My Tanker buddy posted this: (Good Stuff!)
I grew up in Warren Indiana during a time when most everyone treated each other with respect.
We didn't eat a lot of fast food because it was considered a treat, not a food group. We drank Kool-Aid and iced tea made from water that came from our kitchen sink. We ate bologna sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, pot pies, but mostly home made meals consisting of mainly meat, potatoes, beans, home grown vegetables, bread and butter and homemade dessert.
School lunches were delicious. Sometimes, for a special treat, we got to take our lunches to school in a brown paper bag or a lunch box.
We grew up during a time when we would gather glass bottles to take to the store and use the deposit money to buy penny candy. (We even got a brown paper bag to put the candy in). You could get a lot for just 25 cents.
We mowed lawns, helped neighbors with chores, worked in the garden in the summer. We went outside, a lot, to play games, ride bikes, run with siblings, cousins and friends. We played hide and seek, kick the can, jump rope, hopscotch, Red Rover, red light, "Mother May I", London Bridges, kickball, basketball and dodge ball.
We drank tap water from the hose outside... bottled water was unheard of.
We ate a hot breakfast or cold cereal at the breakfast table before going to school.
We had no cable TV, just 3 channels no microwave or cell phones.
We watched TV as a family: Gunsmoke, HeeHaw, Gilligan's Island, Wonderful World of Disney, Bonanza, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Red Skelton and Ed Sullivan.
After school, we came home and did homework and chores and watched some cartoons on Saturday morning before going out to the fields to bale hay, plant tobacco, or whatever the farm needed us for that day.
If we were bad in school, we got in trouble there. When we got home, we got in trouble again (because your parents already knew). Paddling was allowed in school and you behaved yourself or else. The fear and not of being in trouble and not wanting to disappoint our parents kept us from getting into trouble.
We would ride our bikes/ horses for hours, and talk and play outside until the lightning bugs came out. We would catch bugs in mason jars, make mud pies, play in the creek, and pick wildflowers and four-leafed clovers.
We LEARNED from our parents and grandparents instead of disrespecting them and treating them as if they knew nothing. What they said was the gospel.
If someone had a fight, that's what it was - a fist fight and then you were back to being friends afterwards and the bullying pretty much ceased.
Kids that were around guns were taught how to properly use them and to respect them and never thought of taking a human life.
We had to be close enough to home to hear our Mom yelling or Dad whistling to tell you it’s time to come home for dinner. We ate around the dinner table and talked to each other as a family, discussing our day, dreams and plans. Hats were never worn at the dinner table. We learned to clean up our plate and eat what was cooked.
We said the Pledge of Allegiance, stood for the National Anthem and listened to our teachers. It’s Called RESPECT!
We watched what we said around our elders because we knew If we DISRESPECTED any grown up we would get our behinds whipped. It wasn't called abuse, it was called discipline! We held doors, carried groceries and gave up our seat without being asked.
We didn't hear curse words on the radio, in songs or TV, and if you cursed and got caught you had a bar of soap stuck in your mouth and had to stand in the corner for quite some time.
“Please”, “Thank you”, “Yes Ma’am” and “Yes, Sir" were part of our daily vocabulary!
We grew up with good, God-loving families.
Re-post if you're thankful for your childhood and will never forget where you came from!
