To all the Filipino kids born in the 50s,60s,70s, and early 80s

TO ALL THE FILIPINO KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1950's, 60' s, 70's and early 80's !!

First, some of us survived being born to mothers who did not have an OB-Gyne and drank San Miguel Beer while they carried us.

While pregnant, they took cold or cough medicine, ate isaw (chicken intestines),and didn't worry about diabetes.

Then after all that trauma, our baby cribs were made of hard wood covered with lead-based paints, even out walkers were made of hard wood...and they didn't have wheels!

We had no soft cushy cribs that play music, no disposable diapers (only lampin - cloth), and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no kneepads, most of the time our bikes don't even have breaks.

As children, we would ride in hot non-airconditioned buses with wooden seats (remember the red JD bus?),or cars with no airconditioning & no seat belts.

Riding on the back of a carabao on a breezy summer day was considered a treat. (Kids today don't even see carabaos anymore)

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle purchased from 7/11 (sometimes we'd even drink straight from the faucet or pump).

We shared one soft drink bottle with four of our friends, and NO ONE actually died from this. Or contacted hepatitis.

We ate rice with star margarine, drank raw eggs straight from the shell, and drank softdrinks with real sugar in it (no diet cokes for us!), but we weren't sick or overweight.......

BECAUSE!...

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, and get back when the streetlights came on. We had fun playing patintero, tumbang preso, habulan (who's it) and taguan (hide and seek).

No one was able to reach us all day (no cellphones, no beepers). And yes, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our wooden trolleys (with wheels made of bearings) or plywood slides out of scraps and then ride down the street, only to find out we forgot the brakes! After hitting the sidewalk or falling into a canal (sewage channel) a few times, we learned to solve the problem ourselves with our bare & dirty hands.

We did not have PlayStations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 100 channels on cable, no DVD movies, no surround stereo, no IPod's, no cellphones, no computers, no Internet, no chat rooms, and no Friendsters/MySpaces.

......


...WE HAD REAL FRIENDS and we went outside to actually talk and play with them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no stupid lawsuits from these accidents.The only rubbing we get is from our friends with the words, "did that hurt?" But if your friend was mad, "beh buti nga!" (bleh! Good for you!)

We played marbles (jolens) in the dirt , washed our hands just a little and ate dirty ice cream & fish balls. We were not afraid of getting germs in our stomachs.

We had to live with homemade guns - made of wood, tied with rubberbands - sumpit (blow dart), tirador (slingshot) and whatever toys that could hurt, and yet everyone still had fun.

We made up games with sticks (syatong), and cans (tumbang preso) and although we were told they were dangerous, we played on. No body ended up blind or dead! Although once in a while, somebody gets a bump on the head.

We walked, rode bikes, or took tricycles to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them to jump out the window!

Mini basketball teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't pass had to learn to deal with the disappointment. No "childhood depression" and "damaged self esteem" nonsense. Ang pikon, talo.

Parents are there only to make sure that their kids are ok, not to get involved and to fight with other parents.

That generation of ours has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, creative thinkers and successful professionals ever! They are the CEO's, Engineers, Doctors and Military Generals of today.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had failure, success, and responsibility. We learned from our mistakes the hard way.

You might want to share this with others who've had the luck to grow up as real kids. We were lucky indeed.

And if you like, forward it to your kids too, so they will know how brave their parents were.

It kind of makes you wanna go out and climb a tree, doesn't it?!

PS - The big letters are because your eyes may not be able to read this if they were typed any smaller (at your age).