It Was NOT The Senior Citizens....

[frankj3]

Senior citizens are constantly being criticized for every conceivable deficiency of the modern world, real or imaginary. We know we take responsibility for all we have done and do not blame others.

HOWEVER, upon reflection, we would like to point out that it was NOT the senior citizens who took

The melody out of music,

The pride out of appearance,

The courtesy out of driving,

The romance out of love,

The commitment out of marriage,

The responsibility out of parenthood,

The togetherness out of the family,

The learning out of education,

The service out of patriotism,

The Golden Rule from rulers,

The nativity scene out of cities,

The civility out of behavior,

The refinement out of language,

The dedication out of employment,

The prudence out of spending,

The ambition out of achievement or God out of government and school.

And we certainly are NOT the ones who eliminated patience and tolerance from personal relationships and interactions with others!!

And, we do understand the meaning of patriotism, and remember those who have fought and died for our country.

Just look at the Seniors with tears in their eyes and pride in their hearts as they stand at attention with their hand over their hearts!

YES, I'M A SENIOR CITIZEN!

I'm the life of the party..... Even if it lasts until 8 p.m..

I'm very good at opening childproof caps.....With a hammer.

I'm awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.

I'm smiling all the time because I can't hear a thing you're saying.

I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.

I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just my left leg.

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

Yes, I'm a SENIOR CITIZEN and I think I am having the time of my life!

Now if I could only remember who sent this to me, I wouldn't send it back to them, but I would send it to many more too!



Spread the laughter

Share the cheer

Let's be happy

While we're here.

[carasdad]

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

[karpata]

These are wonderful

[oldlazydog]

You are Half Right

The people who are rapidly becoming seniors, were once called Baby Boomers.
There was a great dichotomy in the Boomer lifestyle, about half of them were responsible for some of these things, the other half are as you describe.

>it was NOT the senior citizens who took...

>...The melody out of music,
The boomers may not have taken the melody out, but they overwhelmed it with beat. Ingoddadavita, Surfin' Bird, and Shout Shout Knock yourself Out come to mind

>...The pride out of appearance,
Tie Dye comes to mind, as do double-knit polyester leisure suits.

>...The romance out of love,
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll

>...The commitment out of marriage,
"If your not with the one you love, love the one you're with"

>...The responsibility out of parenthood,
Who were the parents of the first generation of "Latch Key Kids"?

>...The service out of patriotism,
Let me remind you of the war protests of the 60s, It was the Boomers that started burning the flag, then whined about freedom of speech when patriots tried to stop them.

>...The prudence out of spending,
The boomers were the first "me first" generation, "I want it all and I want it now"
Not all boomers were that way, but those that weren't failed to pass their prudence on to their children.

>...The ambition out of achievement or God out of government and school.
This was done by our parents, the "greatest" generation that grew up in the depression and had nothing. So they spoiled their children and GAVE them everything instead of making them work for it. God was kicked out of the school when I was in 8th grade, so again that falls to our parents.

>...And, we do understand the meaning of patriotism, and remember those who have fought and died for our country.
I was getting ready to "ship-out" for overseas in 1969. On my last day in the United States, I took a walking tour of San Francisco (we had to travel in uniform in those days to get discount airfares). Some freaky looking hippy asked me how many babies I had killed. I am quite certain that he is a leach on the medicare system by now, if he didn't OD on drugs 40 years ago.

>...Just look at the Seniors with tears in their eyes and pride in their hearts as they stand at attention with their hand over their hearts!
I was a reluctant "warrior". I joined the Air Force to keep from being drafted into an infantry unit. The entire time I was in the Air Force, I would have gladly waived all my benefits present and future to be a civilian again. I didn't want to go. But I did. Some chose not to. Some went to jail, some went to Canada. Some of those that went to Canada came home again. I have more respect for those who went to jail. I am a veteran, I am not necessarily proud of it. I am also a tax payer, and I am not necesarrily proud of that either. I don't want to pay them, but I do. I get irritated when I see commercials for people who owe the government $10,000 dollars in back taxes, who can get a reduction of their debt. I am "into the government" every year for $20,000, and I end up having to pay every penny. Last year 44% of American households did not pay Federal Income Tax. So, who aren't paying their fair share of taxes? But the rich aren't paying their fair share either. I have bailed out the big banks. I have bailed out the Auto Companies. I have bailed out home owners, and I have paid for your education. You're Welcome!
Now leave me the hell alone, and keep my social security checks coming.

>...YES, I'M A SENIOR CITIZEN!
and a Boomer

[teddy554]

All so true wish i could of lived in the old days,life was simpler in certain was

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using proboards

[thumper650]

Nobody's better at bitchin' about stuff than old people. I'm sure I'll do it some day......

[spandi]

I think they mean the WWII pre-telivision generation.

[scootnwinn]

I already started practicing

[oldlazydog]

Nov 20, 2012 21:52:55 GMT -5 teddy554 said:

All so true wish i could of lived in the old days,life was simpler in certain was

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using proboards

Of course life was simpler, we had to take care of ourselves, instead of the benevolent State taking care of us. We didn't have to jump through all the hoops, and fight the "red tape" to get the State to pay for something. We had to pay for it out of our own pockets.

There were no medical benefits. When I fell out of a tree and broke my arm, my father had to pay the Doctor out of his pocket. Any time I did something stupid and got hurt, I could hear my father moaning "Oh no! Another Doctor's bill". It made me think twice about jumping my bike across the excavation ditches for the new houses going up in the next block.

We didn't have Pell Grants and the bureaucratic mess to try to obtain one. The college I chose, would give me until the end of summer to pay off my school bill, or I couldn't register for fall classes. When I dropped out of school, I worked 2 jobs to pay off my school "loan" before I went into the Air Force.

Yes, life was simpler. We didn't have video games, or 287 channels of cable TV. When I came home from school I had two choices. Start on my home work, or "go out and play". Children did not have problems with obesity in those days. On rainy days, I could stay in and watch 30 year old cartoons, on a black and white television. There was this thing called "vertical hold". The TV picture would start to roll up or down on the screen. You would get up to adjust it, and as you got close to the TV it would stop. You would go back to your seat, and it would start again. I ended up watching my show, leaning toward the adjustment knob, trying to fake out the TV, so it would not scroll. We didn't have remote controls. If you wanted to change the channel, you had to get up out of your chair, and walk over to the TV set and turn the channel knob. We were lucky where I lived, we had 4 channels to choose from. Some of my cousins had only two.

We didn't have face book, or twitter. At my house, we didn't even have a telephone. If somebody needed to contact us in an emergency, they called our neighbors. We wrote letters, hand written in cursive script, and sent through the post office. It took 5 days for a letter to go from California to Indiana.

My family took vacations every year. Many of my friends did not. "Vacation" usually involved a trip of about 500 miles visiting distant relatives or old family friends with camping along the way. Nobody flew, only the rich could afford it. I flew from San Francisco to Chicago to go home for Christmas one year. It cost me $50 each way (military stand-by, half fare), in today's economy a full fare round trip ticket would be equivalent to $2000. Families of 6 just didn't fly.

I didn't get an allowance, if I wanted to buy something, say a new ball glove, I had to go try to find ways to earn money. Some times my grandmother would let me mow her lawn for 50 cents. There was a widow down the street that would pay me to work in her yard. I had a paper route when I was 12 years old. I think that most of the money from that, went to buy sodas from the vending machine outside the feed store at the end of my route. My father didn't take me in the car, I rode my bike or walked it (2 1/2 miles). In the winter I would trudge through 6 inches of snow. My feet would be numb. If I stamped my foot to knock the snow off my boots, I couldn't feel it in my feet, only in my shins.

None of our cars nor our house had air conditioning, of course we didn't have global warming in those days. Summer time temperatures still reached 100 or more, but it wasn't because of global warming.

We paid 2% sales tax, and complained about it.
Oh yeah! Life was a lot simpler. When did I get sucked into this BS lifestyle? …and how can I go back?

[thumper650]

Nov 21, 2012 8:35:27 GMT -5 oldlazydog said:

When did I get sucked into this BS lifestyle? …and how can I go back?

I'm guessing it was sometime back in the 80's.

You can go back, I'm 35 and live quite simply, and well.

[loncindawg]

My students - mostly university-trained professionals - ask me why I, a US citizen, choose to live in Mexico. Some of them say they would love to live in the US. I remind them that the land of opportunity is not what it used to be, especially the labor market. They also imagine that life there is like American Pie. I tell them that it was that for me in college (dorm life), but after that, the rest of your life is more like the movie Office Space. But wouldn't I be happier around my fellow gringos, they ask. "Over there, I was as welcome as you are ... just another spic" I respond, my US Army Infantry service (E-5) and [former] Republican Party membership notwithstanding. My three brothers, a former head of Space Shuttle-International Space Station logistics, an owner of a world-class salon in downtown San Diego, and a stockbroker all make well over a hundred grand a year, yet only I, the owner of a very small English language (ESL) school in Mexico can afford to travel in Europe and Africa while they can't or lack enough free time. I have no health insurance at the moment, but I have an MD at the pharmacy down the street who charges 30 pesos (about USD $2.60) per visit. We have good burgers, pizza, sushi, Chinese food, one world class restaurant, Subway, Burger King, Peter Piper, McDonald's, and while I'm not a huge fan of the beer, we have Guinness, Newcastle Brown, and Heineken here and across the border three miles from my house, where I am sent to the front of the ridiculously long line thanks to my scoot, can get US gasoline, and pick up my eBay and Amazon purchases at the post office or UPS outlet.

Life in the US had gotten too stale and predictable for me. Here, it's not exciting, but it's colorful, and the drug war seems to have left Tecate largely untouched. I take my empty Victoria beer bottle to the Corona outlet next door whenever I want another cold one, so in that sense we're kind of "green" here. Tecate is known for the high quality of its water, which is why we have two breweries in this very small city, yet most families have bottled water delivered by one of around seven efficient purifying operations. Empty bottles are washed and refilled, just like in the US. No blame game taking place here. People who lose their jobs open mom and pops or set up a hot dog cart on a corner somewhere. There's not a whole lot of red tape, and the dole is unheard of. There are problems, but overall, I choose color and a life that is still comparatively simple. Even the old folks don't complain much.

[50cc]

wtf people lol : DDDD