San

How did I ever survive?

Friday, 30. October 2009, 05:38:58

* Mercurachrome was put directly on my cuts and scrapes. Sometimes my mom or dad would paint it in the form of a bunny rabbit.

* Our water was fluoridated. ( and I have the strongest teeth because of it)
* We played outside, until after dark, unsupervised. We knew not to talk to strangers, and we knew what would happen if we did.
* I walked to school by myself in grade one. My only companion, a rock to kick. Darn thing made me late a few times.

* I never wore a bike helmet until my third decade. And I never ever wore a helmet in China!
* Regular vaccinations were the norm except for the chicken pox. I had the worst case of chicken pox and still bear the scars.
* We drank water straight from the tap, and quite often from the garden hose! And sometimes it was flavoured with Koolaid...sugar and artificial flavourings! Yum!

* White bread! Peanut butter! Bologna sandwiches! Canned spaghetti and meatballs! Canned chicken! Spam!
* Oh, no seatbelts in the backseat. We were lucky, but I bet quite a few weren't.

Can you think of any more?

hmmI'm so excited!

Comments

Darko # 30. October 2009, 05:54

Yesterday I was talking to one of my friends and he asked me how my grandparents are doing. They are both over 80. We came to conclusion that present generations are weak in a sense of surviving - when my grandparents were young there were no antibiotics and healthy food was their everyday food and it never tasted nice - corn bread has the same taste now as it had 70 years ago. They didn`t have enough clothes during winter and were always a little bit hungry. Therefore, who survived first 10 years of life, became unvincible. My grandma has 10 brothers and sisters when she was born and 8 of them died until the age of 5. One of her older sister died when she had more than 90 years. Another one has turned 90 this year and is in a better condition than my grandma, who is 83.
Back then nature took care so only the strongest survived. Now we have medicine powerful enough to save a baby born after only 6 months - but how resistent it will be in a life? It sounds cruel but is a true.

David Scott Aubrey # 30. October 2009, 06:17

Hmm ... if kids fell off play equipment in the park, nobody's parents considered suing the council ...

I don't know about girls, but guys could play in the dirt and eat their sandwiches after without bothering to wash their hands. Girls probably did, too. I think we all had one of those immune-system thingies ...

I remember eating fried slices of that luncheon meat (they now say this'll give you cancer, but what doesn't?)

Running around without shoes (on purpose - we had 'em, they just went into our bags as soon as we got to school) on a hot parade ground. Thinking you stepped in gum. Turns out it's a blister about ten centimetres across. Oh, well. All the running around without shoes toughened our feet ...

Catching insects in jars (some even poisonous or venemous).

Daring each other to 'choo choo' (scrape your feet quickly) through large meat (dark red) ant nests to stir them up.

Swimming in country dams full of yabbies (small shellfish) and leeches and sandflies and God-knows-what.

Patting strange dogs.

Climbing trees to dizzying heights with no thought as to how to get down (these days you just about need a permit and a rescue party on standby).

That's about it, offhand ...

Darko # 30. October 2009, 06:27

And if you dropped a piece of chocolate to the ground, were you toss it to garbage? No way

And eating fruit directly from a plant, cutting yourself with a pocket knife, drinking a cold water from tap after playing football on a hot day.....

Nicolas Borgsmidt # 30. October 2009, 13:34

God help us all

San # 30. October 2009, 14:56

Oh yeah, I ate apples, cherries etc. directly off the tree without washing them!

I really agree that having a little bit of dirt in your system makes you stronger. Some researchers believe that the increase in allergies such as with peanuts is due to our obsessiveness with cleanliness.

And as Clean says, we're all going to die of something anyway. Enjoy life people!

San # 30. October 2009, 14:59

Darko, many people who died in the 1918 flu pandemic died because there were no antibiotics. So I 'm happy for that discovery. However, antibiotics are really overused, even for minor things. Their effectiveness is down and now we see some resistent strains. Doctors should be more careful about only writing prescriptions for very serious cases.

Andy Wilson # 30. October 2009, 15:41

Mercurochrome...that stuff burns...ouch!

San # 30. October 2009, 15:51

I know! Sure killed the germs though.

Adele # 30. October 2009, 19:10

Agree about antibiotics, and what is even more unacceptable is the fact that these precious medicines are given to livestock to boost growth. Adn they are important, when used wisely. There was a time when a compound fracture would be a death sentence because of infection.

I think that growing up with lots of animals and lots of outdoor play has probably helped me develop a strong immune system (I hardly ever catch anything) but, I don't know. The way we are is down to genetics as well as the local environment.

Sal # 30. October 2009, 19:40

we were captive to our parent's second hand smoke

San # 30. October 2009, 19:45

That was not a positive thing at all.

daxonmacs # 30. October 2009, 21:14

We played football in the rain for hours and didn't catch a cold.
We did cycle crossing, on totally inappropriate bikes, but never got seriously injured.
We hung around in bunkers and military fields, without any serious consequences.

Antibiotics have been overused and have been too easily prescribed, hence nature's reply, MRSA or hospital bacteria as it is called here.
Very troublesome.

San # 31. October 2009, 04:36

Dare, I reread your comment. You have good genetics, maybe you will live to be 100!

It's such a touchy subject regarding infants and illnesses. I think that anyone who has ever known a young child who has gone through a terrible illness will attest that these children are very special. I remember I had a little cousin, second cousin , who had many genetic problems, mostly heart related I think. She even went to the Mayo clinic for surgery. She died very young but I remember her as a little angel, very mature. Maybe the advances in science now give us the chance to know these souls, whereas in the past they would not have lived.

But maybe that is not a bad thing. To die. My belief is that souls are reborn in other forms. So, maybe she would've come back as something stronger, maybe an elephant, a dolphin, a world leader. All I know is that she had a good energy, and I really don't believe that kind of energy dies, it must be transfered somehow.

Anyway, I really think that we are all creating too much bad energy by worrying so much about stuff. We worry about what we eat, drink, how much we work, our relationships, exercise...and we forget how to live. And that of course we all die anyway.

Enjoy life people!

San # 31. October 2009, 04:38

Clean! I'm really surprised you're still alive! Doesn't Australia have most of the poisonous living things in the world?

daxonmacs # 31. October 2009, 09:37

Originally posted by sanshan:

very mature

I often noticed this maturity with lethally ill young people.
They also had a sort of acceptance, that older people often lack or lacked.
Still, it is kind of unnatural to lose a child.
I guess for that reason alone it is shocking enough.
Also, it is often seen as a "punishment" ( those terrible diseases) and it's just hard to imagine any child having done something so wrong to deserve such a fate. It's a matter of perception, I think, I don't see it as a punishment, nor as a "gift", just like an illness or disease.
I, too, don't think our energy stops after our ticker has.
Whether we come back here or go to someplace else, another level or dimension, or just be energy, I don't know.
I do think we are still connected to the source, though, even if it is hard to experience that connection in our busy lives.
Not sure if I want to come back, either.

Still, enjoy life seems like a good motto.

David Scott Aubrey # 31. October 2009, 10:19

Originally posted by sanshan:

Clean! I'm really surprised you're still alive! Doesn't Australia have most of the poisonous living things in the world?

Yep.

Darko # 31. October 2009, 14:08

Originally posted by sanshan:

maybe you will live to be 100!

Yes, this is a plan, in general

San # 1. November 2009, 06:26

I was listening to a comedian on the radio tonight. One of the skits was about how evil his parents were . "We had no choice but to stand up in the backseat, the front seat was the smoking section!"

Darko # 1. November 2009, 07:42

Nicolas Borgsmidt # 1. November 2009, 10:49

☜☞Sarah☜☞ # 1. November 2009, 12:40

We would hide in the Canyon for hours and ...no...my mother didn't call the police and make a missing children's report.

daxonmacs # 1. November 2009, 13:51

Originally posted by gdare:

Now we have medicine powerful enough to save a baby born after only 6 months

I've been thinking about that too, and came to conclude that it's not a good thing.
But try telling that to a mother that finally has her first child, after 26 weeks of pregnancy, and trying for over ten years.
Bit tough.

Lois # 1. November 2009, 14:39

My mother used something on my cuts that bleached the skin. Not usually a problem unless the cut happened to be on a well tanned part of the body. The run marks would be there for the entire summer!

San # 1. November 2009, 15:24

That's strange. Maybe it had peroxide in it?

scott cumming # 5. November 2009, 23:41

saturday matinee had triple feature, serials, ten cartoons, newsreel and a short. for 13 cents.

this is a little obvious but, we used to buy a ticket and get on the plane... just like that.

San # 6. November 2009, 01:48

I used to buy other people's return tickets and then get on the plane.