Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
On CaptainCrunch's comments....
I think we had the same parents, lol. I grew up in the 70's and 80's, and some of the stuff we did by today's standards would land our folks in jail for child endangerment nowadays..lol.
One day me and my buddy were building a 1 foot bmx jump in the back alley, using my dads circular saw, of course unsupervised, and we are 10 years old...lol.
My old man comes out, starts checking our work, and says... "Thats a pretty sissy jump." So he takes over the project, builds this thing up to about 3 feet so it could clear garbage cans and makes a matching landing ramp. So this masterpiece jump is completed, and we start jumping. It was awesome, half the kids in the neighbourhood are lining up to try it, without bike helmets of course. So my dad, gets it in his brain, that he wants a go. He gets on my Diamond Back Pacer 500, runs at the jump at mach 6, launches way past the landing ramp, and faceplants over the bars giving himself 2 degree face roadrash, and I found out years later, a severe concussion.
IT. WAS. AWESOME! It was like having Evil Kenevil for a dad. It was also educational as well, as that day I learned that crazy glue can be an excellent substitue for head stitches.
Kids and parents are too pussified now IMHO opinion. And most kids are waaaaay too spoiled. Our parents let us take our lumps, and I think we are better for it.
-We played guns, with replica guns.
-Trampolines didn't have safety nets, and roofs were the appropriate launching pads.
-Problems between kids were solved between kids, not in courts.
-Teachers could scold you, and call you a punk and you parents would back the teacher, not sue them.
-I was taught to get over my fear of water by being thrown in the deep end of Canyon Meadows pool... by my mom...lol. (obviously she wouldn't let me drown, but it was a blunt lesson).
For years I resented my old man for roughing me up when I was acting out or did something bad. I realized many years later, that it made think about the consequences of my actions, before I disrepected an adult, or burned down the neighbours fence... whatever evil I was contemplating that day...lol. At 36 years old, even to this day I still call my boss sir, and address elders as Mr. and Mrs., not by first names, which was one of the prime lessons I learned. If it wasn't for a little hard justice by the old man, I honestly think I would have turned out a lot worse, and would definitely had not been a success story, and probably would have done some time, I was that out of control at times. In my moments of weakness now, it is still in the back of my mind... what would my dad think if I did this?
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Its funny, because years later you can sit down with your old man over a beer and you can honestly laugh at it, and my old man for example laughed at some of the incredibly stupid things that I did, or better yet some of the plans that I thought I would get away with.
I didn't understand it at the time, and there was a long period of time when I didn't talk to him at all, in fact I joined the military to spite him.
But the one thing that he did tell me, and I've stated it before. He was never there to be my friend, he was my father first, he was there to make me a better and more respectable person. He was there to guide me, and put me on a path where I could succeed, and I would have the toughness to push through any situation instead of throwing my hands up and quitting.
His rules, and the way he handled me taught me that there were no shortcuts, to think about what I was doing and to do the right thing. To fight for what I believe in, and to be somewhat hard headed when I thought I was doing the right thing.
That's not to say that my old man was a sergeant Hartman character when I was growing up. There were lots of good memories. There were camping trips that were so terrible that we can laugh about it now. He taught me to play chess, he tried to help me with math, but at some point I realized that he was not a math natural. And while he kicked my a$$ over poor grades (The whole if you were ######ed I would be proud of your marks comment comes to mind) but he was also so proud when I got my degree even though we weren't talking at the time that he cried.
He was aggravating and stone faced, and somewhat forceful when I was growing up and he let me take risks and learn for myself when I was growing up. He was a man that you just didn't cross.
But now he's a great friend and a sounding board, and he still beats me up over some of the stupid things that I do.
But I wouldn't have it any other way.