In the UK in July two girls were tragically killed by a sick guy and there deaths are still all over our media here.
It was a terrible thing and all I can feel is sadness and love for all the victims of this sad event.
I think there have always been sick murderers and perverts (the Hindleys the Yorkshire ripper etc) but now we here about it 24/7 on all media this creates such fear in the general public.
This fear prevents kids from playing out as we did because parents are so scared of what the media presents might happen to them.
Yes these vile horrible events happen but not as often as were led to believe.
My friend sent me this email (see below) a while back and it made me think all the things I have stopped my own kids from doing and if I have done the right thing
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because... Our baby cots were covered with brightly
Coloured lead-based paint, which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels. (I think you will find they were known as spokey dokeys)
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles 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 before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.
No 199 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, and no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends -we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really
Hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there
Were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same
thing again.
We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue we learned to get over it.
We walked to friend's homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
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.
Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real
Kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
For those of you who aren't old enough thought you might like to read about us.
This my friends, is surprisingly frightening...... and it might
Put a smile on your face.
The majority of students in universities today were born in
1983........ They are called youth. They have never heard of we are the World, We are the children, and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel.
They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena or Belinda
Carlisle.
For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.
AIDS has existed since they were born.
CD's have existed since they were born.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.
They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are just new films out last year.
They think that N-Trance "set you free" is an Old Skool song.
They can never imagine life before computers.
They've never heard of Pac-Man or Space Invaders or BBC computers that have Bat n Ball games. They'll never have thought Jazz was the sexiest aftershave ever.
They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix it or Why Don't You.
They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control. And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.
Now let's check if we're getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile. 2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out. 3. Your friends are getting married. 4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers. 5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head. 6. You've developed more and more feelings about your work. It's now your life. 7. You spend less and less time talking on phone with your friends daily. 8. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again and again all funny stories you have experienced together. 9. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too... Yes, you're getting older!!!!
This message was edited by bob griffiths on 12/20/03 21:10.
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