"Back when I was a kid........."

When you hear someone say "back when I was a kid", do you laugh or listen? Do you tune them out or tune them in? What really goes through your mind? I'm only in my early forties so being "a kid" doesn't seem that long ago and fortunately for me people still tell me to "grow up"! Lol. Yet I find myself saying "back when I was a kid" more and more often these days. Of course coming out of the 80's, the single greatest generation ever, it's no surprise! In the 80's we didn't have to say "yes sir" and "yes ma am" which is probably why if you asked us to do it now, it'd be no problem. Our president was Reagan. A stoic, powerful and unwavering man with an oak tree of a vision. Those poor flower children of the 70's. They had no choice and got stuck with the remnants of an adulterating president that was tragically shot to death and then a con man that was impeached. The whiners of the 90's were stuck with a lovely combo of an adulterer and con man and of course....... honored Mr. Clinton! Back when I was a kid we played more games outside and therefore got more exercise. We talked less and therefore argued less. And we used our imagination way more than kids nowadays. Too much technology can become a crutch. Does this sound "negative"? Does it sound like I'm complaining about something that probably won't change? Hmmm, maybe. But sometimes that's what it takes. Just the other night I was woken up at 2 am! Outside my window were loud teenagers that just wouldn't shut up! I yelled out the window at them, told them to go somewhere else but to no avail. They completely ignored me. So I called the cops. Turns out this was a great thing to do! The reason there was so much noise was because about 20 teenagers had broke into the abandoned building next door and were throwing a drug infested party! So all of a sudden 5 squad cars showed up with a paddy wagon and cleared em all out! Ah but the last laugh was actually on me because now there were 10 rugged Chicago cops loudly bellowing out stories of the night right below my window! And I wasn't about to tell them to "shut up"!

The trouble with always being "positive" is that it's hard to look at problems objectively. You have to be willing to complain, look at what's wrong and experience some discomfort in order to objectively examine a problem. Call that problem a hurdle, challenge, opportunity, game or whatever in order to put your powerful mind into the right state of conciousness in order to discover solutions. But.... you must first recognize the problem. That doesn't make you negative! And why was I the only one with "balls" enough to call the cops and complain? Jeez! I know the other neighbors were disrupted by the loud little rugrats because I heard them all talking about it after the cops arrived! If you don't like something, say something! And offer a solution too! :-)

Back when I was a kid, I did the same sorts of things as those teenagers. But you know what happened back then? A neighbor would calmly come outside and say "Hey guys can you tone it down a bit? If you don't then I'll have to tell your parents you drank all their beer. Hey give me one of those anyway for a nightcap." And you know what? We would have been thankful and humbly said "Thanks for bein cool about this Mr. Smith. Sorry we woke you guys up." Nowadays? Forget it. And that's too bad because back when I was a kid we smiled and laughed together. I don't see a whole lot of that with today's teens. Hmmmmm maybe I'm onto something here :-)