I remember family car trips with 3 kids laying around the giant back end of our giant station wagon playing Chinese checkers and mad libs. I don’t even know if that car had seat belts. My dad occasionally had some kind of hard liquor to pass the time and my mother rode shotgun, read the map and smoked like a chimney. For breakfast I might eat Frosted Flakes with spoonfuls of sugar added on top. For lunch a grilled cheese sandwich made with town talk white bread and velveta. For a bedtime snack vanilla ice cream with maple syrup on top and a glass of Coca Cola.
Then my parents divorced when I was 8 and the real negligence started.
I survived.
Remember the rear facing seats in some station wagons! I went all over Western America in a Chrysler Imperial wagon looking to the rear?
We used to follow the mosquito fogger as it went down the street! ?
I think differently.
Is surviving such a noble thing? Where is the virtue in simply surviving? Life should not be about surviving. We are not animals.
Quality of life is everything.
Kudos!! I worked in the DV field for 15 years. I often talked about changing the terminology of "DV survivor" to "DV victor". And my daughter considers herself a victor over cancer not a survivor. Words shape images and emotions and for me this is a very powerful example.
I agree with every word you've said. But then..
Walmart and Amazon workers who have to use food stamps to survive are still struggling. People who work two or more jobs, who are too exhausted to live their lives or don't have enough money to take proper care of themselves are still 'surviving'.
Context is everything.
Living like a refugee in a tent in Somalia may seem less extreme than being forced to live in a tent in the richest country in the world - the United States. But there are still Americans living in tent cities.
And there are people living on the streets in the United States who also die on the streets.
There are people living in subway tunnels in the US, like animals. - You cannot lecture them to their 'privilege' because people have it worse in Somalia.
And to come back to your 'privilege' comment. Try directing it at the OP.
You do not get to set the bar on quality of life.
AND...literally EVERYONE around me smoked constantly! I'm amazed I even have LUNGS!
It’s a chest beating meme, look how tough I am,I survived the attempts of our society to poison me and general stupidity. Well, I did too.. but that doesn’t make it better. Knowing what you have learned would you intentionally eat lead paint chips? That said, depending on where you are in the country hose water is fine
Oh definitely! It amazes me at times that I'm not more beat up than I am.
Sometimes, some of these so-called taking away of liberties has more to do than just with your safety; bike helmets: sure, let you take your chances without one, but make sure your survivors don't try to sue the other party when you might have survived with a helmet on.
You mean shot at and missed, but shit at and hit.
Combat in Vietnam and a stint in the state pen (I know I shouldn't have sold some LSD).
yes I had totally mad parents my mother was manic my father depressed from his war experiences - and abusive - I survived to laugh and live and love for myself - left home at fifteen never looked back. I might have a brother still alive somewhere, but he got off too.
I know exactly where you're coming from, glad you survived and are thriving.
Yes, I guess I am a survivor. But every time I look at the news or read the paper, oh dear, people suffer. I'm probably just somewhere in the middle for problems. How things go seem to be in the lap of the gods, so to speak. Best to be grateful things aren't so much worse.
We might be survivors but our bureaucratic nannies are taking all the credit and convincing the mush-filled heads of our progeny that it's unquestionably so. ?
When I was a small kid there were no seat belts or turn signals. Bike helmets were unheard of. However, I probably owe my life today to a bike helmet. That is either good or bad, depending on who you talk to.
Is there something wrong with wooden spoons? We use them all the time.
What's wrong with wooden spoons?
It was worse than the back of their hand !... never got that either.
Oh, I get it now. I was literally wondering what there was about them to survive. Now I know.
@pepperjones I have to say, I kind of love this. We had a family reunion once where all the kids and grandkids had wooden spoon survivor t-shirts. Lol