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у этого текста есть своя история. не оченьь красивая, не очень чистая. в 1999 году впервые этот текст появился в таком виде:


Bar Journal
1999

Those Were the Days!

By O. Max Gardner III

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were Kids in the 40's and 50's probably shouldn't have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids or locks 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.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from a garden hose and not from a bottle. 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 shared one soft drink with four friends and no one actually died from this.

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 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 one ever heard of a cell phone. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 199 channels on cable, Video taped movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, and got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. No one was to blame but us.

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. No guns, knives or bats. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any 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 the disappointment. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of parents bailing us out if we got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of. Parents actually sided with the school or the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever. We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility---and we learned how to deal with it.



а 11 декабря 2003 году некий Арсений Белов, незначительно изменив, напечатал его в N 27 журнала "Строительные Вести Белогорья" и подписал его своим именем.