According to today's environmentalists, politicians and whiney neighbors, those of us who were kids in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived. Here's why.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, ... and we rode our bikes without helmets.

We commonly hitchhiked. And people stopped to give us lifts.

We rode in cars with no seatbelts or air bags. 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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, all moderately, and we were not overweight because we were always outside playing. We often fell asleep reading a book and did not have the flickering light from a computer screen and Internet to beckon us 24/7.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, 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. Children did not have cell phones. Come to think of it, very few adults did either. 

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 played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We learned to dodge.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. A good fight produced more great friends than anything.

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. Those who did got bragging rights. We learned something about real life.

Some students weren't as smart as others or did not work as hard as they needed, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Humbling but effective.

Test results were not adjusted for any reason, and curves only began in college.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. We learned responsibility with accountability.

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

We learned that smoking was bad for us, and the smart ones stopped smoking, hopefully in time.

We learned that sex had become lethal, and we adopted new safe sex rituals.

We invented and re-invented and revived and relive Rock ‘n Roll. We needed to dance and sing with religious fervor.

We learned that people really are created equal, and we accept mixing races and deplore bigotry and racism, but we still have a lot to learn about each others’ cultures and beliefs.

We know we are not perfect.

We have learned that until we act to pressure government into action, fraudulent greed goes unpunished and power mongers rule…however temporarily.

We are blessed to be the fruit of new hope that our parents worked and fought for. Freedom has its price for every generation, and its reward. We are our parents’ reward.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The geeks showed us the way sometimes; band members became our musicians; jocks either developed a second skill or faded. And…we almost learned that making war has unforeseen consequences that counter everything we hoped to accomplish. Maybe someday we’ll learn that too.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, accountability and we learned how to deal with it all. If you're one of us, congratulations!

Mahatma Ghandi said “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” So much more.

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers, government and litigious neighbors take the rest of what’s natural from our lives.