Tough times make tough people ( Part 1)

When I look at children today I cannot help but compare them with what we went through as children in the 1940s and 50s.Whilst we had to learn to be streetwise and self reliant during our time children today are so protected and to a certain extent pampered that they may not know how to survive on their own. There was no TV , I phone ,DVD players ,fast food joints, air con restaurants and a marked absence of all the dessert joints which the children of today enjoy.What did we have ?The only ice cream we enjoyed was from the mobile ice cream seller and you get to turn a fortune wheel to determine how many cones of ice cream you get for one payment.At an early age we were exposed to the wheel of fortune and perhaps a little gambling or the luck of the game. We had no fancy meals for breakfast ,it was most of the time bread and butter.We never had the chance to have pork noodles .McD ,KFC ..these were unheard of and you eat to fill up your stomach .Lunch and dinner consisted mainly of rice and sambal belachan and curry and we ate lots of rice so that we do not go hungry.Water? Just use your hands ,turn on the pipe and drank as much as you want for free. Mineral water was unheard of and coke ,sprite ,iced tea ,fruit juices..never dreamed of.Despite all this we seldom got sick.I dont remember ever seeing a doctor.If at all we fall sick we were given some traditional medicine .Today if a child suffers from a cough or cold off he goes to the doctor. We never travelled in air con cars and anywhere we wanted to go was either on foot or bicycle>I remember at the age of 12 I was already cycling a few km to get to school and on the first day of school I went to school on my own.School was fun , we studied during school hours and after that it was freedom time.No need for tuition classes,no music lessons or second language lessons.We enjoyed school as there were many opportunities to learn and make friends. We played badminton in the open air and you had to learn how to control the shuttlecock against the wind.Football was played in the sun and rain and always barefooted.Whenever it rained rugby was a favourite game as you can run and tackle the other player in the wet soggy field.after all this its back home for a cold water shower as hot water was unheard of.No colds or fever from this ,yes we were tough,unspoilt and had to fend for ourselves. Fruits ? We ate whatever we could get from the trees around the neighbourhood.The favourite was guava and green mangoes ( They never had a chance to ripen with us around )Grapes,oranges,apples were fruits for the rich and we certainly did not belong to this category.Nevertheless we had our share of fruits which we got and were quite contented with this.We did not have much but we were happy with what we had. Taking in a movie was a great luxury.We learnt how to get in the cinema by paying half the price.How? We made a deal with the ticket collector.When everyone had gone in and there were still seats left he would let us in without having to buy tickets but we paid him cash but less than the price of a ticket.That's ingenuity which we learned at an early age. We grew up nevertheless and what we went through enabled us to face life's challenges as we went along.We learned how to think out of the normal paradigm and learned how to be innovative and creative,how not to be disappointed with life but take it as it comes.We had the courage,the strength to face life's challenges because we grew up the tough way.