## bruce333 (Sep 1, 2006)

[yt]



[/yt]


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## kev74 (Mar 22, 2008)

bruce333 said:


> [yt]
> 
> 
> 
> [/yt]


This man speaks the truth! :smt023


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## rccola712 (Aug 26, 2008)

i think louis ck is right on as well. there is also another commedian, i believe his name is brad stein who talks about similar things, for instance, he talks about cars and how many saftey features there are, and how he used to play on the dashboard of his fathers truck w/o even a seatbelt at like 3 years old, and how everyone would freak out now, but he turned out fine. he also talks about how dashboards used to be made out of metal, therefore in car wrecks, the bad drivers were weeded out, leaving more room for the good drivers.

its pretty sad when a 20 year old agrees that the life he grew up in is way overprotected, and its gotten much much worse, even than when i was a kid. sad days.


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## niadhf (Jan 20, 2008)

mimeograph machines.......
party lines.
6-8 channels? i had 3, on a good day with no clouds.
i found out the wizard of oz was in COLOR in college, and i thought it was a remake colorization.
Do you know that a 1975 Polaris Colt 340 will travel on water. deep water... right up until you run out of gas. try that with a sled nowadasy with SHOCKS.
Now on to a subject near and dear to us.

GUNS (and other such tools\weapons). I knew where the ammo was, where the keys were, and that i didnt have to worry about the cops, I had to worry about getting my arse whupped if i messed with them. in any way. period. life could be shortened. 

no more to be said. 

and for those 20 years my senior....i have heard it all for 30 years. now its my turn.
:anim_lol:


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## kg333 (May 19, 2008)

I realize this was posted a couple weeks ago now, but I just saw it and couldn't let it pass.



JeffWard said:


> I'm 38.
> 
> The kids today don't have it easy... They're just overly protected, coddled, and scared sh__less by their parents and the media... They're just puss__ied.
> 
> And now... they've grow up and elected a President promising to protect them and take care of them too... Just like Mom... since Dad wasn't there, and they don't know what a man looks like. I'll quit now.


I'm 18. My parents taught me to do what was right, not was easy. They taught me to give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. They taught me to fear God, respect my neighbor, and love my country, even when people hate you for it.

They did something no amount of complaining about "how the kids today are" will do: they did their part to make sure the next generation would be able to continue on and thrive, instead of dying off in a cesspool of welfare and handouts.

Therefore, with all due respect sir: Do your part to help fix the problems you see, instead of complaining about how awful we are. It's not all hopeless.

KG


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## Wandering Man (Jul 9, 2006)

TOF said:


> So you think you had it tough Todd.
> 
> Try living before TV, Tape Recorders, Electricity, Telephone and running water. I didn't have any of that in the early years.
> 
> ...


:smt023

Man I feel old!

I think I'll go drink my Geritol and TODDle off to bed now. :drinkers:

WM


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## clanger (Jan 27, 2009)

Hard times? 

We were so poor, pop once give me a hunk of 2x4, for my birthday, and told me to make anything I wanted. 

Speaking of mimeograph's, remember everyone in the class doing the 'group sniff' when they passed out fresh copies? *sniiiiiiffffff! ahhhhhhhhhhh* 

I ran with scissors, too. The real metal kind with pointy ends. Such a rebel. 

People nowadays are just plain stupid. No common sense. No where-with-all for the most part. My mom, all 3-foot of her, could jack up our station wagon and change a tire w/o any help. Think she learned that in 'college'? 
Good luck with most men being able to do that today. 
A lot of kids nowadays are just plain dim. Looking at some of them I can't help but feel I'm glad I'll be gone before they take over with a 50 Trillion dollar deficit. 

They also tell us global warming is a choice and the ocean is rising. 
Right. 
I've surfed the same beaches going on 45 years. The mean high-tide line is the same as it ever was on the cliffs etc. and seaside towns around here have yet to go underwater. 

But don't worry- Obammy's gonna fix everything. 

Kool-aid, it's what's Forever. Drink up ya'll.


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