Remember 1980

[NeverMore]

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Just got this email. Found it mighty amusing. Enjoy.
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THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes
about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking
Twenty-five miles to school every morning..... Uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways
Yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in
hell I was going to lay a bunch of stuff like that on my kids about how hard I
had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around
and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn
Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got
it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the
card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox
and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact,
the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was
safe!

There were no MP3' s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to
hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would
usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were no CD players!
We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when
finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and
somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea
who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug
dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take
your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D
graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'.
Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there
were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen.... forever! And you could
never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until
you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were
screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your butt and walk
over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday
Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons,
you spoiled little.....

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to
use the stove! Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're
spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

[Spookymufu]

speaking as a 39yr old.........HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[shanda]

Ha! So true.
There were some Great things I would love to go back to.

When I was a kid, we lived for Sat morning. Cartoon Day!! The only day of the week to watch cartoons. We did have cannel surfing. It was called, Sit by the TV and click until Dad said to stop.

Playing outside and riding bikes and roller skating.

Staying out until you heard your mom calling you at dark.

Disco lights

Bee Gees

The Love Bug

A black Michael Jackson

I loved the 80's

I was 10 years old in 1980.

[adrian]

hahaha the black michael lol

[iHaunt]

Gosh! Long, long time to go from there!!!!

[adrian]

eh... i was born in 87...................

[Pumpkin_Man]

I do n't know how easy younger people have it today. But I was born in 1960, and did most of my growing up in the 70s. Everything posted in the original post is right on the money as far as what we had, but here is where I'm comming from.

Television. No cable. We had a tiny handful of channels, but we had an over abundance of great programming. If we missed Saturday Morning Cartoons, they were syndicated to the independent stations to be shown on week days.

Radio. We had WLS, WCFL and WIND. Those were the only stations that played rock & roll music, yet you could listen for hours to one great tune after another. A tiny pocket am radio was 'state of the art,' and there was no shortage of great music. WFMT was there for classical music lovers like me, and when CBS Radio decided to revive the old "glory days" of drama on the radio, they introduced the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, hosted by E. G. Martial. I had more thrills and chills listening to that radio show then from any television show even back then.

Records and Tapes. We had a phonograph and 8 track tapes. I also had a portable cassette recorder. The sound was adequate the records were 24 cents for a 45 rpm single, and 1.50 for a 33 and 1/3 lp.

So no, we didn't have the Internet bac then. We didn't have cell phones (a good thing IMHO) ringing all around us, in the movie theatre and at Holy Mass, we didn't have iPods, and we didn't have palm pilots, but we did have something that a lot of today's kids did not.

So you can look at that argument in two ways. I think this day and age of "modernistic thinking," where TRADITION is more and more being shoved aside for so called "progress," is not such a great thing. Many kids today have never decorated a real Christmas tree. Nor have they ever hung their stockings by a real fire place. Kids, today are more and more being deprived of simple pleasures like "Trick or Treat" on Halloween because of all the dangers posed by this "wonderful" modern world we live in. Young people, even people in general have become dependent on things like cell phones, computers, and the like that they can no longer even cope when the power fails.

last, but by no means least, back in the 70s, ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE who wanted a decent paying job had but to walk into any manfacturer and fill out an application. Good union jobs were abundant, and the only unemployed were the retired, or those who didn't want to work. We (over 40 crowd) actualy do have a higher standard of living then our parents had. Can the same be said for young people today? My nephew graduated from college with high honors. He's working at a very mediocre job, and hels lucky to have it. A lot of young people are graduating from college, with highly techincal majors, only to wind up working at a dead-end-low-paying McJob with NO medical bennifits and NO paid vacation and a LOWER standard of living then their parents had.

I think that while young people may have advantages that we didn't have, they have a much harder road to hoe in terms of earning a living and establishing themselvs in a life.

Mike

[adrian]

i wouldn't say they have it easier with the extreme growth in violence in schools, homes, public places, everywhere..
also the burdens our children are carrying these days are WAY more heavier than even the ones i carried only 10 years ago...
9 year olds with hand guns and knives, rape, and its all pre meditated.. television and the movie industry has gotten worse and is praised for it..
our society is going down hill and its getting there fast and there is NOTHING ANYONE will be able to do.. as long as our human numbers grow... its only going to get worse...

our problem is... is our numbers.. litterally... its beggining to get to be too many people in the world..
more opinions, more jealousy, more hate, more insanity, more will to do wrong to get ahead...
there are more blood thirsty corps. tradition and values have been pushed back.. we're all be de moralized and de humanized..
and its no ones fault really.. its a simple fact that we're growing at a rate that we can NOT handle... its simple


there really ARE too many of us

its going to get really scary

[adrian]

i wouldn't say they have it easier with the extreme growth in violence in schools, homes, public places, everywhere..
also the burdens our children are carrying these days are WAY more heavier than even the ones i carried only 10 years ago...
9 year olds with hand guns and knives, rape, and its all pre meditated.. television and the movie industry has gotten worse and is praised for it..
our society is going down hill and its getting there fast and there is NOTHING ANYONE will be able to do.. as long as our human numbers grow... its only going to get worse...

our problem is... is our numbers.. litterally... its beggining to get to be too many people in the world..
more opinions, more jealousy, more hate, more insanity, more will to do wrong to get ahead...
there are more blood thirsty corps. tradition and values have been pushed back.. we're all be de moralized and de humanized..
and its no ones fault really.. its a simple fact that we're growing at a rate that we can NOT handle... its simple


there really ARE too many of us

its going to get really scary

[Pumpkin_Man]

I don't want to turn this into a religious discussion, but I do think Godlessness is a major reason behind the decline. I also think that parents and the schools have failed miserably at teaching good solid ethics. The message kids today get from the media is "anything goes as long as you can get away with it." TRADITION, is also a serious missing factor. Due to 'political correctness,' some traditions are actualy looked down upon, and those who still honor them are labeled as "bigots." I can'te ven say the greeting "Mary Chrsitmas" at where I work any more, because some one might get offended. I had a Wican girl get angry with me for saying it back in 07. A "Christmas Tree" is now a "Holiday Tree," and even the iconic Halloween Witch on a broom stick flying across the full moon is found to be "offensive" to some.

I dont' know what to think any more, but I think the problem is much bigger then just our population growth. I think the lack of any moral teachings is probably the biggest part of the probem our society faces today.

Mike

[adrian]

oh that's 100% true... that problem was a factor a good 50 years ago... i believe 100% that our lack in God will destroy everything we as humans have built.. its sad really... the more the numbers grow... the less God will become to our "country"

He is the only one, in my opinion that can fix this.. God Bless this Mess lol

ok,well, i guess back to the topic lol

[witchy]

I loved growing up in the 80"s I was 18 in 1981, ok a older kid, but I truly loved it. There was dancing at 18 & older bars & in Ill they let the girls in at 18 boy 21 at all there bars (Sorry guys). I went to alot of car cruise, I had a 70 Challenger, and that is also where I meet my husband, I was 17 them.

I feel bad for kids today, they don't dance go to roller skating, ride bikes, they don't get to do alot of things I did. But with that said I make sure my girls get to do everything I did, except for the drinking ( Ha Ha) My oldest daughter thinks I am a party pooper on that one, she's 19 she will be 20 on Dec 29th. I did alot of drinking when I was 18, things have changed.
Witchy

[Spookymufu]

Mike, I agree with you on the decline of religion and morals. I was in a discussion with a self proclaimed atheist and he said he didnt need a phantom being to teach him whats right and whats wrong. I asked him where he learned it and said not from some fairy tail book but from his mom and dad. So I said were they religious, he said yes, I said then you did learn it from God and the bible. Even if you dont believe in a God there are still lessons to be learned and taught from religion and God. I'm not super religious but I know not to kill or steal from people or make other peoples life miserable because my parents taught me and their parents taught them and they all grew up with God and the bible in some way. The way "we" are removing God from every part of public life and embracing the do anything you want lifestyle, we're going to be a godless dangerous county in my kids lifetimes....

[Pumpkin_Man]

Spooky, you hit the nail right on the head. But I will say that even if one is an athiest, and even if one so strongly believes in the seperation of church and state, it's still important to teach children that it's wrong to steal, kill, abuse drugs, vandalize property, or bully others. It's also wrong to impose ones will through the concept of 'political correctness' on those who do not agree with the philosophy in question. I personaly feel that it's my GOD GIVEN RIGHT to use greetings like "Merry Christmas," and "Happy Easter," I am a Christian, and those are Christian holidays for me. I would never get offended if some one said "Happy Hanuca," "Happy Ramadon," or Happy Youle" to me. What gives them the right to regulate how I talk and what traditions I can and can not observe. I STILL refuse, to this day to use the expression "Happy Holidays," or "Happy Winter Break." I am a CHRISTIAN, and I say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Easter." If that offends some one's sensibilities, TOUGH MERACAS! CHRISTmas is part of my TRADITION, as is EASTER, and I refuse to change my ways to be m ore suitable for acceptance in this "wonderful" modern world of 'political correctness.'

Mike

[adrian]

i will NEVER stop saying Merry Christmas or HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!