First we survived with mothers who had no maids
They cooked and cleaned while taking care of us at the same time
We took aspirin, candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrup
And diabetes was rare
Salt added to Pepsi or coke was remedy for fever
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets
As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycle motorcycles
Richer ones in cars w/o the seatbelts or airbags
Riding in the back of a private taxi a special treat
We drank water from the tap and not from the bottle
We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight, flying our kites
Without worrying about UV rays which never seem to affect us
We go into the jungle to catch spiders without worries of aedes mosquitoes
With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be an endless game
With a ball, we boys would run like crazy for hours
We caught guppies in drains or canals and when it rained we swam there
We share one soft drink with 4 friends from one bottle and no one actually worried about being unhygienic
We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies bread and real butter and drank very sweet coffee or tea, ice kachang, but we weren’t over weight because….
We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill,
Only to find out that we forgot the brakes, after running into the bushes a few times we learn to solve the problem.
WE did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, multiple channels on Cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sounds, no phones, no PC, no internet
BUT we had friends
And we went out and found them
WE fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.
We never had birthday parties until we were 21
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Yet this generation had produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with it all and You are one of them
CONGRATULATIONS
You may want to share this with others who have the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good
And while you are at it
Forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were
(contributed by Bala & Vincent , class of 1970 BPES)
http://bpes.blogspot.com/Bukit Panjang English School Class of 1970
This blog was created in 2008 to celebrate the 50th birthyear of classmates from BPES, a public elementary school in Singapore. "Bukit Panjang" means Long Hill in Malay, and was a thriving village in the 60s to 70s located at the intersection of 3 main trunk roads, Upper Bukit Timah Road, Chua Chu Kang Road, and Woodlands Road that connects to Malaysia via the causeway. We started our primary schooling at age 7 and graduated at 12. Welcome and share your memories.
