Yeah Right.
That's a photo of myself and my three brothers, circa 1963?
We were raised by parents who loved us, but who also kept us in line with hands, switches, belts, and groundings as needed.
We played outside mostly.
Sports - Games like kick the can, hide and seek, tag, football, basketball, baseball, and whatever else we could find to consume our time and energy.
We challenged each other to races and wrestling matches to determine who was the best.
We got into scuffles at school, and the adults let us settle them before taking us to the office.
A teacher would spank us just like a parent or grandparent would, and we knew it, and we respected it.
We played with fire, fireworks, chemicals, bows and arrows, BB guns, cap guns, and even an old Civil War sword and bayonet.
We pretended to shoot each other with toy guns and cap guns. We knew it was pretend.
We built forts in the woods.
We fished and explored wildernesses on our own.
We threw rocks at each other.
We got bitten and stung by everything that was available to bite and sting a kid back then, except snakes, which we killed on sight.
We climbed trees, ladders, buildings, and water towers without safety gear.
We rode bikes without helmets or pads.
We got in fights with each other and with other kids from the neighborhood.
We knew exactly who could whip who, and that order was respected, but routinely challenged.
We'd fight one day and be back playing with each other the next. No hard feelings.
We went to school and pledged allegiance to our flag.
We went to church, begrudgingly, and behaved, listened, and sat still and quiet.
We came to supper when called and we ate everything put before us, never once requesting something that wasn't there, because that would get you nothing, and something was always better than nothing.
We were poor by today's standards, but we didn't know it, so we didn't think anyone owed us anything. There were no programs. We had what our parents could provide, period.
Our parents taught us that work begets money and that study begets knowledge, and the two together can take you as far as you want to go.
We mowed grass and did other chores.
We picked up discarded bottles and turned them in for a few cents deposit.
When I was 8 I bought my own BB gun with my own money, earned from cutting grass for neighbors.
When I was 14 I worked sunup to sundown in the tobacco fields.
When I was 14 I walked through town with a shotgun or a 22 semi-automatic rifle on my shoulder, to go hunting with buddies, and no one gave it a second thought.
When I was 18 I bought myself a Marlin 336 Lever action rifle in 30-30 caliber, my first firearms purchase independent of parental assistance.
I drove to school, in my own car purchased with my own money, with guns and ammunition in my vehicle, to be used for after school hunting with my friends.
I also bought my girlfriend and diamond and asked her to marry me, which she did, one week after graduating high school.
This June will be 40 years together, and we're still crazy about each other. We had an argument once. I think it was 1980. Don't recall what it was about.
We worked together for 7 years to get to to the point that we could afford a child.
A couple of years later we added another one, because the first one needed someone to boss around and protect.
We instilled them our beliefs and morals and sent them on their way. They're more educated than we are, but not nearly as smart.
Now you go back through the above list and take out all of the things that liberals have taken away from our culture; like discipline, child labor, the ability to learn that stupid hurts, fighting, unsupervised kids playing, praying in school, pledging allegiance to a flag in order to unify us all towards one common goal; and you tell me again how guns are the problem, and why 18 year olds aren't mature enough or emotionally developed enough to handle and purchase firearms.
