Tuesday, 1:13 AM
I received this email from a friend, Sam Rabor- a person who meant what he says, makes you feel special sans the applause but deep within the heart, and knows that life is too short to have enemies . A man who knows that a true friend is in the heart, indeed. Here's the gist. (some additions & changes in language & formatting for cosmetics are mine.)

HOW DID WE SURVIVE?

If you were kids in the mid 40's thru the early 80's you would have noticed that:

- cars have no seatbelts; no air bags.
-its an adventure & fun to ride on backs of pick-up trucks (or logging trucks back home.)
-cribs were painted with bright colors (paint's full of lead); back home some kids were born at homes attended by mid-wives (not by doctors).
-there were no childproof medicine bottles nor childproof houses.
- slicing the wind on bike riding without helmets were great,
- there's pride in backyard hose drinking and faucets as there were no bottled waters,
- there were no cell phones (our parents left us to faith in the God that loves & protects)
- we were care-free and we get scrapes, bruises, brake bones, lose teeth yet we sue nobody. We love neighbors and trust people.
- we ate cakes, bread & butter; drink sugary drinks yet we were not OVERWEIGHT because we love to walk, to outside playing, the out-of-doors. And the outside world was amiable and awesome. (Back home we would play hide & seek on moonlight nights; no sex perverts lurking & hiding . Now when somebody hides you the password is ransom. We manifest our teen-age emotions by serenading with our own voice. Karaoke was still a dream.)
- we shared. Four persons could drink in one bottle. It was not gross. Nobody got sick.
-there were no playstations, nintendo 64, X boxes, video games, cable TV with 100 channels, VCR's, surround sound, cellular phones, computers, internet cafe's, on-line chatrooms.

We have truckloads of friends. They don't have much money but they were willing and ready to lend helping hands. They were real friends in thought, words and deeds. They are vanishing breed now.

We were not all smart. Some were left behind but it was no big deal. We were not advised to see psychologist nor suffered from : - dyslexia, hyperactivity, ADHD, ADD, etc... We would simply repeat the grade until we passed. We had FREEDOMS. RESPONSIBILITIES. MISHAPS. SUCCESSES. And we would learn to deal with them.

We SURVIVED: to become great people that we are today. We admit, we were-
BORING, but we were very HAPPY CHILDREN!

Deo Gratias!