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Prince Hakeem
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Posted: Monday October 6th, 2003 07:56 |
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> > > Got It Too Easy
> > > ================
> > > When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears
> > > with their
> > > tedious diatribes about how hard things were when
> > > they were
> > > growing up.
> > > What with walking twenty-five miles to school every
> > > morning
> > > uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards
> > > carrying their
> > > younger siblings on their backs to their one-room
> > > schoolhouse
> > > where they maintained a straight-A average despite
> > > their full-
> > > time after-school job at the local textile mill
> > > where they
> > > worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their
> > > family from
> > > starving to death!
> > >
> > > And I remember promising myself that when I grew up
> > > there was no
> > > way I was going to lay that on kids about how hard I
> > > had it and
> > > how easy they've got it!
> > >
> > > But....
> > >
> > > Now that I've reached the ripe old age of thirty, I
> > > can't help
> > > but look around and notice the youth of today.
> > >
> > > You've got it so easy!
> > >
> > > I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a
> > > Utopia!
> > >
> > > And I hate to say it but you kids today don't know
> > > how good
> > > you've got it!
> > >
> > > I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the
> > > Internet.
> > > If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the
> > > library and
> > > look it up ourselves!
> > >
> > > And there was no email!
> > > We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a
> > > pen!
> > > And then you had to walk all the way across the
> > > street and put
> > > it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to
> > > get there!
> > >
> > > And there were no MP3s or Napsters!
> > > If you wanted to steal music, you had to go to the
> > > record store
> > > and shoplift it yourself! Or, we had to wait around
> > > all day to
> > > tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk
> > > over the
> > > beginning and mess it all up!
> > >
> > > You want to hear about hardship?
> > >
> > > We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting!
> > > If you were on the phone and somebody else called,
> > > they got a busy signal!
> > >
> > > And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!
> > > When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was, it
> > > could be
> > > your boss, your Mom, a collections agent, you didn't
> > > know!!!
> > > You just had to pick it up and take your chances,
> > > mister!
> > >
> > > And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation
> > > videogames with
> > > high-resolution 3-D graphics!
> > > We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space
> > > Invaders" and
> > > "Asteroids"! Your guy was a little square! You had
> > > to use your
> > > imagination! And there were no multiple levels or
> > > screens,
> > > it was just one screen forever!
> > > And you could never win, the game just kept getting
> > > harder and
> > > faster until you died!
> > >
> > > Just like LIFE!
> > >
> > > When you went to the movie theater, there was no
> > > such thing as
> > > stadium seating! All the seats were the same
> > > height!
> > > If a tall guy sat in front of you, you watched his
> > > hairstyle!
> > >
> > > And sure, we had cable television, but back then
> > > that was only
> > > like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu!
> > > You had to use
> > > a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
> > > on!
> > >
> > > And there was no Cartoon Network!
> > > You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning...
> > > D'ya hear what I'm saying!?!
> > >
> > > We had to wait ALL WEEK!
> > >
> > > That's exactly what I'm talking about!
> > > You kids today have got it too easy.
> > >
> > > You're spoiled!
> > > You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1984!
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Mafdet
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Posted: Tuesday October 7th, 2003 08:27 |
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@ Prince Hakeem
 My parents when we was younger insisted that we visited Jamaica frequently to learn how they grew up and to teach us never to take things for granted. We lived with our grandfather who lives on top of a hill, no running water, no electricity no gas. Picture the waltons who I think had more modern coms than my grandfather, actually picture little house on the pirare. Can you imagine Jamaica heat and you have no air conditioning no fridge or freezer and you had to buy your ice and carry it up the hill that took 20 minutes to walk up. But it is some of the best memories I have I loved every minute of it and still do when I visit him.
We cooked with coal or wood and had to tend to the animals, go to the fields and pick our food that we wanted to cook for dinner, yams, cassava, breadfruit etc. Slaughter the chickens or catch the early market for fresh fish. It taught us never to take anything for granted. Those principles are still instilled in me you never forget them. Yes we had Auntie’s and Uncles in town with all modern com, but my parents insisted that we learn where they had grown and how they lived. So even coming back to UK and having those things you mentioned in the latter part of your post, we thought this was luxury and this was in the 70’s.
That’s why you see that recent power cut that happened in America I know if it I was in it and it lasted longer I will survive brother you wouldn’t catch me panicking.
You know what, in my family we carry on the same tradition with our children nieces and nephews. Because my grandfather is still there and as far as he is concerned his home on top of that hill (rightly so) is his castle that he built from scratch and he don’t want to change a thing. Even though he gots a tv he doesn’t watch it and still uses his oil lamps even though electricity is up there now, only thing he likes that is modern is his cellular phone to chat to his church people as his not so mobile at 94 years of age.
Every child today should be exposed to this type of country living to knock some of that self-righteousness associated with luxury that they instantly think they deserve.
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Fredblack
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Posted: Tuesday October 7th, 2003 15:51 |
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 Morning Sister Mafdet. God bless parents who do right by their children and teach and expose them to the things they need to know. Your parents and mine same thinking and this is what we have prepared for my son.
This is part of what I call a holistic and proper social education, not only in appreciating and integrating key things in their minds but actually improving and widening life skills and giving them superior training and options.
We are country people and nothing is better for not only learning but enjoyment, adventure and discovery in a safe and controlled environment. Also crucial for reinforcing key human and social values and integrating children here into their culture and home communities. Also weakens the effects of negative aspects of youth and urban peer culture
Today going home ain't no big thing because it is home from home and that is how people in the village view us, because they have known us from dot and on an ongoing basis. This destroyes the barriers which you see in people who do not go home regularly, or who treat home countries like any other holiday destination. We don't go to Spain and Miami and them places because they are not important. We make sure we go home every year.
One difference Mafdet. No need for oil lamps to appreciate different livestyles and modern technology computers, mobile phones etc important especially for kids to do homework, study and to learn country still part of modern world eg business, external communication and of course computer games. Difference, more choice, more quality time and much much longer days makes tired kids.
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ladi flex
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Posted: Sunday October 19th, 2003 02:50 |
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tru say i'm only 14 but i know some of wat u r talking about i lived in nigeria for 11 years i came to uk about 3 years ago. in my country we would go without electricity for a week n we had i tink one main cinema in my area u had 2 pay bare money 2 get inside unlike now my with my weekly allowance i can go 2 d cinema everyday. so u can't really say all kids these days bcoz some kids have been tru some of wat u r talking about. 
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Prince Hakeem
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Posted: Sunday January 22nd, 2006 19:28 |
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| Bumping a very old thread cos I can!
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Seabiscuit
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Posted: Monday January 23rd, 2006 13:04 |
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Getting nostalgic are we?
I'd still rather take this day than your day - nice as it sounded...
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Posted: Monday January 23rd, 2006 14:21 |
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I wish I could say I had it hard as a kid...but I never...I was spoiled rotten..
which was a bad thing as I only really learnt the value of money when I left home..
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Miss Brighter Days
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Posted: Wednesday January 25th, 2006 13:30 |
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lol - leave these kids alone.
Yep kids today have some things easier and some things aint so easy.
there is a big push by everything around them to turn them into mini adults.
Childhood is disappearing fast. soon 5 year olds will think they are big people, and lose out on the innocence all of us who grew up in the 80's loved.
Honestly, looking at what is happening to childhood today, i loved being a kid in the 80's. I loved not knowing everything, having innocence. I loved not being worried about how i looked when i went out etc etc.
Kids today - please try and enjoy being young cos yep you got more stuff than we ever had, and the kids of tomorrow will have more stuff than you lot did.
But the most important thing is to enjoy being a kid! A teenager etc. so you can catch joke when you grow up and look back.
In fact lets switch this - tell us old folks what its like being a kid of the 00's!
I would love to know, cos what i see can't be all there is!
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If the TRUTH is told the YOUTH can Grow/Try to survive/Before they take CONTROL - NAS
Just because 1 million people believe something, it doesn't make it a fact!
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Prince Hakeem
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Posted: Sunday January 29th, 2006 03:31 |
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I'm not exactly an old timer as I have yet to reach the age of 30, but back in 1993 we didn't have a lot of these gadgets but I find that the quality of life as a youth was far more enjoyable back then.
I always look back at the late 80's/early 90's with fondness because although we were quite limited compared to what the kids have now, we still had a lot to enjoy.
There was always badness, but children were still children. We had Quasar, roller skating, Arcades etc but even though a few venues still exist, for the most part many places have been shut down for some reason or another, and as a result many kids now get up to badness because there isn't that much to do. Although the internet obviously has its valuable uses it can make you somewhat lazy and keep you indoors all day which is another drawback.
Not meaning to sound corny or anything like that, but the world's a very different place to what it was 13 years ago and I miss them days like mad. There was just a certain vibe that doesn't exist nowadays.
But on a side note something gave me nuff joke at a house party only a few hours ago....you know how gold teeth was the craze back in the early 90's? One of my wife's younger cousins had flashing teeth in his mouth that flashed about three different colours - like those flashing necklaces (whatever they're called) you see people walking around with in the west end! I didn't even ask no questions. Maybe I am getting old.... 
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newera_59fifty
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Posted: Wednesday April 26th, 2006 20:32 |
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| u look soo buffffffffffffffffffff baby
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Prince Hakeem
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Posted: Friday April 28th, 2006 20:28 |
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| OK (whatever you're talking about....)
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